Next stop on the river is Luang Prabang. For the last couple of days Simon has been telling us that our accomodations were not that great and that during our stay here we should be thinking of the great place we’ll be staying in Vientienne. We showed up to find an amazing little guesthouse along the banks of a tributary of the Mekong. Each of us has our own little thatched roof cottage where they serve you breakfast on the veranda. This has easily been the best place we’ve stayed so far. It’s quiet, peaceful and the service is extraordinary.

I really like Luang Prabang. It’s a wonderful, sleepy little town with lots of character. We headed into town the first night and had dinner and walked around the night market. The market is much better than Chiang Mai. It is exclusively filled with local crafts and artisans and has a low key, no pressure atmosphere.

Yesterday we hopped in a tuk-tuk and got a ride East out of town and went to see the Kuang Si waterfalls. The waterfalls are totally gorgeous and the water is a lite jade color. We took lots of photos before jumping in to the water to swim and play under the waterfalls. After playing around and cooling off for an hour or so we walked over to a little Asiatic bear sanctuary. There were about 15 bears that have been rescued from animal smugglers. Apparently, these bears are prized for their bile in China and Vietnam. It has been used as a holisitic potion for thousands of years.

Last night we headed into town and had a tasting of traditional Lao dinners. It started with sticky rice and some dipping sauces which were quite good. Next we had fish and pork with noodles, peanuts and cucumbers wrapped in lettuce leafs. And for desert we had black sticky rice with a tamarind sauce. While it was interesting, I have preferred the Thai food most of all. We also headed to a local night club and saw a local band play a few songs. There were a ton of locals and they had their own dances for a number of songs, half two step and half macarena.

For some reason I just can’t post pictures. I’m having lots of difficulty getting my pictures off of the memory card. I’ve switched to a new card and am hoping to retrieve them when I get home.

Tomorrow, we hop on a short flight to Vientienne.