How Did We Spend Our First Wedding Anniversary?

Dearest lovelies, 

Those of you who are on Facebook will have seen us post all sorts of lovey-dovey messages and photos about our first wedding anniversary. We can hardly believe it's been one whole year since this...

So how to celebrate? 

Maddy is a huge fan of Royal anything, and Paddy likes to keep Maddy happy so...

Behold, the royal receiving wat where up until 1975, the king of Laos graciously received his visitors...



Unfortunately we had to put our handbags and cameras in lockers so no photos of the amazing rooms and exhibits, but the bit that we were allowed to photograph was a very impressive wat within the grounds, which reminded Maddy of the ballroom in Sound of Music actually! 

The very intricately carved ceiling

 

Looking through the royal carrying box....

Help! I'm stuck in a gold palace!

For our special anniversary dinner we chose to eat at Tamarind, which is a restaurant which introduces Westerners to Lao food with taster dishes, and explanations given by the super friendly waiters. We had read rave reviews about it, and as soon as we walked in and met the manager Rudy, it was a hit for us! 

We drank champagne, toasted the future and ate delicious food. We highly recommend the Laos taster plate and the stuffed lemongrass - om nom nom. 

Thank you for all your lovely messages of congratulations and love from all our lovely family, friends, and all the support we receive from Balanced View! 

We love you too!

Maddy and Paddy xxx

Dang! Luang Prabang, You're Beautiful!

Gorgeous painted bamboo plates at the market

WOW! Luang Prabang! What an amazing and beautiful place!


So, Luang Prabang is actually on a peninsula between the Mekong and the Nam Khan rivers. Needless to say, they're both very, very big, especially in monsoon season. They kind of make the Thames look like a babbling brook. 

For those fact fans out there, here's the location of Luang Prabang in Laos!

Close-up view of the town

Once we arrived here after our beautiful two day journey down the mighty Mekong we completely fell in love with this luscious green town. We were a little worried because August is the rainiest month of the rainy season, but that's nothing some stylish 
umbrellas couldn't fix. Plus rain in 30 degrees makes it all a little easier to bear!

Side note: As soon as we landed in town, we sat down for a cold drink before heading off for the usual guesthouse search, and before we knew it we were befriended by a very sweet little boy named Alan who had six toes! Yes count them, 6 bad boys!

It's a wonderful town to walk around in, with luscious greenery everywhere, and amazing views of the water, the surrounding jungle-y hills and temples at every turn. 

Something we kept spotting everywhere we walked was a gold temple up on the hill, and so it was that we found ourselves climbing the 400 slippy steps (see aforementioned rainy season) up Mount Phu Si (pronounced Poo-see) where we saw an imprint of Buddha's foot (!), several gold Buddhas, and an almighty view over all over Luang Prabang. Look, Maddy even stood on the edge! (talk about resting with your fears)

Imprint of Buddha's foot......

  

Of course, we sampled the delights of traditional Lao food... 

There's Khao Soi (pork balls in noodle soup)...

These little bad boys look like blinis but taste sort of like custardy pancakes, served up in banana leaves and are sold as street snacks straight off the pan. They are delicious!

And oh boy do they like their barbecues..nice of bit of ping sin (grilled pork) Paddy? It's a buffet for a quid a head - let's dig in! Now we're ready for the deep fried spiders and grilled snake in Cambodia (uh...)

There were also stalls full of who-knows-what-part-of-the-animal of which we did NOT take photos but instead have a photo of Maddy's reaction to said stalls.

Of course Laos used to be a French colony, and the influence is obvious in several different ways. The main one? BAGUETTES. Oh bread, how we have missed thee (but not the pounds you have added to our tummies).

The beautiful teak buildings are a reminder that this part of Laos is completely surrounded by teak groves. Makes everything look very luscious, particularly when posing next to nice cars, of which there are many down the more expensive end of town. Simon just borrowed this one for the day.

We also visited the beautiful Wat Xieng Thong. This wat was built in 16th century and it is considered one of the most important of Lao monasteries as up until 1975, all Lao kings were crowned there. The complex consists of over 20 structures of different sparkly pavilions and shrines.

This mosaic on the back wall of the main wat depicts the tree of life.

Maddy fell in love with all the blue and green mosaics...

That's a nice blue!

We also celebrated our first wedding anniversary in this beautiful town, but more on that in a later post...

On our final day in Luang Prabang, Maddy had some admin to do (work, eh?!) so Paddy took himself off for a cycle ride to some local waterfalls...they were truly stunning. (Side note from Maddy: almost jealous, but then she heard about the snake eating the lizard and thought maybe not)

Luang Prabang - we love you!

With love from Laos,
Maddy and Paddy xxx

Two Days, One Boat: Meandering Down the Mighty Mekong

We had read all about the delights of travelling for two days by slowboat from Thailand to Luang Prabang (there is also a fast 8 hour boat, but you have to wear safety helmets and shout at each other to be heard, uh..no thanks) and so it was that we found ourselves on a bus to the Thai border one Monday morning, ready for the journey, with soft cushions in hand - we'd heard that 2 day numb bum wasn't much fun, so we were prepared!

It's quite an easy ride from Chiang Mai to the border, you get a nice posh a/c bus to Chiang Rai with free water and a sticky bun, and then change to a hot and sticky local bus, full of smiling old Thai ladies who kindly shuffled along so we could sit together, delighted to meet two falang (Thai word for foreigners) who thanked them in Thai ("Kob koon ka" if you're a girl, "Kob koon krap" if you're a chap) which widened their gap-toothed smiles even more. 

This is the first time we've mentioned the Mekong but definitely not the last as it will feature heavily in our travels through Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Simply put, it's beautiful, and very big! 

The view from our guesthouse on the Thai border! We can see Laos on the opposite bank!

So, how long is the Mekong river? Pretty bloomin' long at 4800km (you could theoretically get a boat from Vietnam to China, although it might take you a little while, and there probably isn't a cushion thick enough to sit on for that amount of time!)

                        

Arriving in Chiang Khong, the market town on the Thai border that is slowly turning its head in the tourism direction, and stayed at a beautiful guesthouse right on the river, and enjoyed the view with a cold beer of course!

Information Bit: We had to queue to get exit stamp on Thai side, then take a long tail boat ride (people over 5ft = not comfy!) across the river to Huay Xai, queue to get our Laos visa $35, complete two forms and take a passport photo (we have no shortage of multiple sizes!), take a songthaeuw 50THB per person to the slow boat port. If you book in advance it will cost more but will provide that peace of mind, however we like to live dangerously here in the Noble household and booked there on the spot, with no problem whatsoever. Cost 900THB each.

Long boat seating four across, small food and beer stall at the back, western toilets. and plenty of noisy passengers including Germans, French, Italians, monks, Laotians, Hmong (hill tribe in Thailand and Laos), Thai, Chinese, Japanese. And some small cute kids who serve us drinks and who we hope are the children of the people who run this boat. Something we won't want to think about too deeply, but one was particularly keen that Paddy should take his photo.

The Beauty Bit:

Views on the Mekong - chocolate muddy water, rips (underground eddys), rapids, black volcanic rock, driftwood (so much that we have to turn the boat around in along the way so as to rid ourselves of the wood caught underneath), golden wats buried deep on the hillside, huts, cows taking shade under the trees, pink and black buffalo cooling themselves in the water, with limestone cliffs looming up and over the river, and a sleepy Paddy making occasional 'Nam references mentioning the Mekong. This may be the beginning of a trend. 

The clouds are practically violet against the dramatic cloud formations, and the lush green hillside. One of the many upsides of arriving during the rainy season is the luscious scenery.

So there we were on the boat to Laos PDR (PDR officially means the People's Democratic Republic -  yes, it's communist - but the local joke is that it also means "please don't rush", so all timings are approximate. It actually bears a startling similarity to Irish time, where "I'll be with you in an hour" means an impatient Brit and a faffing Irishman need to compromise...

With much sleepy love from us to you all,

Maddy and Paddy xxx