Maria and I got up at 7am this morning to go for a walk around the temples of Luang Prabang. We have been the sensible ones and didn't go out last night so that we could get up early. Although it wasn't an early night as when everyone else got back at 2am they kindly woke us up. The joys of dorms and hostels.
No idea where we were going we set off on our walk, Luang Prabang like every city/town in Thailand or Laos there are temples everywhere so we soon found some. There are a lot of monk tourists in Laos and I find it very amusing when they are wandering around with us and getting their expensive cameras or iPhones out of their orange bags and taking their own photos. The funniest point of today had to be a monk taking a selfie at one of the temples, I wish I had been quick enough to catch it on camera. We must have visited 4 or 5 temples today, I'm losing count of the number of temples I have seen on this trip.
We were going to go up to the top of the monument for sunset but decided to do it during the daytime to really see the views. It was a long walk up and god knows how many steps I climbed but it was worth it for the views at the top. I took a sneaky monk shot at the top but he caught me, he then asked if he could have a picture with me (on his iPhone of course) so I took the opportunity to get one on my camera. So as I stood with my new monk friend, his monk friend took the picture - priceless moment!!
We then found a Lao lady selling birds in little baskets, you buy them and set them free. I didn't like the idea of them in their baskets but did like the idea of setting them free so I brought one for 25,000kip (£2), I wanted to buy them all and let them all free - poor birds!! So at the top of the monument with my two birds in a tiny basket I set them free, they were quick little things!!
Exhausted we stopped for smoothies (mango, pineapple & banana), I have an addiction to these things. They are made at the side of the road with fresh fruit and I must be drinking about 6 of these a day. I'm so surprised I haven't been ill yet. This afternoon was so hot so I just chilled at the hostel in and out of the sun. After just over 2 weeks I'm eventually starting to get a tiny bit of a tan.
This evening was another walk around the market, I brought some jewellery made from bombs that were dropped in Laos during the secret war. The villagers have learnt to make jewellery out of these to sell to help get them out of poverty and to rebuild their villages. I felt bad battering for these so paid full price (£3). I'm surprised how tight I am getting even though it is so cheap out here. I ask how much something is, for example a dress I brought today the lady said 120,000kip, now that's about £11. Way to much to pay for a dress in this place, I walked away paying £4.50 still feeling a bit ripped off.
Early night tonight as flying to Cambodia tomorrow. Really excited about this.

We've had a little celebration in our dorm tonight. The air con is now working, yippee!! It's been a hot couple of nights, but hopefully now with our blankets (the hostel provides blankets not sheets??) we will be much more comfortable. We also have a new roomie, Maria has left and we've got a French guy (older guy 45+) who says 's***' a lot but is very entertaining!!