We love Luang Prabang
Trip Start
Oct 04, 2011
1
6
50
Trip End
Nov 29, 2011
Luang Prabang, Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Sunday, October 9, 2011
People vote Luang Prabang as the Number One Tourist City in various travel magazine polls and we understand why. We have fallen in love with the place and wish we were staying longer. Its very small - the centre which is bounded by the Mekong and the Nam Khan rivers is probably only 15-20 minutes walk across the main part of the and ¾ hour along the length of the main road and has 30 temples and around 1000 monks and a lot of lovely cafes and bars to sit in and watch the world go by.
A very early start today - 5am - to go and watch the monks as they receive alms from the villagers - sticky rice, bananas and other food (they only eat breakfast and lunch and then cannot eat from noon until 6am the following day - there is no way David and I could survive as monks!).
Then a visit to the food market - weird and wonderful vegetables, frogs (live), crickets, catfish and a lot of different grubs - the only things which looked tempting were the various fruits. The rest of the morning was spent visiting the temples and taking a lot of photos of monks and Buddhas and golden snakes called Naga which are on all the temple walls and roofs, The monks start as novices at 12 so there were some very sweet little ones - it seems that this is a good way to get an education if you are from a poor family and then you do not have to continue as a monk - our guide had done this.
The afternoon was a visit to Kuang Si waterfalls about 20 miles outside Luang Prabang via a cotton growing/spinning village - thr journey was through beautiful countryside of rice paddies and little villages and farms. The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering around on our own sampling the Beer Lao and watching children playing in the river.
Wandered through the night market again in the evening - and didn't buy anything! Lots of men kept coming up to me and asking "you want tuk tuk Madam?" in a very suggestive way - I think/hope they just thought I looked tired and needed a lift back to the hotel but it did sound a little dodgy!
