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.

Dora the explorer- Beatrix explores the ruins

                             Confession 1: Beatrix has quite a thing for Dora

                             Confession 2: So do I

Its true, i like Dora the Explorer. I am no expert, i haven't seen any animated Dora, just read some of the books but at this point I like her. She is cute, she speaks Spanish, her best friend is a Monkey and she loves exploring- what's not to like?! I also like that she knows how to read a map, has very good manners, and never seems afraid.

There are times when travel with a 2 year old can be tough. It is those times that we have Dora up our sleeve. Sometimes it is in the form of a tiny travel sized Dora book to take a minute out and be whisked away on an adventure. And other times we use her to explain to Bea that we are about to do something really cool like Dora would do. Whenever we say this Bea lights up with a big smile and looks quite excited that she is an adventurer like Dora. Thanks Dora and co.

Last weekend while we were in Champasack we visited Wat Phu, a very Dora-esque location. There were no monkeys but there could have been. Wat Phu is a UNESCO listed site of Khmer architecture, not dissimilar to Angkor Wat (to my eye). It sits at the base of a sacred mountain and extends up the slope of the hill somewhat in shade which makes it a lot cooler to explore. We had a brilliant time exploring the ruins, climbing up huge steps, looking over beautiful vistas and generally being awed by how well preserved it was.

Ruins and temples are a fantastic place to take toddlers. Old enough to walk around themselves, but young enough to get excited by the climbing. Bea won't remember visiting amazing places like Wat Phu but it is still important. It is important because she has spent another day loving adventure.

Trip Review: Champasack

Last weekend we took advantage of some cheap flights and discounted accommodation to head to Southern Laos. It was an area of the country that i had really wanted to get to but was unsure whether we would find the time to explore it properly.

We flew down to Pakse, a reasonably sized hub for Laos, and headed out to Champasack town, approx 40 minutes away by tuk tuk.

It was a lucky weekend and we are incredibly grateful to have been able to enjoy it.
Everything seemed to go right and it was extremely relaxing!

When we got off the flight it was early in the morning so we headed to a cafe in Pakse to get some breakfast and also try to make some inquiries about tours in the region for the following day. We were sitting there, having just ordered our food when a tuk tuk driver approached us and told us he would wait for us to finish our food and then we could head to Wat Phu (khmer ruins/ temple) We were a bit perplexed, we hadn't booked a tuk tuk. We tried explaining that we didn't want to go, we had only just arrived, and that maybe it was someone else that had booked him?? Let's just say it didn't go well. The tuk tuk driver got more and more annoyed that we didn't want to go to Wat Phu until finally he stormed off.

About 10 minutes later a Swiss guy approached us asking if we had seen a tuk tuk. Oops. I guess all foreigners look alike. Especially when they are travelling with a wife and small falang daughter.But in actual fact every cloud has a silver lining and it could not have worked out better.  For the next 2 days we shared transport and tours with this couple who are travelling around the world with their 4 year old for a year. What fun we had.

We only had time for a very small part of southern Laos but we would love to go back. It is a beautiful part of the country and has so much to offer that a lot of people don't get the time to see.

Happy (and slightly sweaty after some serious ruin exploring)

Beautiful Mekong

Fun on the sand bank

I am slowly getting into the slow pace of weekends in Laos. After months of renovating every weekend, working, and trying to get ready to come over here, the idea of a lazy weekend felt like a distant dream. However, i am happy to report, they have arrived!

Last weekend we took a couple of bike rides, one of which, was down to the sand bank. As we come to the end of the dry season the Mekong river is at its lowest. And with that it is possible to get down onto the banks of the river and the Don Chan island/ sand bar.

We had a great time running around in the sand, making friends with locals, and watching the sunset. We even dipped our feet into the river.

Toes in the Mekong 

Fun in the sand

Intensity (FYI- watching some 4WD on the sand dunes)