On the 1st September, we celebrated our 5 year anniversary with a little splashing around in the pool and a climb up Mount Phousi. Mount Phousi is a hill right in the centre of Luang Prabang. 355 stairs later (according to a friendly passer by...), we arrived at the top where there were amazing views across the town and busy monks painting the temple.
Luang Prabang
After all our strenuous climbing up the 'Mount' (hill) we settled down for a trip down the river at sunset.
Just chilling
House boats
Fisherman finished for the day
From one boat to the next... We enjoyed a 'boat' of traditional Lao food at our hotel. There were 7 dishes in all. All were pretty yummy except the dried river weed...
Our Lao food 'boat'
Happy Anniversary
After we got back to our room, we heard a little knock at the door, and two staff members appeared with this cake. It was pretty huge and we were stuffed from our dinner boat, so we managed to shovel some down the next day before we checked out, and shared the rest with the staff. There was quite a collection of decorations on top... a polar bear, race car, gold money and roses?! Also, the cake sponge was green inside...
We spent a day away from Luang Prabang, exploring the area around it. This started with a visit to a local Lao village.
Once we'd spied out the locals, we did a short trek.
It had been raining all morning, so the path was very slippy. Tim and I were the only two, out of a group of eight, to slip into the river ( = soggy feet). I was relieved to discover that the big wiggly thing I saw out of the corner of my eye was a millipede rather than a snake. We then squelched our way to some kayaks where we headed down the river to Tad Sae waterfalls.
Sticky rice
Bowls to collect rubber from the trees
Remains of the downpour
A lot bigger in real life!
The waterfalls caught us by surprise and were a lot more beautiful than we'd imagined. The water was a clear blue and there were butterflies dotting around the place. I did a spot of swimming in the freezing water, whilst NOT watching Tim scale the waterfall (until he was in position for his jump...) After splashing around, we spent nearly 3 hours kayaking down the river and even braved the rapids at the end.
Each morning at 5:30am, hundreds of saffron robed monks come out to walk the streets and receive alms. It's a silent procession. It's so eerily quiet that I had to get off my bike and push because I was so conscious of my squeaky brakes. It's a magical time in Luang Prabang, as the morning mist is lifting and the cockerels are crowing (thought they often start before 5.30am...)
There are around 33 temples in Luang Prabang, so almost every street you looked down, there was a steady stream of monks.
Local people line the streets, each wearing a scarf over their left shoulder. There is quite a strict etiquette and you are not allowed to make any eye-contact with the monks during the ceremony. Women have to kneel, men and children, it seems, are allowed to stand. The monks are only allowed to eat the food given to them each day. They receive offerings of sticky rice, bananas, and other food goods.
Unlike other countries, becoming a monk isn't a lifetime calling. Traditionally, all boys are expected to spend some time as a monk. A lot of boys become monks when they are quite young, often to escape the poverty cycle. As a monk, you get free food and access to education. Young monks are called 'novices', and cannot call himself a monk until he is 20. We've met a few at temples, and they are always keen to practise their English with us.
Happy with his food
We were pretty exhausted after getting up at 5:30am, so we took refuge in a bakery for coffee and pastries. It was opposite a temple, so we were able to watch the monks doing what seemed like their daily chores...sweeping, cutting the grass with machetes (as you do) and generally doing tasks required for the upkeep of the temple.
To get to our next destination, Luang Prabang, Laos, we took the slow boat down the Mekong River. We were a bit sick of buses and couldn't afford to fly, and we'd heard that the slow boat is a great experience if you have the time. It's all in the name really... s l o o o o w!
The first part of our journey was a 6-hour bus to Chiang Khong in Thailand (where I fell asleep on something nice and soft...it wasn't until the driver moved his arm I realised I was asleep on it...!) The next day was 7 hours aboard our boat, stopping overnight in a village called Pakbeng, then another 9 hours on the boat the next day. The boat is basically the public bus for villagers living alongside the river, and there is no more to it than what you see below. All the seats were loose and appeared to be stripped straight from a bus, which meant if you were bold and early enough you could shove the seats in front of you together and give yourself extra leg room! Even so, it did get a little uncomfortable at times!
It was a great introduction to laid-back Laos, and it was so peaceful meandering down the Mekong with lush hills either side, with nothing to do but read, talk, think and snap some photos. The
best part about the boat is spotting the local villagers going about
their lives on the side of the river...men fishing, children playing, whilst the women were chatting and washing clothes. Part of the reason it was so slow
is because of the amount of times it stopped on the way to collect
people, bags of rice/supplies and at one point a cat fish the size of
a small child, and whiskers bigger than my fingers (the whiskers being the only reason for my calling it a catfish...I've no idea really). All the village children came running out to see the
boat when it arrived, and watched on with fascination.
Here are some things I spied from our slow boat...
