Luang Prabang

And the fun never stops……..

We left Phonsavan in good shape and trundled on merrily to the minivan station to get on the bus to Luang Prabang.

Only a 6 hour bus ride for the day, easy life, even had the pleasure of two Christchurch Kiwis on the bus, the first Kiwis spotted in three months. All of our country men ( and women ) must be doing the summer in Europe! The ride was mostly uneventful, only one truck/minivan pileup to negotiate and our driver falling asleep, to stop the trip being tooooo boring. Never a dull moment.

Luang Prabang was a god send as it has a functioning ATM for my plastic so we are back on track regarding what ever plans we might or might not make. No money no honey also applies to Laos

Got a heads up regarding where to stay from a very nice American on the bus so no problems on arrival here.

The first full day started at 0500 which I must admit was my idea. The reason being that every morning the Buddhist monks are given food by the locals. The monks do not cook themselves so this is like their daily shopping trip. Of course the local entrepreneurs now sell you food so you can give it to the Monks as they file past. So we got ripped off as per normal as the brain does not work too well before the sun is up.

    

The more I hear about Buddhism the more respect I have for this faith, it has a lot going for it. The young men enter the monastery to get a good education and at around the age of 14 they then choose if they want to stay or not. If they leave then they are in high demand due to their upbringing and schooling. It made me feel a lot better as I thought how can these young boys make such a momentous decision about being a monk for life.

Then back to bed for a few hours for much needed rest. Next stop was the Sun Bear sanctuary and Kouang waterfall.

The Sun Bears were amazing as you can see in the photos.  The sanctuary was started by a Australian lady and it seems to be going strong. And much needed as well as the wild bear numbers are going down due to habitat destruction, poaching and the bears being captured for bile farming by the Chinese. Same old story really, the world would be a better place without humans in it. Or at least a few billion less humans anyway or in the case of these bears less Chinese.

         

                        

Then onto the waterfalls. And they were beautiful, we clambered to the top and amazingly never fell down on the way down. I think our previous jungle training is starting to pay off………..yeah right.

              

Having a great time, please send more money.