Luang Prabang, world heritage

The day after the glorious fishing, was time to say goodbye to Muang Ngoi.
Miguelito hopped on the long-tailed boat for one hour ride down the river untill Muang Khiaw, where connection would be made by 'bus' to destination: Luang Prabang.

Arrived to Nong Khiaw, a little dirty town, there where 2 options to get to Luang Prabang: continuing on the long-tailed boat for a painful 7 hours journey or get the 'bus' for 4 hours.
I thought I had too much of narrow boats and cannoes for the time being so bought the ticket for the land journey...

''In most provinces the lack of a bus network is made up for by sawngthaews - converted flat-bed trucks - into which drivers cram as many passengers as they can get onto two benches in the back. They only leave when there are enough passengers to make the trip worthwhile and foreigners are routinely over-charged'' in the Rough Guide to SouthEast Asia on a budget.

And one may be wondering by now... Sawng.. what..?

Well, this!!!

No doubt about it: it's a lose-lose situation...
Escape from the little boat to sit on a hard wood board on a bumpy road for 4 hours... You keep believing its part of the adventure thing in order to overcome the pain. The legs can't move and my skinny ass wasn't made for hard surfaces.
The worst was this English boy: he got in with his girlfriend whenthere was litterally no more room available! So he sat in the middle on this sac full of gravel. h-a-r-d! For 4 hours...




21 people...

Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Malta, England, Holland, France...

The whole journey through burning forest... smoke all along!









Once arrived to the bus station we split up, got on a Tuk-Tuk to the city center. As soon as I got my foot on the ground, I felt this hand tapping on my shoulder. Looked back and was Tom, the dutchman who we met on the Laos border crossing and boat down the river, the Alentejano-dutchman! 'Hello Capitano!' he said.
Since I got on the driver seat on the long-tailed boat down the Nam Ou river, Tom would always refer to me as Capitano.
He was on a rented bicycle and it was good to see him. He soon invited me for dinner with Kai and Jasmine, the cycling german couple who also staied in the cousy little village.
Tom left I settled down and went for a tour on the night market before dinner.

special liquors...

We had a very enjoyable evening, dinning at Utopia, on an open plan esplanade overlooking the river. It was a warm night. Very pleasent indeed!
À saúde...

Jasmine and Kai, 34 are architects and run their own business, Tom 46 runs an enterprise of financial advisement. This whole my sound boring but one must remember they where backpacking... Rather travelled aswell. Interesting to chat with!
Tom has already emailed me from Holland, i haven't replied yet. Jas and Kai are still cycling southwards, they must be in Thailand by now...

Luang Prabang, also Luang Phabang, Luang Phrabang and Louang Phrabang is the former capital of Laos and a UNESCO World Heritage city.
As a visitor, you cannot help but be amazed by the tidiness and cleanliness of perhaps the most charming city in all of south-east Asia (so they say). With UNESCO so closely involved and a largely highly responsible group of local business owners, the pressures of mass tourism development have been held at bay, but for how much longer remains to be seen.

In fact the city is already quite touristy but the is a must stop point if visiting Laos.
Nestling in a slim valley shaped by lofty, green mountains and cut by the Mekong and Khan rivers, the city exudes tranquility and grandeur. A tiny mountain kingdom for more then a thousand years, it is endowed with a legacy of ancient, red-roofed temples and French-Indochine architectures, not to mention the most refined cuisine, the richest culture and the most sacred Buddha image. Is the most Lao city in Laos, the only one where ethnic lao are in majority. It gathers more Wat (temples) then any other city in the country.

When seen from above is presents the shape of a tongue, and at its tip is where the Mekong meets the Khan.




Overloking the Mekong
Locals just hang about, relax, eat together, serve the tourists...

open air cooking.








a dar banho oh moço!!

open air living room with bed, TV and CD player. I walk passed here again at night and the family where watching a film in bed... and later, TV was off and they where asleep. Behind the plan of this photo is the road. A great view over the Mekong river.
How original, hey? lol

Miguelitos everywhere!!!













































































The Lao Tuk-Tuks!








Wats (temples)

Wat Xiang Thong (the Golden City Monastery), the biggest of them all. The most historic and enchantic Buddhist temple in the country.

















The Royal funerary carriage.


















Mat'u dragõeeee, carago!!






















There was a stripper inside... that's why...

(with all due respect...)








Student books drying up... yo!












Monk's stuff...










'kitchen' maybe..?

































Wat Saen














































Wat Khili

Little aprentice on his mobile phone
Miguelito met Phut on this samll temple and we chatted a bit. Explained me that the reason why there are more Wats in Luang Prabang then any other city in Laos is because the city was divided in little clans and each clan or family would be allowed to build their own temple. The city is very smalkl and limited by the 2 rivers so the Wats got concentrated on this strip of land.
Phut is 19 and is an Ijua, aprentice of Monk. But he is only studying now. He is not sure if he wants to become one. I felt he was quite confused. I learned that Ijuas don't necessarily need to become monks: when they finish school they can carry on life as a normal civilian. Furthermore, Ijuas can also choose to become monks for only a certain amount of years. Monks don't have to be monks for the rest of their lifes. They can choose to become civilians later... So told me Phut.
Oh, and when he learned I was from Bo Dao Nha (Portugal) he mentioned Cristiano Ronaldo... typical... even for a monk-to-be...













Phou Si, a hill in the centre of the city with a few cult sites on the way up.























































































from the top, Luang Prabang was imerse in smoke from the forest burning around.








the view on a clear day...

O negócio que estas senhoras me aqui têm...

Free the bird for good luck. On the way down from Phou Si I came across this ladies selling amoongst other stuff birds encaged in little bamboo cages! The cages are so small the birds can hardly move. It hurts to see them so tight. So what do the ladies do? They try to sell you the birds. I refused of course, where would I gonna keep a bird the whole trip? And is not quite my thing to keep birds in cages anyway. ‘Nooooo, no no! You buy and whoooo.. free! Luck! luck!!’ one of them said flapping her hands as if she had wings. I couldn’t help to release an instant loud laugh! Olha-me o negociozinho que estas madames aqui m’arranjaram!! Now this is entrepreneur style. I mean, they catch the birds, encage them and then sell them to silly tourists that fall for the Good Luck thing... 10.000 dong per bird, about 50cents of euro. I was one of the silly tourists! I didn't really believe my luckis gonna change, but I felt I had to give one of those birds freedom. It was good to see him go. And the women laughed... probabily thinking: What a twat..!

At the Royal Palace (no longer used as such as Laos is now a Republic) to see the Oldest Buddha in Laos. No photos allowed.














bamboo scafolding













Daily life












































Hmmm... Meat and flies! Nothing new...





























Uma voltinha ao mercado pa supinha e pechinho grelhado!






























Tá com fome?? Oh fáchavor d'sentar!!

Hungry?? You came to the right place, please grab a seat!

Late afternoon and my very usefull guide advised me to get on a little boat to cross the river to the little village of Xiang Men and climb the hill to find Wat Chom Phet on the top, a disused temple from where the views of Luang Prabang are supose to be spectacular at sun set.

There was no sun because the whole sky was a smoke blanket, but I wanted to check on this views anyway. Miguelito went to the harbour and arranged a boat ride to the other side. As it was so late people where no longer crossing the river so had to hire the hole boat and he was happy to wait for me on the other margin untill i come back. The good thing about being on my own on the boat? He let me drive the beast!!!

Got to the other side, a little walk and a climb of 202 steps to the top. I counted them on the way down, how freaky is that?

Ahoy!!! Iceberg... right ahead!!!

The Wat is abandoned but still offerings inside.

There was an angel sitting down by the temple. Her name was Mi... My name is Miguel. She was waiting for her friend. So we chatted very little and I left her be... unperturbed.

The view was nice but vert foggy and dark, but being upthere on my own was an inspiring moment. A lao-birinaite moment.

By the time I got down ‘our’ boat was alone. And the driver sitting and waiting. So I sat down for a little with him beholding the peaceful view of the city at dusk. Amaph was 41 years old and his wife was waiting forhim for dinner. So I didn’t hold him longer. There river was desert. We were the last boat to cross...

One more beautiful day...