Rocky Road

The Lao scenery is some of the most beautiful I have ever seen. I got to see plenty of it on the rough journey from Luang Nam Tha to Luang Prabang.

This highway has been under improvement since 1995 and still has a long way to go. Perhaps the same company is working here as in Miami. Here are some travel companions waiting as we are delayed for road construction.

The title of today's post is rocky road and it ain't about ice cream. Incidentally I have not seen any ice cream since Chiang Mai almost a week ago. I am jonesing for a little vanilla or chocolate. But on to the story of rocky road. The trip from Luang Nam Tha to Luang Prabang was the roughest and most uncomfortable trip I have ever made. For about 10 hours I was rattled, shaken, jolted and everything but stir fried as we crossed the northern mountains of Laos. The scenery was absolutely some of the most beautiful I have seen anywhere and I shared the minivan with a Dutch family of 4, 2 French guys, an Hungarian girl and a Spanish guy and we all enjoyed each others company and joked the whole way about the road and what it was doing to our insides.
I am enjoying Luang Prabang but it is soooooo hot. This is a World Heritage city and so has been preserved better than many places. Today I visited the former King's palace which was converted to a museum after the king went into exile after the Communist takeover in 1975. The palace was beautiful but actually not a whole lot bigger than some of the mega mansions people have built around Valdosta.
Tomorrow on to Vientiane, the capitol of Laos. I hope the roads are better because i am taking a night bus with the plan of getting a little sleep on the way. In a rush so I will add pics later. Got the promised pics in albeit a little late.