4 Wheels to Luang Prabang

Today started out cool and beautiful.  We had a  nice non-Asian breakfast at Nong Kaiu Riverfront – with real (apple) juice and especially good papayas and apples, and there was a bit of a breeze that between 10-11 was almost refreshing, although it felt more like a punishing headwind after 11.

                                   

Yesterday Nick said he saw a working elephant on Highway 13 – and I  was a bit skeptical.  He had skipped lunch to power through the Nong Kaiu – perhaps he was hallucinating?  Well, if so, there is elephant hysteria – we all saw the elephant today.  The driver was pretty adamant that the elephant not drink water along the side of the road.  The elephant won, and gave the driver a bit of a soaking.

A dark cloud of smoke settled over the Nuom Ou River valley at noon.  It felt like early dusk, and the sun was obscured entirely.   There were scorched palm fronds floating through the air, and all of our eyes were burning.

Along the way, I couldn’t bear to miss taking a quick shot of the “free drug village.” Next to the sign, there were two young women with rodents on leashes – I would have glided right by had I not stopped.  Apparently these are moles – and they taste similar to squirrel.

Moles on a string - a delicacy

The perils of translation 

A special treat today was lunch at Joi’s family home.   The family’s rice farm is on the other side of the river, but in 2002 the government ‘requested’ that the village move to the ‘road’ side of the river – where the electricity was.   Now, they row across the river each day to tend their fields.

Lunch was the best of the trip.  There was dried river weed with sesame (tasted almost like crackers), bamboo shoot vegetable soup, mixed vegetables, chicken and beef, and roasted yams (with white flesh – but were they ever sweet).

Lunch at Joi's family's home. Note I couldn't take a picture without hands in the way!

I got on my bike to start the last 45 km into Luang Prabang and was immediately overcome by the smoke.   My eyes were burning so much that I had to close them so they would tear – not especially helpful in terms of ability to see.   So I hopped on the van after a few kilometers.  It was a bit disappointing to miss out on the last 20 miles of a 500 mile trip, especially since there were no hills.  On the other hand, I’m sitting in the van with the air conditioner aimed at me and the outside temperature is 38 Centrigrade (about 100 Fahrenheit), and this is feeling just fine.

Haze in midafternoon as we reached Luang Prabang 

Luang Prabang is a city full of watts and stupas – and I’m looking forward to getting to see the night market.  Some of the group is staying and doing a cooking class tomorrow – I’ll be boarding a flight back to Hanoi to begin my trans-Pacific journey.   I’m looking forward to being home, and can imagine it will be a few weeks before I can even look at a bicycle!

Addendum: Nick and I did get out of the van to ride the last km into Luang Prabang.   Cough cough sputter sputter.  The city itself was in a deep haze - but is charming -- the hotel has the best shower I've had in 2 weeks, and we had a lovely dinner at a French restaurant.  Internet is again ploddingly slow - and I'll post photos from Hanoi.


Further addendum: Full photos from trip to Luang Prabang (not edited and mostly unlabeled) are available at share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9BZtmTVyyY8w