We spent yesterday basically bumming around- one day was enough to take in all the sights of Luang Prabang, and it was way too hot to just walk around and see them again. It is such a nice place, though, that it was nice to hang around and just chill out. It was also good to rest up for the next step in our journey today.
Christopher and I first got up at 5:30 this morning to see the monks receiving alms. They form a long line of boys and men, heads shaved and wearing their orange robes, walking barefoot down the street opening the buckets slung by their sides, as locals, sitting on mats by the sidewalk, place bunches of sticky rice in as an offering. Kind of gross, if you think about it, but a really cool cultural tradition. After breakfast (with STRONG coffee) we got picked up (early!!) to start our trip down to Vang Vieng. We had decided to ride in a van rather than take a bus, and I think we definitely made the right call. The 5-hour drive is incredibly beautiful, over mountains and past limestone cliffs, but it was also steep and windy. I was glad I wasn't in a huge passenger bus. We got into Vang Vieng during the hot part of the day, so we braved the ants in our hotel room to make use of the A/C and watch the classic film Varsity Blues. Vang Vieng is a pretty small town in a beautiful setting, and absolutely packed with young backpackers. A lot of people use it as a stopover between Luang Prabang and Vientiane, which is exactly what we're doing. Tomorrow we're going to tube down the river, before heading to the capital the day after. Takin' it easy, Laos-style.
