This morning saw me getting up at the crack of dawn to give Alms to the local Monks of Luang Prabang. The Alms ceremony is where the locals come together and present food to the monks of the town. They walk round the entire town collecting from people at 5 am. It was actually quite humbling to see them being presented with Alms and giving thanks to a community that takes care of them. It is a shame that some of the tourist offices take advantage of this and sell 'Monk food' like they are some kind of animals. Often of low quality and it makes them ill.

After giving Alms I decided to do some volunteering at Big Brother Mouse. Big Brother Mouse is a Literary organisation which assists in helping young adults learn English. Volunteers donate some of their time to reading practice between the hours of 9 and 11 each day. The books range from very simple to more complex English and all donations of literature are of course welcome. I spent some time there talking to the locals in English about everything I could think of till we ran out of topics. I bought some bi-lingual books to present to the Lao children in the trekking village - although some of the stories are a little strange the moral path is in the right place! I said I would meet up again tomorrow night and chat some more before I leave Luang Prabang. It was nice to make a difference even if it was only a small one for a couple hours. Better time spent here than in the pub or sleeping.

Later in the day I decided to climb Phousi, which is the hill in the middle of the town. It also houses the Phousi Stupa and you can see views of the whole of Luang Prabang and the Mekong at sunset from the very top. Not as strenuous a climb as perhaps Doi Sutep was in Chiang Mai but still worth the admission fee for the view.

Afterwards I decided to take a trip to the local Red Cross in Luang Prabang. They have posters up asking for blood donations however, knowing I hate needles I decided to settle for one of their massages instead! There are massages and sauna available here and all of the proceeds go to the Red Cross and helping the poor in Luang Prabang. Unfortunately my shoulders will have to wait as they were booked up!

Today has been a good day, I almost feel like I've accomplished something instead of just sitting around. I'm also pleased that things are going well in the UK, my friend is about to have her baby and it's had me a bit tearful in the Aussie bar using their wifi.

Tomorrow sees me getting back on the Tourist wagon by going on a tour to the Waterfall before thinking about moving on elsewhere, maybe to Vang Vieng if I can be bothered to get up and book my transport!