Le Parasol Blanc Luang Prabang

... rapidly going from pleasant although a bit dilapidated old french townhouses to plain old shanty town. The contrast was vast and brought you down to earth as to how the majority of Laos actually live. Still everyone seemed friendly enough and always smiled or waved. <br><br>After our walk we met up with Minal and Rumit and decided we had enough time to arrange a trip to the local (25km away) waterfall of Kwang Si. We took ...

... travelling southward with currently. The views along the river were stunning - rolling hills, local fishing boats and blue skies made for plenty of kodak moments, especially as the sun set over the river. But what we really loved about the boat trip was the way everyone was so open to making new friends and it didn't matter who you were or where you come from: our game-playing team included an old Canadian couple, two Irish girls, a crazy guy from New ...

... down the river to the opposite bank where we disembarked.<br><br>We walked up some steps and emerged in a wooded clearing where some elephants were roaming about, attended by several mahmouts. We passed them, bought a ticket to the waterfall, and headed over a rather unstable wooden bridge across a wide stream that led to the main river. Across from this was one of the lower waterfalls, and it was in this direction the mahmouts were now riding their pachyderm pals so that they ...

... up the hundreds of steps of Phousi hill I had a good view of the city and there were also some monks up there. I also had a massage but this one was a bit disappointing. The girl clearly didn't feel like it and it seemed like she had not been educated to give massages either. It costing only so little though, I just looked at it as a good oil treatment for my skin. <br>That evening I had my dinner (yummie Tom Kha Kai soup) in a restaurant ...

... and savour for a lifetime &#8211; words nor pictures will ever fully do this trip any justice.<br><br>We finally arrived in Luang Prabang and quickly fell in love with the pace, the people and atmosphere. Situated between 2 rivers (Mekong and Nam Khan) and full of Wats (temples) we spent the first day meandering the streets exploring our new surroundings in a new country. Having limited time, we organised a trip back up the Mekong to the Buddha caves ...

... and I was attracted to this bar for its two for one cocktail offer and free boat across the river to the bar. We set off for sunset drinks and realized that once across the river you had to walk up the mud path through the farmers fields to get to the bar (good thing I didn't' wear heels). We were pleasantly greeted by a lovely garden bar with private pillow covered bamboo platforms overlooking the river. We ordered our drinks and waited. A barman returned to ...

... lt;un royaume et qui est aujourd&lt;hui classee ville du patrimoine mondiale de l&lt;UNESCO. Je dis ville mais on s&lt;y sent davantage comme dans un gros village. EN fait, comme dans plusieurs petits villages colles ensemble.<br> <br>L&lt;endroit est certes touristique (fait un peu penser au vieux quebec) mais tellement charmant. Et il est tres facile de sortir des travers des endroits trop touristiques en prenant des petites rues de cote ou on se sent immediatement dans ...

... 1491; &#1513;&#1492;&#1490;&#1506;&#1504;&#14 93; &#1500;&#1489;&#1511;&#1514;&#1514; &#1506;&#1509; &#1504;&#1496;&#1493;&#1513;&#1492; &#1513;&#1502;&#1513;&#1502;&#1513;&#15 14; &#1489;&#1497;&#1514; &#1500;&#1511;&#1493;&#1510;&#1512;&#14 97; &#1513;&#1491;&#1493;&#1514; &#1492;&#1488;&#1493;&#1512;&#1494; &#1489;&#1506;&#1514; &#1492;&#1511;&#1510;&#1497;&#1512;.<br >&#1492;&#1489;&#1511;&#1514;&#1492; &#1492;&#1497;&#1514;&#1492; &#1502;&#1500;&#1488;&#1492; &#1504;&#1502;&#1500;&#1497 ...

... the Mekong which were nice and good to get to somewhere quiet and relaxing.<br>We also visited a waterfall which the Lao people love and it's very pretty and good for swimming in. We saw the paople giving alms to the monks at 5.30 am which happens every day in Luang Prabang. About 300 monks walk the streets and locals give them donations of sticky rice. It was lovely to watch and a nice way to start the day. We had some great food too. Lao Laap is very tasty ...

January 21st, Luang Prabang<br><br>We spent several days in Luang Prabang, visiting temples and relaxing by the river. One day we took a longboat down the river to the nearby waterfalls at Kuang Si. These waterfalls are about thirty kilometres south of the city and are naturally arranged on three tiers, with many sub-waterfalls cascading around them. We travelled there with John, a fearsome-looking yet pacific American tattooed over almost every square inch of skin below his neck and ...