Some faces I liked in the market

Ice-cream man

Markets...

Food markets abroad are always interesting, and this market didn't disappoint. Maggots, locusts, dried bats, snakes, frogs and a pretty big lizard. And all before we'd had breakfast...! We stuck to our muesli medley.

Snack bucket

Poor lizard!

Bundle of frogs

Ewww

Bats?!

Maybe I'm ignorant, but...pink eggs??

Another highlight of Luang Prabang is the night market. Other South-East Asian markets are incredibly noisy and you get shouted at as you walk pass, normally along the lines of "lady, buy something". Here, the market is one of the most peaceful places. The vendors are usually ladies, and there are babies/small children asleep everywhere - some under what look like giant food nets to keep the mosquitos away. It's possible to browse without the vendors bringing out their giant calculators and trying to seal a deal. Very refreshing!

This little green teapot is now in my possession :)

Food glorious food

To fit in with the locals, we have been doing a lot of sitting around, eating and drinking. There are no multi-national food places in Luang Prabang, which is very refreshing. It's nice to be able to walk around the town for hours and not see any golden arches or Starbucks. We have our favourite eateries and when the staff enthusiastically wave whenever they see you around in town, you know you've been there too much.

As I mentioned before, Luang Prabang has some amazing bakeries. Here's one of our favourites, 'Joma's'.

Joma's bakery

The prize for the best breakfast in Luang Prabang definitely goes to the Riverloft Cafe (below). This is definitely somewhere we've spent too much time. But with a huge 'Superbowl' on offer of yoghurt, fruit and honey-toasted muesli, what's not to like?!

Walking down the street the other day, we were approached my a friendly, if not slightly inebriated, Lao man who insisted we join their party. Each time a new baby was born in the village, they throw a street party complete with keyboard playing and middle aged people bopping. 

Bop bop bop

We have discovered the dream team for lunches. Two ladies - one selling baguettes and the other fruit shakes. These two ladies have the biggest smiles you've ever seen. We passed on the 'Happy Shake'...five times the price for a little herbal happiness added to your shake.

Shakes galore

Big smiles: one half of the lunch dream team

Another culinary highlight was this restaurant called Dyen Sabai. You have to get a little boat over to this restaurant in the wet season (there's a bamboo bridge in the dry season). There are little huts alongside the river. We ordered a beef Sindad - they remove a tile from the table, and put in a big fire pot containing hot coals, then it's up to you to cook your own food (which is actually an ingenious way of saving the chef's time). The vegetables go round the edge and cook in the soup, and you fry the beef on top. Despite the fact it's far too hot to have a BBQ in the little hut, it was pretty delicious.

Chef extraordinaire

Our sindad

Boat racing

Boat racing is pretty big over here. They're constantly practising up and down the river in preparation for the big race on the 15th. They're pretty quick...we tried to keep up with them once in a kayak and failed...miserably.

Luang Prabang

We came to Luang Prabang almost 2 weeks ago now, and we find ourselves still here! We've been feeling pretty tired from moving around so much, and with a couple of weeks with no plans, we decided to hang on a bit longer.

Quaint, peaceful, colourful, charming, atmospheric, laid-back, magical, clean, picturesque, sleepy...just some of the words that come to mind when I picture Luang Prabang. It is possibly my favourite place so far (with Hoi An coming in at a close second). Luang Prabang is a sleepy town surrounded by two rivers, the Mekong and the Nam Khan. In the centre of the town sits Mount Phousi, with its gold temple sparkling on top. I love the architecture - it's a medley of French colonial architecture, golden temples and wooden houses on stilts. I have developed a bit of an obsession for taking photos of the French shutters. The town is so colourful, with lots of blues and mint greens...my favourite colours. It's a good job we're leaving soon, as our laptop hard drive is full because I have taken too many photos...

Part of the reason I am in love with Luang Prabang is because of the people here. They are so friendly, and when you pass, they smile and say "Sabaidee" (hello!) You can tell people living here are very content. They mostly seem to be hanging around relaxing, playing games or rowing up and down the river in preparation for the boat race, there doesn't seem to be much work to do when it's not the rice planting/harvesting season. Now we've been here a wee while, we have begun to notice people's routines (these mainly involve them  sitting in the same spot each day and watching the world go by!) They also sing to themselves wherever they are, whatever they're doing, walking, working, cooking...It's infectious.

 

Motorbikes are ridiculously expensive to rent here (well, compared to Laos' neighbouring countries). This is possibly quite a good job, because we have been enjoying all the delicious French bakeries a little too much...so it's back on the pedal bike to burn off another croissant! 

(Tim would like me to point out that he took this photo!)

One of the many riverside cafes

There's 32 temples, so we have done our fair share of looking round a few. 

Royal Palace

No trip to Luang Prabang is complete without a visit to the Royal Palace. We have been planning to visit the Palace every day since we've arrived, but we never quite made it in time (it closes at 11am...) Unfortunately, you are not allowed to take your camera in, so my photos are of the grounds of the Royal Palace rather than the very royal interior...

Royal Palace from the outside

Outside the offices and accommodation...not so palatial

Palace pond

Temple in the Palace's grounds

The big chop

Tim was getting pretty hot under his luscious locks, so he went all out on a haircut (£1.50). After a lot of gesturing and confusion, the hairdresser got out the razor and started hacking away. Needless to say the result was somewhat shorter than Tim had described.

Before... 

Too late to go back now...

That's a LOT of hair!

I got distracted taking pictures of other things, so there is no 'after' photo, though there are some pictures of Tim on my previous post...