Luang Prabang - boozing, buddhists, boat races, cute babies and blowing away prejudices

Luang Prabang was our 1st stop off the slow boat and a very lovely one at that. UNESCO World heritage sight (everything seems to be these days) and beautiful with it. Loads of temples (wat wat wat to follow) and the whole French colonial thing is pretty nice too. Laos immediately felt like a place we wanted to be, locals still hanging out and going about their business. Refreshing after a slight feeling of Disneyland in Thailand.

A Monk and some mulbery paper drying in the sun

Drying buffalo meat in the sun

The amazing Wat Xiang Thong

We got up at 5am to see the monks receiving their alms. The Laos people get up very early everyday and generally it is to do this. Sadly yet again there were Westerners behaving very badly. You must always be below a monk in Laos and instead of this they were peering over their shoulders trying to cop a look at what was going on! There was even one with a huge camera in their faces. So I got straight in there and told him to quit it. I cannot abide by these people. We got so lucky with our weekend in Luang prabang as it was the big Boat Race weekend. It is supposed to signify the end of the rainy season (in fact the rain is worse now than it was then) The locals were out in force, busy at the markets, gambling and drinking vast quantities of Beer Laos, the best beer of our trip so far.

The money has got weird, 16,000 kip to the pound so we were millionaires on arrival 3 times over!
Then there is the food, getting weirder by the day. I guess when you are a developing country with not a lot to go round, you just gotta eat whatever...and they do.

Baguettes are pretty good though

We hung out with the nice people we met on the slow boat for a couple of days. Some of the best banter we've had on our trip from a good bunch of lads from England except for Martin's random bouts of being off tour, see below. Wendy, absolutely ace Aussie and so wise for her years! She is on her way to Scotland so be nice please! Mum, maybe you can get her over for dinner!

L to R: Andy B, Martin Kolankiewicz, James Bacon, Wendy Heywood, me and Ed

The heat is tooo much to deal with here so waterfalls were on the cards for a spot of swimming.

Wendy and I resorted to the cooling effects of baby powder

The baby frenzy has re-started, as with each new country, they get cuter. We loved the ladies and baby at our guest house. The kids do seem to like playing with guns though. Check out these 2 little dudes holding hands but looking hard with it!

This guy has taken the French colonial thing way too far. Quel dommage!