Sunday, November 16, 2014

Luang Prabang lantern festival

It was back in October that we headed up to Luang Prabang for an impromptu long weekend. It was the boat racing festival here in Laos and the streets around our apartment in Vientiane were becoming congested. Street stalls were popping up, there was loud music, and a really festive atmosphere.

Joff was speaking with friends who had decided to skip the 'craziness' of Vientiane and head to Luang Prabang instead. He came home stating that there was also a festival in Luang Prabang but that this was a lantern festival and according to friends who had lived in Luang Prabang it had been their favourite festival there.

After hearing all of that we decided to go for it. We booked flights and accommodation and were gone 2 days later.

As it turned out we were not the only ones. It seemed that every expat family that we know had decided to escape the chaos as well and we found ourselves out for dinner in Luang Prabang with 10 adults and just as many kids all sitting around as if we were in Vientiane. It was a lot of fun, and a different kind of chaos. The town itself was not congested or busy. There was no raging parties, or crazy drunken behaviour.

In fact, the first night we were there, it was magical. All the temples (Wats) were lit up with hundreds and thousands of paper lanterns. Monks were taking photos of their hard work, tourists were quietly and peacefully walking through the grounds. I don't think i will ever forget it. The second night this all happened again but in addition there was a parade of paper lantern boats through the main streets. Beatrix and the other kids loved it. Bea has only been to Luang Prabang twice- the first time she watched a parade of elephants, this time it was lanterns! After the parade we headed down to the banks of the Mekong and let our own paper lanterns up into the sky while we watched Lao families send offerings down the river.

It was all beautiful and brilliant and more than we had anticipated. Words don't really do it justice. Here are a few photos to share instead.












Sunday, November 2, 2014

24 hours in KL




KLCC Park playground


Back when we had newly arrived in Laos I was obsessed with making the most of our time here and trying to get as much Asian travel in as possible. Not a bad pursuit. I spent a fair amount of time searching for cheap flights and deals. Luckily for us I stumbled across some cheap flights from Vientiane to KL with Air Asia that were too good to miss out on.

So last week we headed to Malaysia for a mini break. The original plan had been for us to spend the entire time in Langkawi relaxing on the beach but Air Asia made a minor adjustment to our flights and we ended up with an extra day of holiday and consequently an unexpected day in KL!

I'll write about Langkawi another time but I wanted to fill you in on our day in KL. We started our planning with a google search "things to do with kids in KL" or something along those lines. Its my usual starting point. Mainly because happy children = happy parents = happy holidays. But also because whenever we go to a big city there are things there that you just can't get here- like playgrounds, and aquariums, and other kid friendly activities.

We had stayed in some relatively budget accommodation in Langkawi so we splashed out a bit on our accommodation in KL and got a suite in a hotel/residence quite close to the Petronas towers and all the action. The hotel was excellent. Clean, huge rooms, friendly staff, amazing food and a very relaxing pool. And to top it all off (in Bea's eyes)- it even had its own playground. When we walked into the hotel room rather late at night Bea looked around the room and said "this hotel hasn't got a bed!" She was looking at us like we were idiots for having booked such a room. But when we showed her the separate bedroom with the huge bed her eyes lit up and there was at least half an hour of excited squeals while she got comfy in the big bed, jumped on it, and snuggled in with the down pillows.

Moments like that are what holidays are all about- staying up past your bedtime to jump on the incredibly plush bed and snuggle into the bedding with your mum and dad!

Anyway our full day in KL was mainly spent around the Petronas towers and KLCC park. We headed there in the morning and spent a good couple of hours in the "ginormous" playground. Honestly, Bea was running around like a lunatic. She was hot and sweaty but she didn't care because there was SO much to do. Unfortunately the adjacent splash park area was under maintenance so we had no way of cooling off but we went into the shopping mall instead and enjoyed mixed berry juices in the air conditioned delight.

After a kip by the pool we all had an afternoon swim. KL was quite a bit cooler than Vientiane and the water felt fresh compared to the swimming conditions we have become accustomed to. Feeling refreshed we ordered room service snacks and then headed out again to the playground for an evening play before heading out for dinner. We could have gone to a number of amazing Malaysian restaurants but in the end I fulfilled my craving for a beef pie! Yep, I am Australian at heart!

FYI some of the other attractions that we had thought about going to but just didn't get to were the KL Bird Park and Botanical Gardens, the aquarium and the Petronas Towers observation deck (closed on the day of the week we were there)

We really enjoyed the little of KL that we saw and would be keen to head back there another time. But for now, we had a ball for our day there!

Melinda xx


KLCC Park, Kuala Lumpur



The perfect dismount!


Hot and sweaty playground action



The pool at our hotel