Monks on the run

---

Onward and upward was our motto for the last two weeks before Christmas - thanks to some poor planning on our part we had to make it to Bangkok to catch a flight back to Phnom Phen, Cambodia for Christmas. We hustled on to Vientiane and spend a couple of days exploring the city by bike. It was then onto Luang Prabang by night bus with the intention of staying there for a few days before heading back down to Vang Vien for the famous river tubing and onto Vientiane for the night bus to Bangkok. Phew!
However the laid-back atmosphere and general loveliness of Luang Prabang caught us and we ended up spending all our time there. We will probably be back to Laos after Christmas to explore the north, we excused ourselves, and then settled in for a week of total relaxation.
Much of this was down to our gorgeous room. We scored a great room in Luang Prabang and still have no idea how. We were searching for a decent priced room and had stuck our heads in but the friendly young guy behind the counter said the rooms were $35. We said this was too much for us - thanked him and were leaving when he offered a discount - to $12. This was still nearly double, even triple what we usually pay but we took a look at the room and were hooked. It was luxury, full of Laos textiles, with free tea and coffee in the room and even soap, towels and body lotion (we have our priorities right) and as it was opposite Wat Xieng Muan we could see the temple and later found that we could hear the monks chanting every evening. Each morning at around 6am we could also see over 300 monks walking down the road and collecting alms from the local people. One morning we rose early and huddled round the fire in the courtyard at the back while the same young guy who had given us the room discount prepared sticky rice. We then headed down the road with him and there we dispensed sticky rice and biscuits to the monks. This was quite a funny experience - our young hotel friend took a couple of pictures of us so it didn't feel intrusive and there were very few tourists there. Eric was finding it pretty stressful keeping up with the procession as he tried to dole out the rice. At one point he leant towards me (I as a woman had to remain seated while he had to stand) and whispered, wide eyed "Did you see that fat monk with the tattoos?" We spotted a big bruiser who looked like he'd done a few rounds in the boxing ring marching along. We decided he was in fact an east-end Londoner called Barry who had decided the monks were onto a good thing with all these freebies and joined the queue every morning. Having done our bit for the monks we spent a lovely week in LP. The hardest thing being to resist all the lovely things that you can buy there on the night market. We were helped to resist temptation in one particular shop where Zoe wanted to buy some stencils.
Zoe: Sabidee
Smiling shopkeeper/random person sitting in shop: sabidee
Zoe: How much are these stencils?
Smiling shopkeeper/random person sitting in shop: No
Zoe tries again in Laos: Thao dai (how much do these cost)?
Smiling shopkeeper: No
Zoe: Look can I buy these or not? there is a picture of the artist here and it says they are for sale.
Smiling shopkeeper: No
Zoe ignoring Eric who is in hysterics, tries to give up with dignity: Khawp jai (thank you)
Smiling shopkeeper: Khawp jai lai lai (thank you very much)
Zoe went back the next day and did manage to exchange a book with the same guy but never managed to purchase a stencil.
Now it's back down south to Bangkok and the temples of Angkor Wat for Christmas and New Year

---

Photos

Feed the monks (Luang Prabang)
do they know it's christmas time....

The vertical runway (vientiane)
built with cement donated by the USA for a new runway..

An honest approach to tourism in Vientiane
The plaque describes the monument as a "monster of concrete" that is "even less impressive up close".

Shopping
but no luck with the stencils

Still shopping with dog protection
You won't get me away from these shops