Luang Prabang sunset views

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The day started very early. This was to see the monks receiving alm at 6 a.m. They collect sticky rice given by the locals and tourists. Each temple has small group of monks and they collect the food on the street close to their temple. The local people get up early to prepare the sticky rice so they have a long day. After breakfast I visited the palace. It has an attractive royal temple and inside an assortment of objects. The palace building is twentieth century. The throne room is decorated with glass mosaics installed in the 1960s. In the room of gifts from other countries I could not find anything from the UK, but the gift from the USA was a piece of moon rock presented on a wooden plaque decorated with elephants. next to it was a plastic model of a moon landing vehicle. Luang Prabang is named after a revered old guilded buddha which is now in a separate area of the palace. In the grounds of the palace I also visited the collection of royal cars and an exhibition of photographs of Luang Prabang monks. I returned to the Okpoptok shop and chose a handwoven bag, (in bright colours of course). For lunch I ate at the ethnic museum and chose a Tai Dam dish of a pork dip with vegetables. In the afternoon I visited the Wat Vixoun and That Mark Mo. The That is a large stupa known as the watermelon stupa because of its shape. I had the Wat entirely to myself. It has a collection of praying for rain Buddhas (the Buddhas have their hands by their sides) and stopping war Buddhas (with the palms faced outwards). I ended the day by climbing Phousi hill for the sunset views with viws down to the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers. Dinner was at a barbeque style restaurant with the food cooked on the table. It was a little bit like a Chinese hotspot, but with a raised metal plate in the middle for cooking the meat and fish.

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