Luang Prabang

I love the way bamboo is used for everything from firewood to scaffolding.

The former Royal Palace of Laos in Luang Prabang. The king was deposed when the communists took over in 1975. Some sources say he went into exile in Paris and others say he died in a reeducation camp in Laos. Today the palace is open to the public and is a not to be missed sight.

The monks in Lao are far more approachable than in Thailand and I was honored that they invited me and another American at the falls to have our picture made with them.

I am so hot and sweaty here I am surprised the pic doesn't have an odor to it. Minutes later I was swimming in the pool at the bottom of the falls and the relief was bliss.

I arrived in Luang Prabang really beat up from the hard road trip but after 2 massages in as many days I recovered nicely. Boy, will I miss having readily available inexpensive massages when this trip is over!

Luang Prabang is situated on the same old Mekong Rover I described back in the Vietnam/Cambodia days of this trip. Here the terrain is much more mountainous and the water runs more swiftly. I took a river trip upstream to Pak On Caves which is called the cave of 1000 Buddhas. It seems that people have brought Buddha images here for years in commemoration of some life events. I have pictures of some of the collection.

The same day I went to Xiaio Yu waterfall where I got to have a refreshing dip in the falls. I was pretty exhausted after all that trekking which is part of the plan as tonight I will take an overnight bus to Vientiane, the capital of Laos.