We have now arrived in the Unesco world heritage city of Luang Prabang in northern Laos, also known as the pearl of Indochina as it is meant to be the prettiest and most enchanting city in se Asia.
Having been suitably impressed by the city on arrival we were not impressed with the accommodation which is roughly double the price of elsewhere in Laos. We were offered a room with a bathroom in desperate need of a revamp and another with only a mattress on the floor and a toilet in the garden. After being worn down by these horrific options we settled for what we thought was a good deal - hot shower and clean bed. We discovered our mistake at sunrise the next morning when the owner started sawing wood, chopping food and chatting away next to our window which was directly next to a busy road. We promptly vacated and found a quiet place but have sacrificed the warm shower.
We spent our first day visiting the Wats in the city, made friends with a monk, drank coffee and had a massage followed by a nice dinner. Whilst on the tallest and most religious hill we bought a flower cone each and lit incense in remembrance of people that we have loved and lost. It's mainly a Buddhist tradition but we were both moved by the experience.
Today we have been on a cooking course to learn the secrets of Laos cuisine - stand by for some concoctions on our return! We had lots of fun in the markets and found out that a strange orange thing we were eating 2 days ago is buffalo skin (yuck!). Unfortunately we had to go 'off piste' with some of the recipes to remove the eggs, which we generally replaced with lots of chilli - possibly a mistake! We met some nice people from all over the world and we are looking forward to a relax tomorrow before another overnight bus.