Luang Prabang, Laos

After two wonderful days cruising slowly down the Mekong into Laos, we reached our destination city of Luang Prabang, the historical center of the former kingdom of Laos.  Luang Prabang is a relatively small city, and much less chaotic and busy than Chiang Mai, and not even comparable to Bangkok.  It has the feel of a sleepy provincial backwater, which at this stage of its existence, it is... The physical remants of the monarchy, as well as 100 years or so as a French colonial center are readily seen, and really quite well preserved- hence it's UNESCO world heritage status.  
There's also lots to see and do here, and it's almost all walkable from our hotel at the edge of the downtown.  We've been to night markets and wet markets, seen the daily procession of monks gathering alms, and visited the national museum(one of our favorites !), and the UXO museum (an eye opening look into our own country's past mis-adventures in the region)
We also spent a day visiting a local National Park - the Luang Si Waterfall - that was quite special; about the same size as Chittenango Falls near where we live, but with deep turquoise blue water due to the dissolved calcium carbonate in the water that flows from nearby springs. We also took a nice hike to some pretty impressive caves nearby...
Finally, yesterday I couldn't resist going out for a bike ride on one of the "free" bikes here at our hotel.  It was nice to get back on a bike for an hour or so, and at least get a feel for what it's like to ride here in Laos. Not nearly as daunting as some of the places we've been, that's for sure!
Today is our last day here before heading to Vientiane for a few days, and from there we'll move on to our next country -
Vietnam!
More to come then... Cheers!


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