What an amazing city! Luang Prabang is small and laid back. Everyone is very friendly. The first night we arrived, we climbed the 360 steps up Mt Phousi to see the sunset. Due to the haziness from the rice fields burning, our pictures could not capture the beauty.
Rebecca came down with a small fever, so Sara and Scott took the next day to do a hillside trek while we browsed around town. The food here is great. Everyone orders a bowl of sticky rice to dip in curry with their fingers, mmmm! The only problem with the town is there are a lot of chickens and roosters roaming. Luckily, they aren't the attack kind. There is a big market in the middle of the street every night. We found fun t-shirts and bracelets. You can bargain with the traders, but for $3, it's not worth it.
The next morning we took a boat to some caves up the Mekong River. We stopped by a paper making village and whiskey making village. The boat ride was beautiful, but the caves were nothing compared to Halong Bay. In the afternoon, we split up with Sara and Scott again and visited the most magnificent waterfall (they accidently saw it the day before). After an extrenuous hike up the right side of the falls, we realized there was a much easier route on the left with stairs. Whoops.
Today we planned to head out to Chiang Mai. Laos had other plans for us. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 11am, but got postponed to 6pm. We got to the airport and they laughed out loud at us. We're taking the extra time to do some research on our time in Chiang Mai. Luang Prabang is a beautiful city, so we don't mind.
Rebecca came down with a small fever, so Sara and Scott took the next day to do a hillside trek while we browsed around town. The food here is great. Everyone orders a bowl of sticky rice to dip in curry with their fingers, mmmm! The only problem with the town is there are a lot of chickens and roosters roaming. Luckily, they aren't the attack kind. There is a big market in the middle of the street every night. We found fun t-shirts and bracelets. You can bargain with the traders, but for $3, it's not worth it.
The next morning we took a boat to some caves up the Mekong River. We stopped by a paper making village and whiskey making village. The boat ride was beautiful, but the caves were nothing compared to Halong Bay. In the afternoon, we split up with Sara and Scott again and visited the most magnificent waterfall (they accidently saw it the day before). After an extrenuous hike up the right side of the falls, we realized there was a much easier route on the left with stairs. Whoops.Today we planned to head out to Chiang Mai. Laos had other plans for us. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 11am, but got postponed to 6pm. We got to the airport and they laughed out loud at us. We're taking the extra time to do some research on our time in Chiang Mai. Luang Prabang is a beautiful city, so we don't mind.
7 comments:
I am sorry you were a tad early for your plane but fortunately you had some paper work you could work on at a nearby location. We too arrived early today at Nana's. Thankfully she had some work for me to do, paying bills, balancing her checking account etc. The weather was cooperative today and the car ride was uneventful. We had a lot of fun around the dining room table discussing the type of things that make a young teenage boy's face turn bright red (Josh in this case). With Devia's baby due in about 8 months (we all agreed she announced rather early), we decided to wait to set up the baby pool. Uncle Mike was laid off and starts a new job March 12 in Rogers, MN, quite a long drive in his BIG CHEVY Truck. Everyone ate heartily in anticipation of their trips back home. Being that Uncle Mike starts a new job, he was the first to leave and we all took his lead and left also. The trip home was impacted by a trip to Walgreen's and a trip to the bank to deposit a check via the night deposit, it's so much easy than waiting in those long lines during the week. We then made a split second decision, so unlike us, as we were heading home to stop for some sustenance at such an unlikely place, McDonalds. Much to my chagrin, not being a usual consumer of their hamburgers, the most important part of the meal was watery and not up to their standard. The ketchup is what I am refering to, the other vegetable. Well, we made it home and are now going to rest before continuing with our busy day which will include sending a check to the I.R.S. and you know what that means we will be doing. Toodles, MN Mom
Mom - Thanks for the update from home, we love hearing what everyone's up to :)
update on cheddar: Thus far he has gone on 4 walks in the past week and each time is exploring the world around him. He really knows the lakes well now. But with the warm weather he gets VERY dirty thus has had 4 baths now also. On the fish front, the rocks went tumbling down but I set them up again, the fish were a little bit worried, but they are making it through the tramatic event.
Erin - Yes, we in fact got used to the time change right away. It was pretty lucky. We're kind of afraid returning home, but oh well. We don't know the languages at all. Most people that we've come in contact with know very little English, except the guides. We try to learn Hello and Thank You and get by pretty well with that.
Jen - Thanks for the Cheddar update. Sorry he's such a dirty puppy. He thanks you for all the love and walks. I'm sorry the rocks fell too. That happened to us once too. At least everyone is doing all right. Mr. Spits underminds the coral which upsets the tank.
Hi Guys-
Ok this is my first time posting on a blog so it took me awhile to figure this out (esp that I needed to establish an account first). Anyway...Gabe and I have been reading about your adventures and it sounds like you are having the best time!! I love the pictures so continue to post! News on this front...we bought a HOUSE!! yipee:) Its in Eagan right off 77 & Cliff. We close May 29th, and just put our house on the market. So we have been swamped the last few weeks cleaning our house and my parents were kind enough to take in our "extras" until we move. Now that I know how to post, i'll keep you updated. Stay safe and have fun. Love, Florie & Gabe
Hello!!! I hope you are feeling better, Rebecca--and that you're only having to deal with a fever, nothing more. Bill is going to LA on Saturday for a week, so Greg and Jenny are just keeping busy with visitors! Will you guys have another layover in LA? Besides the chickens and roosters, do you see a lot of stray dogs? George and Otis are concerned....
Florie - Congrats on the house, that's so exciting! We can't wait to see it when we get back.
Katie - Unfortunately the stray dog population is a bit more than we would like to see. It really makes us miss Cheddar!
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