Eeeeekkkkkkk.... It's my birthday!!!!

Charly’s birthday was finally here and it started off with a bang at 5am as a massive thunderstorm hit our small town and probably half of Laos. After a late night drinking Lao Lao Mojitos, it was not a welcome surprise and so we started off the day feeling pretty tired. We finally got out of bed around 7am to get ready to leave for Luang Prabang, it was still raining so we opted for a Minivan to the bus station – it was only 1km or so, but 10 minutes in the rain would have been enough to soak us. The minivan came and was surprisingly expensive but there were a lot of us, and all anyone seemed to be interested in was getting there so we paid and head off.

About to be puked on!

At the bus station there was a distinct lack of a bus, but after purchasing the tickets we were informed that we would be going on a sawngthaew – oh joy 3 hours on a wooden bench seat. The sawngthaew was licenced to take 15 people so we were surprised there was only 22 on board plus a basket full of chickens on the roof of course. We head off in the rain and a few km along came across the first land slide with a rather substantial rock sitting in the middle of the road.

Drenched on the tuk tuk

Oh well we thought, if our luck was out the chickens would surely take the brunt of the impact! We saw maybe 20 more land slides of varying degrees of scariness, plus several villages where everyone was either watching the raging rapids, which were once little streams, or watching people bailing out their flooded houses. This from only 4-5 hours of rain shows how they get serious floods here.
I could tell that Charly was thoroughly enjoying the start to her birthday and it got better when the young French girl sitting opposite projectile vomitted covering the floor, some feet and a local’s bag. Surprisingly and thankfully this did not cause domino puking event!
After a joyful 3 hours we arrived and took a tuk-tuk back to the guesthouse, it felt like coming home with hugs from Ken and co.

Iced coffee to start!

My yummy Pizza!

First drink of the day!

They were really busy so we only managed to get a twin room, but this was quickly rectified by a bit of furniture moving. We got settled in and headed out to a touristy restaurant so Charly could have pizza. We then moved on to get some beers and to start off the celebrations. After a few, we decided to head back to the guesthouse for a break and reconvene at 6pm. At 6pm we headed down to reception and Ken kindly informed us that he had got the “surprise” cake I had asked for (with of course Charly standing right beside me) – you gotta love him.

Pierre and I

It was once again pouring with rain so we cracked open a beer and waited for Pierre to be ready and Gill (an Ango-Ozzie we met) to arrive. We headed out to the Lao Lao bar just up the road and negotiated Lao Lao (local fire water made from Sticky rice) Mojitos for 2 for 1, so they worked out about 75p each, bargain! A few of the staff joined us and we managed to polish off 20 Mojitos in a few hours. Then the staff went and told us to come back in 10 mins.

Gill and I

Ken, Pierre and the manager

Me, Gill and Pierre

Pierre

At the GH

My tasty birthday cke from Pierre!

About to make a wish!..

Lovin' my birthday!

Chris chillin'

B-day suprise

We went back to find ‘happy birthday’ playing and we got out the cake and Charly made a wish! Very yummy cake eaten as a starter, we headed to the night market for a baguette and some sticky rice.

B-day girl

Some Mojitos soaked up, we headed back to the bar for a few more and then feeling pretty merry called it a night.Charly was keen to receive her surprise present from me, so I set it up and she happily watched the Eastenders Omnibus. I couldn’t say it grabbed my attention so drifted off to sleep about 1 episode in. All in all, an interesting day, but we all had fun and Charly was happy. Only Birthday Boxing Day to go!

written by

chrischarly on July 30, 2011 from Luang Prabang, Laos

from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Passage through SE Asia

Send a Compliment

Hi charley Happy Birthday..........Enjoy full of u r life.......keep smile.......
_______
Allen

written by Map of London on August 2, 2011

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