Days 17 to 21

New Years Day we were booked on a tour to learn about sticky rice at The Living Land, working farm. When we arrived and we were all given a traditional bamboo hat to wear and I thought oh no this is going to be a really awful tacky experience. How wrong I was. It was really interesting and fascinating to see how sticky rice is made and see all the man made tools for the entire process. If there is ever a Y2K then I want to be in Laos they can pretty much make anything from bamboo. We ploughed the paddy field, yes it was a very muddy experience but luckily I did not fall over into the mud / fresh water buffalo poop. We planted, harvested, cut, dried, beat, separated, milled and cooked the grains. We even juiced our own sugarcane on an ingenious squeezer but it took 2 people to turn it. The highlight was the sticky rice feast, cakes, biscuits, wafers - all delicious but happily gave the rice wine a miss (think it was vinegar!)

Visited the Kuang Si Waterfall. Was hoping to swim in it but it was a bit chilly so ended up climbing to the top in my flip flops. Let this be a lesson to me, always wear my walking sandals! Going up was not too bad, but coming down....... Please someone call mountain rescue. However the view from the top was spectacular. The drop of the waterfall was fenced off so you could look right over. Would have loved a swim when we got back down but unfortunately ran out of time.

We learned always book a restaurant in Luang Prabang. All the good places were full so we ended up in an empty place on the first night. I know they should be avoided, but if we had, we would not have experienced Laos Faulty Towers customer service. Your main meal arrives before your drink, but not with everyone else's.... And if you get the wrong thing they just suggest you pick out what you don't want! Learning from this we booked in advance to have a Laos Fondue, which was one of the best meals I've had yet. No melted cheese in sight but you are given a hot coal bucket and you bbq your own meat and cook your eggs (Elise not quite as good as your poaching) noodles and vegetables in a very tasty broth.

Visited temples and the palace museum ( still scarred by Bangkok but this one was much more interesting). Climbed to the top of Mount Pho Si to see spectacular views over the city. You would have thought I would be getting a bit fitter by now on this trip but still struggled up the last bit (must stop eating Nutella Pancakes). I was a bit upset to see caged birds for sale to release at the top. Enjoyed a good foot massage and experienced the worst manicure and pedicure ever. If you like to be scratched and have wobbly paint then this is the place! Luckily it was only £6. The night market was the best I've been to yet. I can't tell you what I bought as I don't want to spoil anyone's surprise. You will be pleased to know that I got back into Buyer mode with my negotiation skills. It feels really wrong bartering with very poor people but it is expected and really it saves a few pence.

The highlight in Luang Prabang was our over night stay with the elephants to learn how to become a Mauhout. Elephants are treated pretty appallingly here so we were careful to research the best one, which was Elephant Village. Fact: not easy to sit on a elephant with no seat. I thought I had a pretty good level of balance but maybe the height made me wobble. It was a long way to fall! We learned how to control our elephants in Laos: go, right, left, sit and most importantly stop!! Whether they took any notice of you was another matter.
We had a trek on a seat (much better - even had a seat belt!), met the baby elephants who just wanted us for our bananas, and took our elephants across the river to put them to bed. Our jungle lodge was just that, it was a shame that we didn't have more time to sit on our balcony looking at the river and the jungle and listening to the elephants (and the snakes). I met a nice group of people, from Australia, NYC and New Zealand, with an offer to stop by when I'm there. The next morning before our showers it was bath time for the elephants. I don't know what they do in their sleep but they get pretty dirty! Surprising the river was pretty warm at 7am (I think from all the fresh warm dung!). I managed to stay quite dry until my elephant sat down in the water while I was on its neck and the one next door splashed me with its trunk. All good fun. Though it was a touristy thing to do it meant my contribution went towards keeping the elephants safe from logging or poaching. As Laos is now cutting too many trees down, the habitat for elephants is shrinking fast and they have no where to go. They can eat up to 200kg of plant a day so food is becoming scarce for them.

Really enjoyed my time in Luang Prabang. There was a good mix of culture, fun and ability to sit and relax in true Laos Style. Would definitely recommend it as a top destination to visit to experience Laos. But it was time to move on to our next destination Vang Vieng.

For photos see Facebook Luang Prabang Album.