The Bucket List

14 February 2013

So we’re into our final two weeks now and we can’t quite come to terms with the idea that we’ll be leaving this slice of paradise and making our way across the world back to home and real life - and the snow and rain of course. Strangely, my body has suddenly gone into rebellion about this today and given me a bad back, which is a bit of a pain..

In preparation for home time we’ve been writing up our bucket list – things we want to do before we go: have a Lao barbeque at our favourite restaurant, visit the Peacefulness Chedi, get a massage, buy strange fruit from the local market, get a haircut (me, not Trevann, obviously!), submit VAT return, buy presents . . . Nothing too adventurous there.

The teak leaves turn an amazing colour in the dry season and most of them drop. A single leaf crashes loudly through the branches. I feel a haiku coming on ...

View from the veranda.

I’ve also been thinking about where we could go next year – if we can afford it! Having hit upon a place that ticks so many boxes for us it’s difficult to think that anywhere else could match up. Perhaps Cuba, Nepal, Burma or southern Vietnam?

Most mornings Bo or Leanne bring us coffee on our veranda. It's our little luxury and makes us feel very special!

Meanwhile, the temperature rises here. Afternoons are spent in the shade with the fan on as we go well over the 30 degree mark. Chinese New Year brought a mass of new visitors to Luang Prabang. Saturday night was as busy as we’ve seen it, with hundreds of Chinese and Vietnamese tourists and cars. Apparently the Chinese government has declared a month-long holiday for New Year this year in an attempt to boost consumer spending.

One of the many beautiful temples in Luang Prabang.

The bungalows have been full as well, and it’s become difficult to keep up with the steady stream of Australian, American and German couples appearing for perhaps two nights, sharing travellers’ tales and then moving on.

At weekends the boys do their chores around the garden. Here are O, Fly and Bobby clearing undergrowth in the dry stream bed that runs past our bungalow.

Yes, it's another amazing moth!