Thursday, April 26, 2007

Day 15: Luang Prabang

20kms
“A night at the fair”

Woke up at 10am and decided to stay put for another day. Checked out the museum and three local temples. Spent a lot of time dodging young kids with water pistols. Lao New Year is on the weekend and it’s dubbed the water festival. I kept having to dodge the pistols and buckets of water, and managed to avoid getting wet on four of the six passes I attempted. Caught up with James, an Irish guy from last night, and had a couple of fruit shakes and dinner before heading off to the local carnival. Entertaining to see the unsophisticated games that constitute a `fair’ in Laos.

James is a great guy and will be coming to Melbourne later in the year so planning to hook up then. He was inspiring me to go to India, having just spent 10 months there. Was home early, packed my gear and started to mentally prepare for what shapes up as a gruelling day tomorrow. I am about to embark on the stretch of road where there have been guerrilla attacks, and that the Australian embassy advises against travelling except in convoys. A lone bicycle rider is probably not what they had in mind when they issued the warning.

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