Took a boat across the Mekong - saw three wats (temples) - one a working wat, antoher a wreck, another up several hundred steps with a fantastic view over Luang Prabang. Pregnant Ozzie lady made it up the steps behind us - she told us that the hazy view over the Mekong was due to the 'slash and burn' agriculture - something that causes haze all over S.E. Asia - bang goes our romantic theory it was due to the tropical atmosphere. Talked to a couple of monks - wearing their bright orange saffron robes - we realised they were only about 13 or 14! They were like ordinary kids who wanted to practice their English.
Ate a few times at the night market in Luang Prabang, fish on a stick, fried veg. and waffles.
Hired rubbish bikes and had fun zipping around the town, which is a peninsula at the head of two rivers. We saw a wat, the royal palace - now a museum because the Communists kicked out the royals in 1975. The king went to Vientiene and died there and the princess set up a swankee hotel, the children are now in France, it was known a 'bloodless coup'. Seems the last king had a bit of an ego - he created a fancy thrown compared to his predecessors. The most interesting part of the museum was a collection of diplomatic gifts received by the king over the years - the USA gave Laos some moon rock!
A trip up the river to see the 'cave of a 1000 buddahs' - the journey along the Mekong was welcome, we liked seeing the lush vegetation along the river's edge. But the cave was over-run by tourists, which was a bit disappointing.
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