Luang Prabang

Yo,



After the Gibbon Experience, we joined the flock of travellers heading south by boat on the Mekong to Luang Prabang. We took the slow boat down which is a 2 day journey with an overnight stop in Pak Beng. The other options are taking a very small and uncomfortable speedboat or a faster private tourist boat that both get you there in a day. Things went fairly smooth and we got to see some nice scenery along the Mekong. Pak Beng is a notoriously seedy place and I definetly felt it in the air. Lots of little kids trying to sell you dope and somewhat dishonest guesthouse operators making large claims about how good there place is and then falling short when you go to check it out. Still, after the initial guesthouse scramble, Uriah and I managed to find a safe and comfortable place to rest. We also found a good place to eat and we tried out some Buffalo Larb.



Day 2 of the boat trip went well and we found ourselves in Luang Prabang before sunset. We found a nice guesthouse room for $7 and checked out the city. Luang Prabang is very small and is filled with Wats (temples), Monks and old French architecture. It's a surprising city that doesnt really feel that asian at all. Too clean, not stinking hot and smells too good. It was voted the best preserved town in south east asia and from what we've seen so far, thats accurate. The food selection is good and Uriah is loving the night market. She landed a good deal last night on bedsheets and we'll be lugging around some extra weight until we get to Vietnam.



A couple days ago we headed out to Kuang Si waterfall which is the nicest waterfall I've ever seen. It's not just one big one, rather its a series of small waterfalls, each with its own swimming hole. We spent some time swinging off vines and jumping into the water. A good day. It's also the Lao New Year holiday season at the moment and it's kind of a water festival where everybody throws water on each other and liberally engages in water gun warfare. We've been partaking in the festivities and unfortunately have been on the recieving end for most of it. We've walked home totally soaked the last couple days and it probably wont stop until we leave.



Yesterday we headed to a local market where it was all out war on the streets. Any body driving down the road, whether on a motorbike, bicycle, tuk tuk or whatever was getting buckets of water splashed on them. Normally being foreigners we are on the recieving end of those buckets but we got into it nice and thick when some shopowner let us get involved with the bucket and pal.. If you can't beat them, join them - Derek

P.S I have been recently introduced to the Digital Macro feature on my camera. Please join me in enjoying this shot of an ant. I spent almost an hour taking pictures of small creatures on our waterfall trek forgetting to enjoy the actual waterfall. Dont' understand why Derek hid this DM feature from me all this time.Did not enjoy my omelette it was filled with far too many bean sprouts and shallots

-Uriah