We we happy to arrive here in Luang Prabang after the slow boat, and had a mini adventure trying to get cash, since the guidebook said we had to go to a bank out of town. We had just enough for a tuktuk out to that bank, and there we found a closed bank and an atm that doen't accept visa. bah. so we asked the tuktuk driver if he knew a hotel that would give a cash advance, and eventualy he understood. actually he took us to a good place! And here was when we realised we weren't in such a jam, as the hotel guy took me on his scooter to the 'withdrawl' shop, going past another atm on the way... so we had cash after all. lots of it.
Millions of Lao Kip.
Dinner was great, we found a veggo buffet on the street - on plate for 80 cents, and a large beer for $1.20. Then the night markets. I tried to not buy anything, but with tone there [ yeah blame it on me you little leech], it's impossible. more clothes, and gifts, they had a lot of nice stuff, sometimes gross (ivory, jawbones), but usually nice. Once you look at something, the sellers (usually young mothers, their babys (ies?) on the back) were friendly but very persistent. We reckon that the women with babies sell much more stuff than the women without. The cuteness factor, i guess.
We climbed the mountian behind the town, on top of which is a temple, and many buddhas. We met 'ken' the young novice monk on the top, and he invited us to his temple, which we could see in the distance. We even saw Buddhas footprint on the mountain top. He had real big feet. We did go out to Ken's temple the following day, but couldn't find him. We also took a trip out to a waterfall, which was absolutely beautiful. clear water, cascading down terraces, and great places to swim too. There were several Sun Bears and one tiger rescued from poachers, kept in a rescue centre there.
We stayed in Luang Prabang for a few days, because it was so great, easy and relaxed. but soon the time came to move on, so we visited several tour agents here and asked about options. We really wanted to spedn some quality time in Laos, and not just follow the tourist trail, so we planned a trip, here to Phon Savon to see the plain of jars, and then north, to great limestone caves. So then to repack and get ready to move again - we have a lot of bus hours ahead.
Luang Prabang is a great place just to hang out, not to much, not to little of anything. The 'curfew' of 2330 usually keeps things pretty quiet, but that's nice for a change, too.
