Laos - communism, water fights, and baby elephants, part 2

Annnnd onward! After our short stay in Vang Vieng, we caught a minibus to Luang Prabang. Accompanied by a French family and a few other tourists, we set off on what can only be described as the most terrifying and beautiful bus trip I have ever been on. This was where I decided that Laos is the most beautiful country I had ever seen, and where I was nearly certain I would meet my death. We careened around corners on the sides of mountains with incredible steep drops and no barriers for about 5 hours or so. When we finally arrived in Luang Prabang I felt lucky to be alive, and I'm not being facetious. At the bus terminal we caught a tuk tuk, where we observed that all the arriving passengers were soaking wet. Laos New Year and it's water throwing were in full swing. Not wanting to get our luggage soaked, we put the plastic tarps down over the sides of the tuk tuk. This did not stop a drunk western girl from aiming a bucket of water around the tarp and hitting me full in the ear. Pleasantries were exchanged. Locals were much kinder and did not soak us and our bags. We checked into our rather nice guesthouse and headed back out, where we were promptly doused. Comparing cities in Laos to our home state of NJ, we said that Vang Vieng was Seaside Heights, Vientiane was Flemington (the strip mall part), and Luang Prabang was Lambertville/New Hope. It was definitely the most beautiful town I'd seen in Laos and we could see why people recommend that you spend no less than 3 nights.

Our hotel

In town

We spent the next three days exploring town and did a couple half day trips. The town itself is beautiful, but there is a lot to see outside of town, also. We visited the Kuang Si waterfalls, including the bear sanctuary, and did a half day elephant trek with Elephant Village. We went expecting to just be on the seat on the elephants, but they let us actually sit on the elephant's neck! It was kind of scary but also really cool. Afterwards, they asked us if we wanted to 'bathe baby elephants', yes of course. We took a powerboat (canoe?) up the river to a place where they raise young elephants and paid $25 expecting to be given a couple brushes to scrub down some small elephants. Instead we were greeted by decidedly larger than expected elephants and told to hop on, and then into the river we went! The elephants spent the time swimming, diving, rolling, and we spent the time trying not to fall off.

If you are going to Laos, I highly recommend Luang Prabang, it was the highlight of our trip and I would go back there specifically if I get back to Laos. After our time there, we took a bus back the same route through Vang Vieng to Vientiane. Granted, we were only in Vientiane for a night, but it was really boring and we didn't like it. Overall, a really great trip, however.