Laos Catch-up

We are currently in Luang Prabang Laos. It is an amazing city/town. The entire downtown is a UNESCO world heritage site. We have been here for 3 days already and I could easily spend a ton more. I know it has been a while since I've written an update but there has been no power in Luang Prabang for a few days now. Only sparadically in the evenings and then the internet cafes are packed. So today is the first day it made sense to send an update. Although the internet here is really really slow. Like Burma again. Anyway, it has been a crazy couple of days. We headed out of Thailand by boat from Chaing Khung. It was a crazy and terrible weather day. What an adventure. It was torrential downpouring with rain all day. So we had all our gear and had to take an open uncovered wood boat across to the Laos and then do customs. We had to lug all our gear and it was rather cold. We then took our stuff by tuk tuk to the peir and caught our private slow boat. After that is was OK just cold and windy on the boat. The slow boat was amazing. We got a private guide and boat just for our group. Comfy seats and they put the sides down to keep the rain out. The boat had good seats and a table for everyone. They even had coffee mix (which is a 3 in 1 instant coffee that beats the regular coffee here). Although Laos has better coffee than Thailand or Burma. We spent our first night in Laos in Pakbeng. An amazing small town with only one strip of stuff. I got a rain poncho so I knew the rain would clear the next day. It was crazy getting off the boat in Pakbeng and climbing the rock cliffs with our stuff in the rain. It was good though. The town had amazing charm and great Indian food. Fabulous!!! The next day the weather was much better and we enjoyed the cruise down the Mekong river. Too beautiful. Large limestone formations jutting out of the river. Rice and peanut fields along the water and hills and hills of jungle. Amazing Laos. Very unpopulated and wild. We arrived in Luang Prabang around 4pm. We did a great group meal and loved the food again. Laos definitely caters to veggies more then Thailand. Yesterday we toured Luang Prabang all day. We started with a tour of the palace museum then had a free day. Barti, Addi and I went to some of their famous temples and did a ton of shopping. Not as cheap as Burma but cheaper then Thailand and I love the stuff. We climbed Phousy hill in the middle of town for sunset. Amazing views of the rolling hills and rivers. The fields and town panormic. Great stuff. We always crack up since our Thai tour guide keeps calling it pussy hill. Too much. On the way down we found another amazing temple with a buddha foot print and other great buddhas and caught some monks doing their nightly chanting. Then the night market. Today we started early to watch the monks in town at 6am collect their alms. All the locals line the streets on bamboo mats and give the monks in their saffron robes their alms (sticky rice and fruit and other food). Then we had an amazing coffee and made it back to our guest house for breakfast. We headed up to a Moung village at the top of the hills and did a 4 hour jungle trek down to a spectacular waterfall. One of the best days yet. The jungle was beautiful but wet and slick due to the rain. The waterfall was a greenish colour (like a glacier lake almost due to minerals). There were so many levels to the waterfall with dense jungle around it (breathtaking and spectacular). We are currently heading out for a fancy dinner. Addi is buying and taking me out on the town. Take care and I will see everyone way too soon. Love, Sonya:)