LAOS, Luang Prabang

September 30, 2008.   

This is by far my favorite place that I have visited so far. There are great similarities also to Natchez. The town has about 20,000 people, is on the Mekong River and is a very old town with incredible French architecture. Laos used to be a French colony and many people speak French in town. There are many tourists in Old Town but it doesn't seem too crowded. I got up at 5:30 am to watch the monk procession. The monks and there were hundreds of them, walk down the street at 6 am with their large bowls and the locals line up on the sidewalk and put rice mostly but also money and other things as gifts to the monks. Whatever the monks do not use they give to the poor. This happens every morning.

LAOS, Luang Prabang (Kuang Si Waterfall),

Wednesday October 1, 2008

Today, a group of English, one from Norway and myself went in a tuk tuk about 24 km to the Kuang Si Waterfall. It was a blast. Very high and beautiful waterfall. We climbed to the top of the waterfall and waded out to the edge and took pictures. The 2nd picture is the top of the waterfall and the 3rd was taken leaning over the edge. Then we went downstream and went swimming which included jumping out of a tree into the falls. Afterwards I was sitting next to a couple and they looked American so I asked where they were from and he said Alabama. I was in shock. To run into an American is almost unheard of and for them to be from one of LSU's biggest rivals is another.We both briefly mentioned our upcoming game and then decided to drop it. There were also a lot of small Asian bears that were in several enclosures near the waterfall.

LAOS, (Small waterfall, Big elephants), Luang Prabang

I went to the second of two waterfalls outside of Luang Prabang. The waterfalls were much smaller than the previous one but more picturesque. An added benefit was that they bathe the elephants which they hire out for rides in the waterfalls in the evenings.

LAOS, Slow boat for 2 days to LAOS TO THAILAND

Saturday October 4, 2008

Took the slow boat up the Mekong River to Thailand. The current was really strong and the boat kept switching sides of the river to find the least amount of current. There were only 5 tourist on the boat going upstream while boats going downstream were loaded with tourists. Seems we were doing the route counterclockwise. Better for us. After 9 hrs on the boat the first day we stopped in a small village and spent the night. The river is full of rocks in the middle and you do not want to be traveling on it at night. The next day was 8 hrs but it is a slow peaceful journey and you can watch the many people fishing on the banks of the river with nets. Arrive in Huay Xai which is till on the Lao side at 6 pm just 30 minutes after the ferry to Thailand closes. Seems to be timed that away. So another night in Laos.

THAILAND, Mai Sai

Monday October 8, 2008

Arrived in Mai Sai after a long day of bus rides. It is on the border with Myanamar and my hope is to go to Myanmar and travel to Bagan and see the deserted 4400 temples in the valley.