We are enjoying staying in this hotel in Luang Prabang, we are paying $46 CAD a night, which includes breakfast with several options, plus a plate of fresh fruit. My favourite is banana pancakes. Robin’s choice is noodle soup. We are slowly getting used to having to remove our shoes before we enter most buildings, as this common in Southeast Asia. We are very close to the end of the peninsula, which is bounded by the Mekong River and Nam Khan River - there is a marked difference in water color!
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| Mekong River with Nam Khan mixing in (bluer) |
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| Nam Khan River |
For lunch one day, we tried the Luang Prabang signature platter which included sesame river weed, pork sausage, sun-dried pork, rice cakes, vegetable spring rolls, bamboo chicken, accompanied by several sauces.
Of course there are beautiful temples throughout the area, one of the oldest was built in 1559.
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| Beautiful tree of life mosaic |
We wander down to the area of the night market & restaurants most evenings, we even had pizza one day & found a happy hour offering 1 litre beers, 2 for 1!
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| Starting to set up the nightly market |
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| Tasty fruit smoothies |
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| Pick your items & they will cook |
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| Delicious coconut pancakes |
A must visit site is Kuang Si waterfall, so we booked a shared minivan & made the 45 minute journey on very rough, pot holed roads, but it was well worth it! An absolutely stunning set of cascading waterfalls, water a lovely turquoise color from falling over limestone. And a bonus was seeing Asiatic bears that have been rescued from the bile trade.
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| A Giant spider! |
Always vendors selling something - meats on sticks, fruits & several kinds of roasted nuts & seeds.
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| Cashews |
And then we had to find our white minivan in a parking lot of around 100, luckily we had taken a photo of the license plate!
We are close to walk to both rivers & countless places to eat, lots of people watching & relaxing.
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| There are several tasty options of BeerLao! |
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| Lots of boats moored along the Mekong - houses, restaurants, taxis, tour boats |
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| Most women & school girls wear these skirts |
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| Not much for Christmas decorations here |
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| Rice cakes drying |
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| Cute little lizards |
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| Lao money, all those bills = $11.62 |
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| Street outside our hotel |
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| Pandemonium collecting kids from school |
We decided to visit an elephant sanctuary where they lease farmer’s elephants to ensure that they are well fed & not made to work. No riding, just observing & feeding - great fun! But they are Huge up close!
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| Scratching tree |
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| Poop is huge as well! |
The daily alms rounds is an important part of Theravada Buddhism & it’s become quite a tourist attraction in Luang Prabang. There are more than 30 monasteries here with over 200 monks, many of whom walk barefoot, at dawn, along a street near us collecting their food for the day from the faithful (& a few tourists who also participate). Small chairs are set up, women are there to sell sticky rice & treats & the tour vans full of Chinese tourists descend. There are “How to behave” signs but unfortunately not everyone reads them - the monks should not be approached or filmed unless from a distance of 3-5 m. Despite these distractions it was a moving sight to see!
Since we were up so early we made a day of it, after breakfast we walked up Mount Phousi, 355 steps going up one way, 329 going down. Great views of the city with a temple on top.
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| Looking towards the Mekong River |
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| Towards the Nam Khan |
At the bottom was the Royal Palace & Museum so off we went. The require shoulders & knees be covered (Robin had gotten away with shorts in most other temples), so he had to rent a sarong. They were very strict about no photos, you even had to put all your belongings in lockers!
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| The last King’s palace (now communist, no king) |
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| Key chains & jewelry made from UXO |
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Cluster bomb, particularly nasty as it opened up mid air to expel hundreds of little balls that exploded, if kids find them they think they are just balls
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The rest of our day was more light-hearted as I found a combination hair salon, spa & massage place where I got a haircut & a pedicure while watching life on the Mekong River, all for $13!
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| Gardens along the river |
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| Sunset over the Mekong |
After spending 9 nights in Luang Prabang we had to figure out where to go next. We have a general idea of our route but we only book things a week or so in advance. We had heard good things about a town 3 hrs north called Nong Khiaw so we booked transport in a shared minivan & off we go.
More adventure awaits, or maybe just relaxing & watching the world go by. Still Living the Dream!
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