Luang Prabang : Day 4 (Part 3)

20 November 2016

After lunch, back on the tuk tuk to the harbour but we stopped at a pottery village on the way. On the way to the pottery village, I did probably the stupidest thing that I ever did in my life. While the tuk tuk was passing by narrow gravel roads which were most probably cleared through a jungle, I decided that it would be a good idea to stick my hand out and touch the beautiful green leaves of the jungle. It had thorns. They tore my poor soft hand in so many different places it wasn’t at all funny.

My first instinct was to hide my stupidity. Then it started bleeding and it stung like you wouldn’t believe so in the end I had to show Silvia and she immediately cleaned all wounds with a wet tissue and put plasters on. No question about where I got the wounds from. Thank God.

The pottery is 100% hand made using really traditional methods. In fact, I think the whole of Laos is still using very traditional methods for all their produce, be it farming or pottery or whiskey/wine. No tractors, no machineries, no technology. Like I said, Malaysia was probably like Laos 50 years ago. On average, a family can make up to 30 pots a day. Even their kiln is traditional, made underground.

After this, to the harbour where we took a ferry this time across the Mekong. Here Silvia asked me what happened to my hand and I told her the truth; I felt that I owed her the truth after she nursed my wounds.

The last tourist site that we will visit here is Mount Phousi, which is about 150 metres above the centre of town. (I think it’s a hill). There were some temples along the way. At the top of Mount Phousi is the golden Wat Chomsi, which was built in 1804. The view from the top is spectacular, a bird’s eye view of Luang Prabang. The sun set was amazing. We went up on one side and used the other set of steps to make our way down again.