Luang Prabang

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Having survived the slow boat we decided to have a relaxing first day in Luang Prabang. The town is quite small so we ran into most people on the boat and rehashed the events from the last couple of days! It was one of the girls birthday (Cathrin from NZ) so we all met up that evening to have dinner. The following day we all met up again and went to Kouang Si waterfall which is about 30km out of town. Laos and Thailand new year is coming up and to celebrate they all throw water over each other for good luck. Although not until the 13th, they started early in Laos!! On the way to the waterfall our tuk-tuk was repeatedly soaked in water! We think the driver was slowing down for the people at the side of the road to throw buckets in at us!! We made sure our camera and wallet were in a plastic bag as the day before we had learnt the hard way!

The waterfall was beautiful and had several levels with amazing blue water. We climbed to the top and then went for a swim in one of the pools on the lower level. There was a rope swing so the boys had fun throwing themselves in! Tim (NZ) managed to attract a leach which was happily sucking between his toes!! In the evening we met up with Laura and Richard who we had met in Cambodia in the adventurous crossing from Thailand!

We got up early to go to the 'giving of alms'. This is where local people line the street with food to give to the monks. There are street vendors who sell food so we bought some sticky rice. As the procession of monks stream past, you have to put a dollop of rice into each of their bowls! Chris was finding it hard to keep up with the pace so many monks missed out and went hungry!!! We then walked along the river and went to Wat Xiang Thong which is a beautiful temple with many ornate buildings. We then walked up Phou Si which is a hill in the middle of the town with a temple on top. There were hundreds of steps so in the heat it was quite a work out! The views from the top were amazing and the sun had a weird glow around it! That evening we went to the night market and bought some souvenirs and ate for a pound!

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