2/22 Luang Prabang, Walking tour of Wats

The bottom of the hill - Phu Si

On the way to the top

2 Nagas - snakes


Monks under the Bouganvilla

Study hard!

If you can lift this over your head you'll have good luck. Must only hold Buddha by the arms.

Wat where the last King's ashes rest

Tamarind Restaurant

Returned to the hotel and had breakfast after feeding the monks. Around 9:00 we got the van from the hotel to take us to town to start a walking tour of Buddhist temples (wats). Wat Pha Mahathat is at the top of the highest hill in Luang Prabang, Phu Si. Many interesting Buddha images along the path to the top of the hill. Once up there we had panoramic views of both the Mekong and Nam Kahn Rivers. We walked around for about 4 hours watching the monks as they walked around the town.

We then walked to the new location of The Tamarind Restaurant. We went to where the guide book said it was but it had moved 3 blocks away. It's now on the banks of the Mekong and we got a taste of Laotian cooking experience. The owner prepared many traditional Lao food dishes and just kept them coming. To give you an idea, we spent around $15 per person for this meal. That included all the food, desserts and pre and post meal drinks. This is pretty pricey in Luang Prabang (relatively) but an appetizer at the hotel we're at was $15 yesterday at the pool.

Came back to the hotel for a swim and a little rest before one last night of shopping at the night market.

Tomorrow early we get on a boat for a 6 hour trip north on The Mekong. Each place we saty at from this point on will be much more "rustic" to say the least. I may have internet access the first night but I doubt it the night after that. Having said that we have had perfect wi-fi access everywhere in Viet Nam as well as Laos. So, even though we will be out in the countryside we may have the internet there too. Stay tuned.