Bowling / Boundook

Luang Prabang is a beautiful city and fully deserves its world heritage title. There was a great night market where I bought most of my christmas presents, for a fraction of what I would normally spend. We got an all you can eat street buffet on our first night which only cost 1 pound.

The first day there I walked around the temples and the city with Pleun, after which we met the other girls to watch the sunset from a hilltop temple. It was a beautiful sunset but was also really over crowed as everyone had similar ideas. We headed down, brought 2 bottles of whiskey and played ring of fire at the hostel. An American and German guy joined us and helped finish

both bottles in less than an hour. The German guy had an incredible story. He had cycled on a whim to China, and then Laos from Germany, taking him 6 months. While we were with him he bought a local boat and engine and planned to take it all down the mekong river to the delta in Vietnam. Ultimate respect to that guy.

In Luang Prabang all the bars close at 11, so everyone heads to a bowling alley, because for some reason that is allowed to stay open until 1. After ring of fire all 7 of us got a tuk tuk there, nearly braking the tuk tuk as it was only built for 5 people. We had 3 games of bowling which were awesome fun with the guys winning 2 and the girls one. The night carried on after we returned to the hostel with us all finding a JCB to drink on for a few more hours. The german guy then fell asleep in the back of a pickup truck and we called it a night.

The next morning we visited a waterfall which also hosted a bear sanctuary. The bears were incredible and it looked like they were really being looked after well. They had a big inclosure with their own hammocks and climbing frames. They were really active the whole time, looking for food and climbing. After we had enjoyed the bears we moved onto the waterfall which was just as amazing. It had a silky smooth flow to it which I had never seen before, and you were able to climb to the top to see the views over the valley. A random Asian man asked for a picture with me there, I think because I was

wearing my bandana, my vast array of jewellery and supporting a large beard. basically I looked like a stereotypical traveller.

We woke up at 5am the next morning to watch the monks do a ceremonial walk through town collecting food offerings from the locals. It was interesting to see but massively overcrowded with tour buses and groups of Asian tourists. I then booked my own tour of biking and elephant riding while the girls took the day to chill out. I met my guide, expecting to be part of a large group, to find out it was only me and him for the whole day. A private tour, awesome. He took me on the bikes around some local villages, we saw how paper is made, a wood carving shop and to a whiskey village where all the local alcohol is produced. Some of the whiskey was a bit disturbing as it was kept in large

barrels with bear paws or elephant penises. They believe it contains healing powers when animals are added to the whiskey.

As we cycled for around 3 hours I learnt a lot about Loas from my guide. He taught me all about the different types of Loa people, about their culture and their way of life. It was an incredibly interesting journey that I was lucky to experience. We arrived at the elephant centre and I met my elephant Boundook. I was disappointed to find it had a seat on its back, so I asked if I could ride without the seat. I went on a 30 minute ride which was good fun, even if it did destroy by balls. Boundook had an attitude and didn't like strangers in front of her. A few times my guide got too close taking pictures and she charged at him, scaring him shitless. She also sprayed/sneezed on me multiple times just to show who was in charge. After lunch I rode her again into the river where I got to wash her and swim. It was incredible how

her leather like skin softened in the water. We then cut down some sugar cane, fed the elephants and took the bus back.

Amy, Poppy and Kirsty and decided to go with me to Luang Namtha to do some trekking. So we said goodbye to Pleun and Sara and jumped on a night bus.