Luang Prabang, Laos

Jaimin and I started our morning at 5:45AM today so we could watch the procession of monks in the alm giving ceremony (locals give the monks sticky rice to remember their lost loved ones and wish for a good afterlife).  It was a nice, quiet, and peaceful way to start the morning.

After that we visited the morning market where locals sell their produce, animals, and other food.  Unfortunately we saw someone selling a cooked rat...  :o(. We also visited Wat after Wat all through Luang Prabang in a HOT 90 degrees.  A few young monks spoke to us and it was a nice to learn about their life story and to be asked about our life stories. 

We tried some fresh spring rolls off the street after some hesitation but were so glad we did...they were delicious with some spicy sauce to go along with it.  We also decided to try an alley way where we saw huge groups of people grabbing dinner off the streets....locals and tourists galore!  Vendors had their dishes set up and people filled up their plates, all for $1.50.  We found a place that had a load of vegetarian options, so we filled up our plate and sat down on one of the benches.  We started conversing with the guy next to us and it turns out he was from Canada (David).  We exchanged travel stories and learned that he had been traveling for 2 months already!  A guy from Japan sat down next to us (Tomo) so we brought him into the conversation...he's traveling for 1 year!!!  He was a delight to speak to, every answer included a huge smile.  I wish we had the luxury of traveling for 1 year.

We ventured off to the night market and my favorite vendor was a 15 yr old business woman.  Her name was Ne and she started giggling when I told her my name was Neelam (since it was so close to her own name).  As we haggled back and forth, every counter offer she gave us included an addicting giggle.  She was so sweet I had to take a picture of her!

Luang Prabang has been a great city so far.  It has become a bit touristy which makes me wonder what the city was like years ago.  We are off to ride/bath the elephants tomorrow…wish us LUCK!