Ok so Luang Prabang is a shift from what we had in Vang Vieng. With its french influence the place is very colonial and although touristy has alot of charm. It lies on the Mekong river and the buddist religion is quite dominant with all the temples spread across the town and monks walking round all the time. It puts a little smile on my face everytime I see these shaven headed, orange robed little gyes as they are so cut. I probably shouldnt say that about a Monk but its what i think so hey! We only arrive late in the afternoon so just spend time scoping the place out and grab some dinner. The next day we have a look at the options that are open to tourists in this area and with the vast array of travel agents and tour companies its hard to decide. mostly the things to do in this area are trecking, sailing down the Mekong and visiting some of the tourist atractions and elephant villages. We have plenty of time as we have a week here so take this day easy and just head to one of the temples. its very hot and my favourite saying becomes 'lets ahve a minute' as its hard to keep going in the searing heat and it explains why life is so slow and chilled out in Laos. The people are usual up at the crack of dawn and in the afternoon are asleep wherever they land. You can be walking through the market and they are asleep on the floor behind their stalls, which makes a nice change from the onslaught of pushy selling that seems to occur everywhere else in asia! The night market is great with a great selection of handcrafted things hard to resist.

On our third day durring our breakfast sat on the steps of the market area with tea and baguette we are soon approached by a Tuk Tuk man and after setteling a price we are on our way to the waterfalls about an hour out of the area. The drive in the back of the Tuk tuk was a bit uncomfortable but the sight of the waterfall made up for it when we got there. With turquoise coloured water tubeling down over limestone cliffs it was pretty spectacular. The water was a pleasent relief from the heat, if a tad on the cold side. We did attempt to walk to the top of the falls but gave up due to inadiquate footware (not lazyness, honest). They also have a bear sanctary nearby and its quite a good setup realy. With a big enclosure to hold the rescued bears they seem very happy playing and sleeping in their little hammoks! Look alot like paddington realy, wouldnt want to give one a hug though! We headed back after a couple of hours and went out for some dinner. We went to a place suggested by good old lonely planet however it turned out to be a disaster. I fancied a cocktain and went adventurous by choosing something i didnt know. Lao Lao rice wine wisky cocktail with pineaple juice, grim. And it was bye one get one free so i had two yuk cocktails to get through, made me feel quite ill realy and think my love of pineapple has been abolished, dam! The next morning after a lazy start we hire bikes and attempt to ride out to the so called nearby weaving village. Well this is me you are talking about so with a less than great map and rough directions from the good old lonley planet (that turned out to be wrong...the book went in the bin quikly after this) we didnt make it to the village instead ended up on some dodgy roads that went along past the airport (well runway) and into what looked like a minning quary. Big lorry fulls of rocks kept going past and dusting us! We just ended up hot and sticky and covered in dust so after having a minute with a drink we gave up and headed back for a lye down after the unsuccessfull day. I realy need to sort out this issue with directions of mine!

We were up bright and early the next morning (6am) to wittness the almes giving to the monks. This is when the locals and some tourists bye the sticky rice and give it to the monks as they walk past in a procession. I calll it feeding the Monks even though this is probably not technically true. i dont know if they eat what they are given or if it has some religious significant meaning but it was good to see all the same. There are hundreds of the little fellows and there are strict guidlines that must be maintained durring the 'feeding'. Like no talking to them, cover up and dont get in their way etc. I just stayed out of trouble over the street. The whole thing looked quite stressfull for the 'givers' as they spooned rice into the containers the monks had. It looked hard to keep up with the mass as they walked by, glad i wasnt doing it, rice would have been everywhere. We headed out in the afternoon to try to find this dam weaving village. After purchasing a more reliable map and asking for directions (I think this is the key to finding places) we go for a walk and head over a bamboo bridge on foot to the otherside of the river. Its very quite over here and with very little tourists. We soon stumble on the village we were looking for, in the opposite direction form were we went the other day! With its shops making and selling handcrafted weavings and handmade paper it all looked very nice! We ambled around for short time and the heat got the better of us and we headed back for a rest before dinner. We have to stop off at the bakery first for some cake, I think we have had cake from this bakery everyday since we have been here and its yummy too, almost as good as my baking! Whats a girl to do when you have such yummy pastries around for the price of arpound 50pence!