Beautiful land, beautiful people

The pictures really speak for themselves in Luang Prabang. After being in Asia for over a year alot of the temples blend together. Luang Prabang in Laos will re-invigorate the spirit to go temple diving.
Before I delve into our time in Luang Prabang, half of the adventure was getting there. From Chang Mai we took a two day boat trip along the Mekong Delta sauntering on a tourist boat throughout lush green valleys with subtle hills on either side of the river.
Once we reached the town we were exhausted and in need of some decent shelter. We found a place on the main drag. The whole town is quaint and charming. Best of all, the town is home to thousands of Monks that live in the wats. Many of the townspeople of Luang Prabang are devout Buddhists and wake up before sunrise to give Alms to the Monks. They give food, drink and flowers to the monks. The monks have to eat the most food in the morning since they are not allowed to eat after noon.
There are two highlights in Luang Prabang that were must sees. One morning we were there we went to a temple overlooking the city. We were lucky that we took the opposite way to reach the top of the temples. One thing that was kind of funny was that the statues were spray painted we guess because of lack of funds.
We kept hearing about a gorgeous waterfall about 45 minutes out of the city. They turned out to be some of the most beautiful waterfalls you could ever hope to see. The water was crystal clear since the basin of the falls was limestone. We hiked to the top of the small mountain and basked in the pools of water overlooking a stunning valley. Another great part of the day turned out to be visiting a bear sanctuary that was at the base of the waterfalls. The bears are taken from poachers looking to extract their stomach bile for medicinal purposes. Now there is no need for this because of advances in medicine. The bear fund tries to educate local people to try to eliminate the poaching of the bears on the black market.
When we left Luang Prabang, we hired a driver whose truck broke down on the way to the airport. We had to walk the rest of the way to the airport. We knew it wasn't a good situation since I had to pust the truck to even get it started.

written by  zachel on May 9, 2009 from Luang Prabang, Laos
from the travel blog: Zack and Rachel's Asian Chronicles
Send a Compliment

comment on this...