Oh Luang Prabang....

In the past three days I: got up early to watch the monks collect their alms, pedaled around the city (two people on a single, three on a double), visited temples, went to the national museum, had a Lao massage, ate gelato, partied with some locals, kayaked on the Nam Ou and Mekong rivers, went through rapids and learned peanuts grow in the ground, visited Pak Au caves, had a waterfight with some village kids, learned how whiskey was made, saw sunset #2 up Phu Si, watched a movie (Drive) in the top of an artsy cafe, got up early to teach English to local Lao people, discovered a place that made me an iced coconut latte, got a new book (Shantarm) to learn more about India and booked my flight from Bangkok to Delhi. Sigh. I love this place.

The Alms Giving

Another Early (and beautiful) Morning

Looking forward to seeing the morning alms giving, a beautiful cultural experience, Antony, (the Auzzie) and I got up at the crack of dawn (5am to be exact) and wandered over to the main street to get a good seat. Turns out, alms giving is at 6:30am not 5:30am, thanks guesthouse clerk. An hour later, nearly 200 monks from different wats around the city (some as young as 8 or 9) dressed in beautiful orange robes walked down the street to collect the offerings. I had been told that they collect it and then when they get back to the wats they dish it out and eat it as one of their two meal a day. I now have a feeling they must get some other food as well because I find it hard to believe that monks live off sticky rice and candy bars, though this may be the dream diet of any 9 year old boy lol. Below is a photo of a group of them heading back to their Wat.

And the night got even better...

Already pleased from finding new an yummy food to eat I was wandering around the market trying not to buy things and look what I found!! It was a whole display of gelato, like 8 flavors of deliciousness that had no milk and no sugar. I got three scoops and I'm going back tonight. Heaven... :)

New Foods!

My dinner at the night market last night were these Vietnamese spring rolls. They were amazing with a yummy sauce of sugar, chilies and lime juice. Drool. It was so nice to find a new food to eat :)

Night Market in Luang Prabang

Yesterday after cycling around the city - two people on a one person bike, three on a tandem (they have seats on the bumper, really hilarious and so much fun) we parked and walked around the food market:

Sunset from That Phu Si

We walked to the top of a big hill in the centre of town to watch the sun set from a temple. It was a beautiful, almost peaceful moment were it not for the other 100 odd people with cameras snapping the same photos lol.