http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Muang-Hongsa/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Laos , West , Muang Hongsa en-us Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:37:21 UTC Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:37:21 UTC EN FRANCAIS PLUS BASMORE PHOTOS HEREOn Monday I spend the morning walking around and visiting Luang Prabamg's most famed temples until Keo catches up with me and takes me to a couple of slightly outoftown temples on his motorbike. Foreigners are not allowed to rent motorbikes to drive around LP anymore just as in Siem Reap in Cambodia and there are no mototaxis here so I feel completely pr http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Muang-Hongsa/blog-318557.html We started our journey south from Luang Nam Tha with the goal of reaching the annual Elephant Festival although this was the festivalrsquos first yearhellip in Hong Sa and the prospect of an Elephant Festival filled us with a little too much excitement We set off on a local bus with the intention of heading through a town called Udomxai and then another bus south to Pak Beng a stopover tow http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Muang-Hongsa/blog-135565.html Elephant Festival The elephant festival at Hongsa was interesting It was the first year that it has run so it was a little rough around the edges. For instance the 'elephant race' was cancelled at the last minute for safety reasons stopping 50 stampeding elephants is not easy. The 'elephant of the year' contest was pretty tense but the best elephant won in the end though we're not entirely s http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Muang-Hongsa/blog-131075.html It was finally time to leave my favorite little town of Luang Prabang. I've indulged too much toured the sights gotten a 12 hour head massage haircut spent an hour hemming pants with my guesthouse mom learned even more Laos from a local tour boat operator as I helped him translate documents into English ate even more Indian food from one of the many restaurants named Nazim or Nisha ...do http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Muang-Hongsa/blog-130411.html