Chanthavinh Resort Luang Prabang

... leaving my hostel in Kuala Lumpur to my arrival at my Dad's house in Anaheim, California, was twenty-two and a half hours. Luckily I was able to get some sleep on the plane and was able to make it to bed at a normal hour. <br><br>FYI - I have pictures for this entry but I have a virus on my memory card so I can't retrieve them yet (I think they are salvageable!). <br><br>Also, I'm going to write one more entry as a summary, conclusion after this, so keep reading if you're interested! <br><br><br>

... people weaving and bought a cotton shirt. A nearby blacksmith sharpened my pocket knife for me.<br><br>I liked this place very much. there is a lot of French influence still here. The Palace was built in 1903 and next to it was a theatre where I saw a perfomance of the Flight of Sita by a local dramatic company. The hour perfomance was very colourful and was accompanied by a band of local musicians. Lots of drums and cynbals.

... market and the confluence of the Nam Xong and Mekong rivers so there was plenty to occupy us. <br><br><br>We have been very impressed by Laos cuisine since stepping into this little-known country and decided to take a cookery course on our second day in LP. This also happened to be Ritchie's birthday and Jie thought it would be fun for him to cook his own birthday lunch Laos style. The cooking day started with a tour of the local fresh produce ...

Today We caught the bus to Luang Prabang. It was a very long and rough trip. By the time we arrived we just found a guesthouse then explored the town and had tea.<br><br>The next day we took a tuk tuk and went to Kwang Si Falls and Tad Sae Waterfall. Both waterfalls had stunning turquoise pools at the bottom of falls for swimming. They even had rope swings. Leon did a few but ended up hurting his knee ...

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... boils, you get a piece of lettuce and throw some herbs, some garlic, and sprinkle some peanuts on top, lay it down and get ready for the meat. Take the same chopsticks you just used to grab the raw meat, (I know I know, cross contamination is a foreign word, a foreign concept, if it doesn't exist here than it must not be real.) and grab the now cooked meat out the vessel of boiling water. Throw that onto your little creation wrapped in lettuce. Let it cool while you grab a stiff ...

... for now. <br><br>Well, my time in Loas was not what i expected it to be. At all! My plan was 2 weeks of culture,trekking and exploring a country that i have had planned for a long time. Don't get me wrong, i did see and do these things, but not to the extent i would have liked. So much changes when traveling, that you can never really plan. I have realised that your time experienced visiting any country, is really dependent on ones social ...

... went to a wonderful performance there that began with a touching ceremony welcoming everyone. Several women came to everyone in the audience and tied strings around each wrist as symbols of health and abundance. I wore them until they finally disintegrated months later... We were treated to two wonderful dance performances. The first was by a group of women and was very ...

... we were given several offers of lifts by peasants in wooden carts being pulled behind Chinese-manufactured power tillers. These power tillers are basically a portable engine that can be attached to wheels and turned into a mini tractor or hitched to a plough or a boat. But we had decided to walk, much to the bemusement of the locals (and falangs) who zoomed past us leaving swirling leaves and dust in their wake.<br><br>When we eventually got to the cave, having passed through two Lao ...