Luang Prabang

We arrived by aeroplane into Luang Prabang airport which is a generous term as it is more of a shed than anything else. The immediate sense of landing in Laos is how relaxed the country is? No rush, everything has it's own pace.  This will seem funny but the smell of he air was so nice like a mixture of fragrences.  We decided to stay in Luang Prabang for five days to chill out and relax after our express tour through Vietnam.  Our accommodation was a two minute walk from the night market, palace and restaurants. 

Luang Prabang is the old French Capital of Laos where the King once ruled. It architecture is modelled after an old French village with shutters on every white washed building. The palace is open to visitors so we strolled through the rooms where you can actually envisage the King living there with his wife and concubines!!! It also houses the most sacred Buddha in Laos Buddhism. A golden 73cm tall statue which is due to be moved to a purpose built temple in the grounds of the palace shortly.  Overall the palace and surrounding buildings are lovely. 

We booked a 1 day tour to ride the elephants and visit the famous waterfalls in the area. Our elephant rise consisted of and hour ride through the jungle and river on top of Mweinup our elephant. She was 41 and was massive. The ride culminated in us having the chafe to feed the elephants which was cool. She loved bananas and we could barely break the next banana of the bunch before trunk would come searching for more food. In the afternoon we visited the waterfalls where we got to swim in pool beneath the final waterfall. The water was chilly to say the least but gave us a break from the heat of the afternoon sunshine.  

 Luang Prabang was so cool we were able to relax the other days walk to the top of the hill over looking the city for sunset, have a massage in the afternoon and drink the amazing Lao coffee. We had dinner in the L'Elephant Restaurant which was the best western food we have eaten since we left home!! Amazing - Coupled with a bottle of wine to wash it all down.  It think at this stage many people think we're alcoholics  but don't worry we're not!!  

Next is an 6 hour bus to the infamous Vang Vieng to go tubing!! If you don't know what is have a look on the Internet. I have a feeling the hang over will be colossal after this one!! 

Hope you're all well

Roy