Friday, our drive to Luang Prabang was very scenic, we drove through mountains and beautiful small farming towns. We arrived at around 17:30 and had to hunt around for somewhere to stay as we didn't pre-book, it was fairly easy as there is loads of guesthouses we just had to find one in our price range, we ended up in a triple room, us and Evelien, like a giant sleep over. We dropped our bags then headed straight out for food, after, we had showers and a early night as we planned to have an early start in the morning.

Saturday we were up and ready by 7:30, we grabbed some breakfast then took a Tuk Tuk to Kuang Si waterfalls. When you arrive at the waterfall you walk past many mini pools of the bluest water which you can swim in, as you carry on up the pools get bigger until you reach the main falls which is about 60 metres, we hiked up the side of the falls to the top for a view but unfortunately the sky was too hazy at this time in the morning, however, it did pay off going early as there were about 10 of us tourists! Evelien took a dip in one of the pools and we just sat relaxing listening to the water and the jungle bugs, after, we walked to the Bear Sanctuary. The sanctuary cares for 23 bears who have been rescued from poachers, the bears are poached to be sold to bile farms where they will spend their lives having the bile drained from their gall bladders for traditional medicine. The bears were really funny, so playful with each other and very curious about noises and smells, the best bit was when they stand on their back legs and walk which makes them look literally like humans in a bear suit. At 12:00 we took our Tuk Tuk back to our Guesthouse and spent a couple of hours resting and planning the rest of our time here and our onward travels. Later, we walked to Mount Phou Si a hill in the middle of town, it is a local religious site and houses several Buddhist shrines, we walked up the many steps to reach the top in time for sunset but in fact we were way too early, we waited about an hour and the area was getting more and more packed with tourists that we decided to give up. For dinner we met up with Christoph and Tsering who just arrived from Vang Vieng, we went to a street buffet where you can pile your plate high for 10,000kip, about 80p, after we sat and had a drink and we're joined on our table by a, we think German, couple where we played an entering game of watching people stand in dog poo, strangley hilarious.

Sunday we were up bright and early again, today Evelien was spending a morning with the elephants so we decided to do a trip to the rice fields. We grabbed some breakfast then we were collected at 8:00 for our Tuk Tuk ride to the farm, when we arrived we were greated by the very bubbley SiaLe and the rest of the group, 9 of us in total, one couple from Bath! Sia started by showing us all the different tools and equipment they use on a rice farm and advised us there were 12 steps to follow. Step 1, we had to put salt in water until it was dense enough to make an egg float, we then put the seeds in the water, the ones that sink are good quality to plant but the ones that float get fed to the chickens. Step 2, we had to prepare the rice paddy for planting, we got to get in a paddy which was sticky mud up to our knees! We then had a go at plowing the field with a plow being pulled by Suzuki the big Water Buffalo! Step 3, we threw the seeds over the paddy and Step 4, we had to separate the shoots so they were 25cm apart, trying to work backwards in sticky mud is very awkward! Step 5, we had to do the weeding and Step 6 would be harvesting however it is not harvest season so we did not get to do that part, but we were given a demonstration of how the process goes. Step 7, we had to bash the dried rice grass against a block so all the rice seeds fell off. Step 8, we had to bash the seeds in a giant sort of Mortar and Pestle to get the grains of rice out of the seed shells. Step 9, we had to flip the rice around on a circular flat bowl to separate the rice grains from the leftover bits of seed shells which was funny, a lot of us just ended up tossing the rice all over ourselves! Step 10, we separated the rice debris into 3 piles, the first being rice, the second seed shells which get used towards rice wine and the third is waste that they feed to the chickens. Step 11, we steamed the rice and Step 12 we ate it! We also had a go at grinding the rice into flour and juicing the sugar cane into sugar cane juice which was delicious! It was such a great experience, after 4 months of seeing rice fields and the ladies busy at work in them, as well as a lifetime of buying rice from the supermarket, we finally got to see what hard work goes into it! When we got back to the Guesthouse we met Christoph and Tsering for some lunch then spent the rest of the afternoon being lazy. We had dinner with Evelien, Christoph and Tsering, we went to a bbq buffet where you pick your food and bbq it yourself on a mini table bbq.

Monday we got up at 5:00am to watch the alms ceremony, Alms giving takes place daily as the sun rises, around 200 Buddhist monks depart from their various temples to gather their daily meal. The tradition of alms gathering dates back to the 14th century, yet still today locals wake early to prepare the food for the monks and wait quietly by the roadside to give their gifts. We watched for about 20 minutes as we don't think we were stood in a great location, about 30 monks came down our road in age order so there were tiny little ones at the back, they stopped at each person kneeling on the floor for a scoop of rice in their bowls. It was very spiritual if you were watching the locals carry out the ceremony, if watching tourists doing the ceremony we were very aware they were doing it wrong or not to traditional religious standard. After, we went back to bed! We woke at 9:30 to get our stuff ready, we said goodbye to Evelien as she was off to Thailand, we checked out at 11:00 and went for brunch. We spent the day relaxing in cafes using WiFi to fill in the online visa application for India, we sat at a bar along the river mekong and had a stroll around the shops. At 17:00 we were collected for our 24hour journey back to Hanoi, we have really good memories of beautiful loas.