Just a typical day in Laos

My first full day in Laung Prabang (my favourite place so far) was spent with a the group of people met the night before. Kate and Dan from England and I were on the mini bus together. Through them I met James (Perth), and Florian and Oliver from Germany. The group of us decided to rent scooters and take them to the most famous waterfall outside of town the following morning. A plan was hatched and meeting times were made. Perfect.

We picked up our scooters at 8:30am and James immediately drove towards a metal barrier. We all decided it was better if I went on the back of a scooter of a more experienced driver. (These are fast manual drives, and my insurance does not cover me if I`m driving one, so a passenger was a must). Flo and I paired up and at the very next T-intersection James drove into us, knocking over our bike. All were fine.

In the middle of our 1hr ride James got a flat. A really fast flat. He then meandered with the bike back to the previous town in the hope we could leave the bike there. However, flats are so common that the little town had a little shack to change our little tire. We hung out in the village for the slowest tire change in history, 1 hour. But the village was great, and the children very excited. They definitley have had some well meaning but uninformed tourists giving them money as this great little village was full of small children obsessed with begging. Side note: don`t give money, it doesn`t help, it creates a culture of dependency ans erodes the local culture. If you want to help, donate to the local school.

Once back on the road we smoothly and uneventfully finished our trip to the most beautiful waterfall. It is the picture of paradise. We went swimming in the pool at the bottom and hiked all the way to the top for spectacular views. If you`re ever in Laos, check it out.

On the way back a stranger pulled over directly in front of James causing his second crash of the day. Again, no injuries.

James, being quite a bit more conservative in his driving lagged behind us and missed the turn to the next waterfall. I waved him down where he promptly got pulled over by the local cops. They took his keys, helmet and bike. He was `fined` 500000kip, but the `fines` in this country have a middle point. He managed to barter them down to 300000kip.

Back on the road again. We never did find the second waterfall. But no one was hurt and no one went to jail. almost but not quite. I`d say that`s succesful.
L