So since i last wrote we had the bus trip up from Vang Vieng to Luam Prabang after a huge party which shouldn't have been a problem i should have slept except it was one of the most beautiful bus trips i have ever done through really mountainous country with little villages hanging to the sides of valleys along the way. As a result of this i didn't want to sleep so i didn't miss the view. So at the end of the day i arrived in Luam Prabang one very tired boy.
Luam Prabang is a UNESCO world heritage city center full of old temples and cafes looking out across the Mekong River.
The view from one of the cafes looking across the Mekong
Other than being beautiful the town has a very relaxed atmosphere so i general just hung out, my record being heading out to breakfast with a girl from my guesthouse around 8am i left the restaurant at 12:30!!!
One of the Wats (temples) in Luang Prabang
Highlight of my stay here was meeting a few people who were staying at my guesthouse teaching english to the novice monks they were able to introduce me to a couple of monks and give me a real insight into the local lives. some of the more interesting point that monks stay as novices for 3 years then become normal monks usually for approximately another 3 years before rejoining the world as normal Laos people again. While monks there are heaps of rules around what they are not allowed to do. Many people know that they are not allowed to own things but one of the more unusal things i thought especially for he young ones (some novices enter at school starting age is that they are not allowed to play. But like all forms of mental discipline they can find it hard to follow this and apprently this is one of the rules that is more comonly broken by the novices when the monks are not looking. Other examples are no playing on the internet or buying things From shops (as they are supposed to lIve on what they are given)but it is not uncommon to see a guilty looking novice trying to hide in the back of the internet cafe or buying some sweeets.
Aother great adventure in Luang Prabang was to visit a waterfall where they also have a bear resuce centre where the bears they rescue from the chinese medicine trade are looked after coming from NZ waterfalls aren't that unusual but still it was a pretty cool waterfall and i did manage to spend half an hour just hanging out watching the bears with nobody else around (very soothing).
Some bears hanging out
The waterfall
A cool dragonfly i found
After a few days time was calling as i wanted to meet some mates in Chang Mai for the festival of lights, so it was time for a couple of days on the slow boat cruising up the Mekong to Thailand. But thats for the next post.
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