Adventures in Laos

We took a long, winding bus ride to Luang Prabang yesterday. 9.5 hours. Only 357 km but through beautiful mountains so the going was slow.

I started feeling "something" seriously attacking my immune system last evening so I supported my body with everything I have from my pharmacy of natural healing remedies, including lots of water with Vitamin C. We've taken it easy today and I'm feeling much better. It's 5 pm Tuesday.

The reputed best place to eat in LP is at the night market, which hosts a huge assortment of Laos food. As you can image, we didn't recognize much of it, but with a few questions, we had a great meal. The night market is like a giant outdoor Lao buffet. Such a delicious dinner we had.

This morning I was up at 6 am to watch the monks walk through town to gather alms, their daily food from the local people.

We're staying in a beautiful, comfortable guest house with warm, English speaking Laos. It's a family business. Will write more tomorrow afternoon with more stories of the day.

So much to share and time to get some sleep. It's now 9:30 pm here in Luang Prabang on Wednesday evening. We just finished eating a Lao-style BBQ with lots of veggies and chicken and a coconut shake for me. Beerlao for Doug.

Today we visited Kuang Si waterfall about 25 minutes away. Amazing! The whole mountainside was alive with rushing water, splashing down over layer after layer of limestone. Some were very low falls. Others higher. When we got to what may have been the end, we looked up and there was a huge series of falls above us, the closest one at least 120 feet, maybe more. The entire experience was breath-taking and beautiful,

plus there is an Asian Bear rescue center there so we got to see several. They are also called moon bears and are the ones with a white crescent on their chest.

I've been enjoying the fresh fruit shakes here. My faves so far are the lime and the coconut ones.

Today we also visited Big Brother Mouse, a non-profit where they make Lao books for children to promote literacy. The artwork is child-friendly and the message of the stories insightful. We bought some to take to the villages where we are going during the next few days.

Tomorrow we travel by mini-van and slow boat to Muang Ngoi Neua, a small, rural town north of here about 4 hours. There's lots of hiking, visiting ethnic tribal villages and caving in the limestone karsts. And internet access that is probably there in case of emergency. This means no internet for the next four days. What a novel concept! I'll write when we return.