Happy New Year! I hope you all had fabulous celebrations and your resolutions are still going strong. My resolution is to be more self disciplined so I can actually make a proper resolution next year, wish me luck!

Anyway back to our exciting adventures! Luang Prabang was our next stop and is absolutely gorgeous. Like a small ski town in the French Alps minus the snow, ski fields and ‘froth’, ‘pow pow’ ski-lingo barrier and more of the temples and Asian influences and Lao language barriers. But the cobblestone footpaths, shutters and odd french person give off all the right vibes. It was also cold, a so very nippy 14 degrees on arrival and almost a frost on New Years morning!! So might as well have snowed to complete the chateau in Alps look it was trying so hard to fulfil. This town is the perfect mix of French meets Lao, East meets West and we liked it a lot!

We were here for a few days which was tops for a bit of a rest and exploring. First stop the ethology museum to learn a bit more about their history and the nick-knacks we see at the markets.
Next stop, Kouang Si waterfalls,
they even came with bears and a one hour freezing tuk tuk ride!

The limestone waterfalls, it’s what gives them the stunning blue, are best described in pictures, so I dear hope you admire the effort I’ve made to get these to you and the fact they’re far more incredible in real life.

Huntsoc on tour:

As you walk beside the falls they get more magnificent until you get to the crème de la crème of falling water.

We climbed up to the top of these falls and you often needed to to use your hands, so imagine my horror when they guy in front of me slipped in his dress shoes while climbing wearing a full suit! I took over him quick smart to avoid injury.
The top was like a slow moving stream, very peaceful considering the falls below and you couldn’t see too much over the edge, I tried.

Once back we took on the pools, bombs away! The water was surprisingly good, no snow melt here , well at least Laura and I thought so the the others thought it was bleeping freezing!

We spent two nights exploring and funding the local community at the night markets, hands down best markets so far except Laura and I were pretty close to scraping our sculls on the gazebos. The people weren’t aggressive, bartering was to respectable prices not scams, they were almost quiet, great range of goods and generally fun. They even had a side alley of food that linked to the morning food market and had a deli to rival any New World or Moore Wilson’s.

New Year’s Eve rocked around, where the heck did 2014 go!? and we had a free day, following a ceremony for the monks at dawn where we handed out sticky rice to each monk in the procession providing their food for the day.

This finished at 6.45 am so we had a lot of day to kill.
First stop ski resort style coffee shop, they even served pumpkin pie? Next stop, spa day! It started with a leg and foot massage, added in a head shoulders and back and finished with a pedi. They called in 4 extra staff for this process they didn’t speak much English and I’m pretty sure they laughed… Laura’s feet aren’t that big and my little manky toes aren’t that weird, Megan’s feet are just normal so she laughed at us too, first world feet problems. Just in case you don’t believe us here’s a photo of our cute toes, please don’t ask me how my big toe happened, I have no idea.

We strolled the town, lunched and saw the sights. Oh look the Bamboo bridge of Luang Prabang. We looked we saw we contemplated it’s structural integrity. We left.

Leaving was a brilliant idea as we discovered the shake and sammy store we’d been passing on the regular stocked Lao Lao Whiskey and would add it to any shake of your choice. Oh hello my old friend Lao Lao, we meet again. You may remember the brown Lao Lao I mentioned last post, well this was the white. Introducing lemon, mint and ‘hold on I’m going for another bottle and not measuring’ Lao Lao Whiskey, it’s delicious!

This here is a drinks buffet, I highly recommend it for a balanced lifestyle.

We had an awesome dinner at coconut garden before heading to Utopia a well known party spot and the hype was justified! They also sold Lao Lao by the “poor mans bucket” and mixing drinks is bad so we stuck with our fave. This place was full foreigners and runs by the slogan “zen by day and groovy by night”. They’d transformed the volleyball court/ yoga area into a fire pit, then after the countdown they ignited the 2015 dragon! It was awesome though I don’t think anyone expected it to get as hot as it did and the crowd jumped back pretty quick. The quality of these photos was compromised by my early on set Parkinson’s.

It was an incredible night spent with an awesome bunch of friends, with many a memory made. Who knew at the start of 2014 I’d be seeing in the new year in Laos, not I, I’ll tell you that for free.

New Year’s Day was an early rise followed by an 8 hour bus ride on windy, by NZ standards, roads.
Our favourite treats were mandatory:
Coconut cake flour covered in molasses, peanut brittle and fried peanuts. Must try when you all visit Laos because I’ve convinced you to.

Bye, favourite spot in Laos!! Next stop
Vang Vieng.