Next morning and we have an early start for a day of sightseeing. First stop was to the day market- a whole assortment of interesting items for sale. The food stalls really stay in my memory the most. Live frogs, deep fried whole rats, buffalo feet and tails, duck heads, eels, a bowl of a live fish that the woman spat into (yummy), all parts of meat covered in flies and bugs and an interesting assortment of fruits and veg. Anyway those sights slightly didn't encourage us to east the local food. We ended up having breakfast at a Laos style Starbucks, very western - I had a pain au chocolat and a latte! (we my dorm buddie and I).
After the pit stop we headed around town and hit a few temples. Such amazing buildings I couldn't help but imagine how the dragon guards and intricate gold leaf would look in Bolton... I think it would look good! After the temples we head to the
National Museum but it was closed because it was Sunday, went to the ballet... Closed. So instead we head up to a view point of the city- up several hundred steps and find a little temple on top and an amazing view of the Mekong river and the city. It really was stunning!
After we soaked in the views, back down the stairs and we hop into a tuk tuk to the Kuang Si waterfalls. It was a very cold and uncomfortable journey that lasted about an hour in the back of a tuk tuk. We arrived at the waterfalls to a paparazzi of Chinese tourists wanting pictures with us English girls... I really must be as stunning as I thought!
We walk to the waterfalls and on the way walk through a bear sanctuary- they were very cute. Sleeping in big hammocks and lazing on wooden platforms. Very cute and unexpected so it was an added bonus. A couple of hours later of wandering around the waterfalls we head back to the tuk tuk- I would have gone swimming had it not been freezing cold!
Back to the hostel and a quick panic pack of the rucksack before my tuk tuk took me to the bus station. Wrong bus station. Tears. New tuk tuk. Correct bus. 12 hours later bus stop near Thailand border. Tuk tuk to border. Boat across river... Thailand!