As I write this blog, I am sitting on a bamboo balcony overlooking the Nam Khan River in Luang Prabang, Laos. In the distance, I can hear the echoing rumble of a big drum from the nearest Buddhist temple. It is 4pm and it is the signal for evening meditation and chanting. Everything about this place is magical - from the smiling friendly locals, to the colourful monks parading around the city.

But let me back up a minute. What a journey it was to get here. And I don't mean that our trip from Cat Ba to Hanoi to here was tough, but rather after spending 17 days in the noise and chaos if Vietnam, walking the streets of Luang Prabang we finally feel that we have arrived. This is where we want to be. This is the Asia we have been looking for.

We did have a nice evening in Hanoi, enjoying our last night in cool weather and walked around the old quarter in the rain. We were very ready to back up and ship out to Laos after the congestion and incessant honking in the city. So, early on the morning of March 4th, we headed to the airport for our 1 hour flight to LP. We decided to spoil ourselves booking the flight versus the 30 hour bus ride. Excellent decision.

Landing in Laos was such a breath of fresh air. True, it is hot here again (30+ degrees every day), but it is so peaceful and very quiet. There are motorbikes and tuk tuks and cars, but they just let you do your own thing and cross the road without honking! Peace, finally!

On our way into town, we split a big taxi with some travelers from our plane. After checking into our guesthouse, having an amazing curry lunch (yay, good food again!), we wandered around the city and found this amazing restaurant, Utopia, with a very chill vibe and a huge bamboo balcony overlooking the river. Instead of tables and chairs on the balcony, you sit on padded mats, which really help increase the relaxation. Having our first happy hour here (and a HUGE Beerlao is less than $2), we ran into Chris, an Aussie that cabbed into the city with us. He joined us for happy hour and we also drew Marlene, a friendly Dutch traveler, into our conversation. The four of us headed out after dark and found a Lao BBQ restaurant for dinner along the Mekong. It was incredible! It was a cross between hotpot and Korean BBQ and it was all-you-can-eat, so the four of us sat out for hours, eating, drinking, and trading travel stories.

After dinner, we visited a few bars throughout the city, looking for happy hour specials (which weren't hard to find). In Luang Prabang, all the bars close down at 11:30pm and most people call it a night. However, we had heard throughout the course of the night that the bowling alley stays open late and continues to serve alcohol. So, not ready to go home quite yet, the four of us hopped in a tuk tuk with a group of Brits and headed to the bowling alley! It was quite the experience, with the alley being half drunken foreigners, and half drunken locals.

When we left, we discovered that because all the bars close at 11:30pm, all the guesthouses lock their doors/gates at midnight. Marlene and Chris had to hop fences to get back into their respective hotels, and we just had to knock to be let in. All in all, a great night out, but probably not something we could handle every night.

Monday morning, we had a great sleep in and met up with our new posse in the afternoon to grab a tuk tuk to the Kuong Si Waterfall, about 30km outside of town. The ride was about an hour through small mountain villages and rural Laos countryside. It was beautiful. We had heard that swimming at this waterfall was awesome, so we were a bit concerned when we first saw the water and no one was swimming. We walked up a jungle trail for about 45 minutes, checking out great views and swimming holes along the way- but again, no one was swimming. Finally, as we neared the top, there was a sign "Danger, do not pass", and of course, this is where everyone was swimming! We jumped into freezing water and swam around the pool that was at the base of one fall and the edge of another. You could even swim through and behind the falls into a small cave behind them. It was so gorgeous and peaceful. We were all a bit giddy at the incredibleness of it all. Eventually, we walked back down, had some food at the small village at the bottom, and took the tuk tuk back to LP.

In the evening, Mark and I spent some time walking through the night market on the main street. This is easily the nicest market we've seen in Asia. It is quiet, calm, and very colourful. The vendors are very friendly, all with big smiles, but definitely not pushy. It is a great market experience.

We again met up with Marlene and Chris for dinner and lucked out to find a small alleyway with food stalls setup with a $1.25 buffets. You just loaded up your plate with veggies, noodles, rice, etc, they'd fry it up for you and you were good to go. Again, very tasty. We're having much more luck with our food in this country.

This morning, we were planning to get up, and walk to the main street to witness the Almsgiving, which is where all the monks line up and walk the street to receive food and blessings from the people in town. We were a bit unsure about it because we've heard people say it has become a tourist attraction and a bit of a zoo, and we didn't want to disrespect the monks, but we were curious all the same. So, our alarm went off at 5:30am and we headed out into the dark. As we approached the road nearest our guesthouse, a line of monks was already passing by. We were able to stand at a distance and respectfully watch them. We didn't take any pictures because it was still full dark outside and it was peaceful just to watch them go by. We decided that was the best possible outcome and that heading to the main street would likely be full of the tourist zoo that we didn't want. So, we went back to bed!

We spent today walking around the many temples in the city and walking along the Mekong river. Again, I love this city and am enjoying soaking up the life, the culture, and the beauty. Right now, we again sit at Utopia and are relaxing as life floats by on the river.