Villa Laowooden house Luang Prabang

... for the soup. At the center of the table is a pot which is heated by red hot coals from underneath. We decided to get a mixture of ingredients - shrimp, chicken, pork and beef. The waitress made our first batch of soup (we mistakingly bought four batches since there was four of us, not realizing how much food that actually was), first adding the noodles, vegetables, garlic, egg and chilies and then arranging the meat on the round skillet that protruded from the center of the ...

... clearer and frezzing i couldn't bring myself to go all the way in, jason jumped straight in and then came straight back out again hehe, its been a nice relaxing few days, we have been to nice places to eat and just enjoyed the beautiful town.<br><br>We are off to vietnam today not quite sure what to expect from here but will let you know......xxx

Note:<br>My blog finally caught up with my travel. I have left LP yesterday and now am in Chiang Mai, wanting to see the Candle Floating Festival, which starts today and continues until Nov. 3, when the moon is full. Wish you were here!<br><br> I arrived at Luang Prabang in the late afternoon, after a journey thru some beautiful high limestone mountains.<br><br>Luang Prabang is a UNESCO World Heritage city where time flows slowly. It is a nice ...

... your own meet on the middle part.<br><br>At 6am in the morning all of the Monks walk the streets to collect food for the day. Mel and I got up for this and bought some sticky rice for them, the boys didn't make it out of bed. Marc and Simon had a boys night out on there own, stumbling in at 3.30 with a whole carton of wine which was nearly empty (the last place in town shuts at 2am!). I think what happened in Laos with those two should stay in Laos!!<br><br><br>

... the whole activity as though they were at the zoo. One American, who we briefly spoke to before the precession began, specifically about showing respect to the monks, went so far as to sit amongst the locals, not armed with rice but with his huge intrusive camera. He snapped as often as the locals gave alm. We felt quite uncomfortable so really tried to keep a respectful distance. We didn't want to interfere with this ancient practice but equally we were intrigued.

<br><br>After tubing down the river in Vang Vieng, our next stop was Laos&#8217; show piece &#8211; the town of Luang Prabang.<br><br>After another 9 hour bus journey (with a 2 hour delay to wait for the police to clear the road over the world&#8217;s smallest traffic prang!) we arrived in Luang Prabang. We jumped off the bus and headed for reputedly the &#8216;best hostel in Laos&#8217;. Unfortunately, the street names in Luang Prabang have changed ...

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... of curries, a lot I don't even know the name of, I don't even know what is in it, I just know they taste great. If a group is at the hostel we'll go together, every one spends about 5,000kip, or about .60 cents, and we go back and eat Laos style. We pour the food out into bowls and dishes, open the sticky and steamed rice and dig in. A lot of foods here are eaten with the hands. It's customary to grab a big handful of rice with your left hand and tear away smaller pieces of it ...

... the rounds, presumably for the benefit of the children.<br><br>Even before the eating had finished the synthesiser kicked in and its blippy electrical beat, aided by the singing man who was going at it in a kind of Lao Stevie Wonder style, drowned out the voices of the guests. It was several songs before a middle-aged man in a silver suit, his face as red as the Johnny Walker label, wobbled onto the dance floor, clapping his hands above his head and high-kicking. He didn't have to ...