I love Luang Prabang!

Wow, it feels like ages since I updated this blog.

Our last few days in Chiang Mai were wonderful, spent at yoga classes, markets and having massage. A great place to spend a few days relaxing and getting ready for another leg of travelling.

We flew into Laos as we had overrun our intended time in Thailand and wanted to make the most of our limited days in Laos. First stop: Luang Prabang.

As soon as we arrived in this lovely colonial town we met up with old university pal from Bristol, Celia and her Canadian man Jeff – it was brilliant to see them. We hit it off with Luang Prabang immediately. It’s such a beautiful town, although very small, set on the Mekong river and filled with temples. So many temples (65 in total) that it is now a UNESCO world heritage city. These, combined with the ageing French architecture, bustling night handicraft market and wonderful restaurants made Luang Prabang very difficult to leave! (I was reacquainted with red wine and salad – it was never going to be easy to say goodbye…)







We spent a day on hired bikes, taking in some of the temples and the local market, and climbed to a temple at the top of a very big hill for some spectacular views and some well-needed exercise!












On Celia and Jeff’s last day we chartered a longtail boat to the nearby Pak Ou caves on the Mekong. These two caves are crammed full with over 20,000 buddha statues – quite impressive but the day itself was not so wonderful. The rains had arrived in Luang Prabang and showed no signs of leaving.











On our last day, however, the sun shone down as we took a day trip to the Tat Kuang Si waterfall, where we enjoyed a refreshing dip in the pools and climbed for a better view to the top. The day was finished off with a far too civilized evening meal with group of English folk we had met – we dined on fine French food and wine and stayed up far too late, meaning our 7am bus out of town was not very well endured…