luang prabang

Just off the bus. I am in Luang Prabang. Northern Laos.

It was kind of my mini-bus driver to take time out from being a stunt driver to bring me and the other passengers up here. Aside from narrowly avoiding a head-on collision with a lorry full of fruit, we almost killed an ox on the way up. I'm glad to be out of that silver Toyota van.

Was the ox ok? What happened? Well, what happened was this: we were coming round a corner, on a hill descent, towards the end of the journey, when an ox came into vision. The inert quadraped was logiclessly attempting to graze on the tarmac in the middle of the thin country hill road. The driver thought this no problem, he'd seen cows in the road before, maintained his speed, pulled to the right to go round it, and pressed his horn a few times to let the beast know he was coming through.

He realised too late that the ox was tied on the right hand side to a pole by the side of the road by a rope hanging about 30cm off the ground. A rope now directly and unavoidably in our path. It was too late to brake, and there was no-where to swerve. We were going hit the rope and catapult the poor creature into the North Laos hills.

There was an audible intake of breath inside the van.

The ox looked up.

The driver braced himself.

A clairvoyant in China felt 'something wrong.'

Time stood still for a second.

Then we hit the rope at full speed, and it went under the front wheels.

The rope cleared the wheels.

Then it went under the rear wheels.

The rope cleared the rear wheels.

Simultaneously, I looked to my left and saw the ox suffer a yank to the head, but nothing that could justify a whiplash case with Claims Direct. The rope had been just low enough, and just slack enough at the crucial moment.

The day was saved. Just. He would graze another day.

Things ran smoother thereafter, and I arrived here at about 3pm. From what I can see Luang Prabang is small but perfectly proportioned. I dare say I will blog more about the place over the next few days. Will let you know what the town is like etc.

Unrelatedly, I've finished reading The Odessa File (and recommend it), and have been reading Seventy Two Virgins by Boris Johnson, which I've now almost finished. It's a farce about an attempted suicide bombing during the visit of the American President to London. It's a bit like a Tom Sharpe novel but not so funny or grotesque. Still worth reading though.