Luang Prabang, Laos

Wednesday, December 21st, Day 3 trough Saturday December 24th, Day 6.

We left Hanoi on Wednesday afternoon and got to our Hotel in Luang Prabang late in the evening just in time to go to sleep. When we woke up the next morning we saw we were in a lovely hotel along the river. We ate breakfast along the river, it was beautiful. When our guide, Ay, came to pick us up he informed us that we would be moving to a different hotel for the next couple of nights. Hate to get too settled. We quickly packed and off we went.

We went to quite a few Buddhist temples in the area. Sorry, I don't remember each of the names and they all start to blend together after awhile. Each temple is different and has a story of why it is unique but this blogger has failed to remember all of the details. Maybe you can travel there to get the details...but in the meantime I'll just provide you with some pictures and general details. When we went to visit the temples we were instructed that clothing had to cover at least down to your knees and your shoulders covered. We also had to remove our shoes before entering.

After a temple or two we got on a boat and cruised upstream on the Mekong river. It was a great day and we were able to view people who live along the river just living their lives. Washing in the river, themselves and clothes, fishing and how they planted their gardens along the river bank. It was interesting...again such poverty. We stopped along the river in a little village and had lunch at a restaurant. Local food...lets just say none of us (except Mark) ate the stew, and eve he didn't eat the floating fish parts. We stopped at another village (Ban Xanghai) known for making local rice wine and did some sampling of that.

After some sight seeing we got dropped off at our new hotel the Ancient Luang Prabang Hotel which ended up being right downtown. Every night they close the street downtown and the "night market" begins. They set this up around 5 pm and tear it down around 10 pm. Every single night. The locals sell their goods. I could have bought about one million things and they were all so cheap. I wish I would have brought a empty suitcase. (Now that I'm home I really wish that I would have bought more...oh well, next time)

Mark's Laos observations (guest writer). Our guide, Ay, was well educated and proud of his country and Buddhist faith.   We learned a lot about Buddhism.  Ay gave very detailed history of the temples we visited, taking care to briefly kneel and respect each Buddha image.  Even the tiny, impoverished villages we travelled through had an ornate temple.  The Laos flag and the hammer&sickle flag of communism were widely displayed, but Ay used both the words "democracy" and "capitalism" to describe the future.   Jessica and I got a harsh view of Laos government corruption, when she was pulled aside in customs and taken for questioning.  I paid a $200, back-office, cash penalty (bribe?) for Jessica's passport being less than 6 months from renewal.  In retrospect, probably best that we spoke very little, paid the officer and respectfully moved on.

Our first hotel in Laos, it was a beautiful setting and so fun to be able to be outdoors. We didn't stay long after breakfast. Told to pack up and move out.

Kids going up to their room to pack. Loved this place.

Temple #1.

Buddha in the "sermon" pose. The pictures along the walls told a story. Buddha and places in the building have lots of gold, but they are really just  gold plated.

Lots of shrines.

Made a stop at a small village known for their homemade paper making. Our guide likes the hands on method of guiding. First step boiling.

Next step is pounding.

Kids trying to be helpful in the paper making process. They are spreading the paper particles evenly across the screen and then it would be set out to dry. Notice the screens behind them set out to dry?

Jessica pulling off some paper from a screen that has been properly dried. This group of paper had flower petals and leaves as part of the paper.

Sara being taught how to make a gift bag from this home made paper.

Silk worms

Hand weaving looms. Today they weren't weaving as today was paper making day

Some of the products that they make from their homemade paper projects. Hand made lights. Notice the black and white one with the boat and elephants. That one went home with us and survived two more countries pretty well.

We made our way to our river cruise on Makong River. Notice that really long thin boat. That's our private boat.

Great views and such a beautiful day. You don't see a nice blue sky like this in Shanghai...ever.

Mark...you want to drive. Ahh, Mark loves boats.

Notice the gardens along the river bank. They try to take advantage of this little piece of land with water  near by.

Elephants!

Water buffalo.

Family! Just enjoyed lunch at this restaurant along the river.

We stopped and hiked up to this cave to see another place they made into a Buddha temple

In the cave Temple there were a ton of Buddha statues. Both old and new.

Stopped at another small village known for making local rice wine.

We had to try some...cheers!

Some of their weaving work that they had displayed to sell

Home sweet home. We walked around this village briefly.

Another temple. The art work is so beautiful...the pictures just don't capture this

More Buddha statues people make and bring into the temples for offering. All are very individual looking as the maker tries to make them look like themselves.

View from our new hotel room which is now downtown. Night market is all set up and ready to go. Blocks and blocks of tents all hoping to sell their hand made goods.

Next morning...having some breakfast out on the porch of our hotel.

Girls having breakfast. According to the kids Laos has the best coffee ever. They each bought some to bring home with them.

Another temple.  This one is on the Palace grounds.  Laos had a King until 1975.  We toured the Palace.

Three headed dragon protecting the temple

Gold plated thrones

Walking through the fresh market in the morning.

Stopped at another village. Lots of kids running around trying to get us to buy things.

I bought a sunglasses case from these cute little girls for $2. It is cross stitched on both side with a nice design. We couldn't even buy the material for that price...and the hours of work. wow.

Traffic jam...not cars this time. Water buffalo just going for a stroll.

We stopped at another little village. This lady was make thread from cotton.

Bryan took his turn at making thread. Probably should keep his day job.

We walked around this village too. Such poverty.

Another little village. We ended having lunch from a restaurant from here.

The start of our hike to go see some waterfalls.

A little bear camp along the way

Such clear and beautiful water. We could go swimming here but it was a little cool for us.

Lunch after our waterfall hike. We waited at this picnic table on the trail area and the restuarant delivered it right to us. Such service.

Next agenda...Riding elephants!!!!!!!!

We fed them sugar cane before our ride trying to bribe them into behaving I guess.

Next thing we knew Bryan was driving his elephant. Bryan's elephant was always the leader and seemed well behaved. It was just a baby, just 5 years old. Still lots of growing to do.

Then Jessica was driving her elephant! The boy working with this elephant and the boy working with Bryan's elephant enjoyed talking and flirting with the girls.

I didn't think they were going to let us drive our elephant because she didn't always behave. Our elephant's name was Pancake and she was about 25 years old. It is more difficult to ride than I thought, especially when going down a steep hill. They walk so quietly through the woods we were really surprised.

Opps...I think I lost Mark!  haha

Sara's turn to drive.

I believe the girls elephant was 55 years old and his name was Chocolate.

Mark finally got a turn to drive. The riding carts are now removed and we are on our way down to the river so the elephants can enjoy a little bath.

Okay...I think this is deep enough!!!

Boy did we get wet. Jessica's elephant and my elephant were really good on spraying us on demand. Really soaked after this. Mark's elephant would not spray him. Bryan's elepahant went under water. I was trying not to think about the "clean" water that was being sprayed at me after witnessing them using the water as a bathroom.

We are soaked. I'm sure our van driver is thrilled about that. No towels to be found.

We woke up at 6:00 am the next morning to witness the monks from all of the area temples walk down the town streets. The people line up along the roads with food to donate to the monks. Lots of sticky rice. You were not suppose to touch the monks. The monks do this every single morning as this is their only source of food. The monks can eat after this until noon and then they have to fast again until the next morning.

This little boy is from the village and isn't donating to the monks. He will actually be begging from the monks. If the monks get more food then they can eat for that day they give some food back out of their buckets.

Here they start.

This man is also begging for food.

Two little girls giving food and then a little boy with his basket waiting for food donations.

The monks all wear this robe at all times. They all have shaved heads and are bare foot. They vary in ages from middles aged to very young. It looked like the youngest was around 8 years old. This is all voluntary and a monk can leave at anytime and not be looked down upon. They can visit their home once a week.