Luang Prabang

I spent about 5 days in the city of Luang Prabang, Laos, which falls at the confluence of the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers. It's a really beautiful city--palm trees dotting the river banks and French-style villas lining the streets with a healthy smattering of Buddhist temples. This is where I spent my 28th birthday! It was a day filled with lounging about and reading under the big Bodhi tree (I read "Sex in History" by Reay Tannahill, which I found at a local bookshop. An older book, but soooo good! Highly recommended), drinking coffee and eating delicious chocolate croissants (gotta love the French influence!). It was also the day I found out that Julie and Matt had their baby back in Madison!! Little Rylynn Marie and I almost share a birthday! After picking up a gift for the new baby at the Night Market, I thought I'd finish my birthday with a nice oil massage at a shop near my guesthouse....which turned out to be the most terrifically bad massage I've ever received. It was given by a 14 year old girl who literally used 3 bottles of oil.....so freaking disgusting. It was just as bad as you might imagine a massage by a 14 year old would be, plus I was dripping with oil. Uggghhh GROSS. Gotta say though, it's pretty funny to think back on now. So with that, here are some pictures from my time in Luang Prabang!

Every morning at dawn, hundreds of monks pour out of the city's temples to collect their food offerings for the day. It's become quite a tourist spectacle, and I was pretty disappointed to see how many tourists were acting like jerks by getting in the monks' faces with their cameras and various other disrespectful displays (standing higher than the monks, offering them food that they didn't know was fresh, etc. etc).

Once they had collected their offerings, I noticed the monks going down a side street where they went through their bowls and threw a bunch of food into these trash bins that local people had set out. Throwing out the dirty food the tourists had given them? I'm really not sure.

In the middle of town is Mount Phou Si, a 100 meter high hill with 2 temples on top. It's a long climb, but a pretty one.

Various Buddhas at the top of the hill

Oh Sid, you love naps just as much as I do.

A misty morning in Luang Prabang from the top of Phou Si

I took a day trip to Pak Ou Caves (about a 1 hour boat ride from Luang Prabang) where hundreds of discarded Buddha images reside.

Sad little abandoned Buddhas line the cave walls

This enterprising little lass was collecting offerings from this shrine so she could resell them to the never-ending flow of tourists. Seemed like bad karma to me...

This surly little fella was my favorite.

This is the main sanctuary at Wat Xieng Thong--Luang Prabang's most famous temple. It's in a pretty bad state of disrepair (you can see the holes in the roof in this photo), but is undergoing restoration.

A happy little scene painted on the wall of the sanctuary.

A couple getting their marriage photos at the temple. How cuuuute.