After the bustle of the Thai towns and cities, Luang Prabang was rather different. Laos doesn't do big towns (yet) and we weren't even sure we had actually arrived in LP when the boat pulled up at the pier. None of the buildings were more than 2 storeys high, and from the boat it just didn't look big enough to be one of Laos' main cities. This is probably one of its main charms though. As we walked up the concrete ramp from the boat we started to see what makes this city unique in Asia. It still retains much of the French colonial buildings. What other buildings that remain are virtually all monasteries and temples. It is (for Asia) very quiet and relatively cool. Somehow Laos and Luang Prabang have been stuck in a time warp whilst the rest of the continent was developed without regulation, and now UNESCO has stepped in to stop that happening here (though this isn't always a good thing, as I'll explain).

We wandered in the direction that the Lonely Planet suggested were most guesthouses, as we didn't have a booking. A trustworthy looking young guy said his mum had a good guesthouse and it was just 2 minutes walk, which indeed it was, situated on a side street in the old city and just where we wanted to be. Outside there was a balcony overlooking the street where you could sit and watch the world go by. Inside it was completely panelled in dark wood, including the floors, which made it a little dark but very cool and quiet. The room only had a fan that made a little squeek every time it made a whole turn. The owner was a very helpful old Lao lady, who specialised in forgetting to give us our bus tickets but remembering to give us free bananas. Basically it oozed character and we loved it, despite its minor faults/charms. It was opposite another guest house, the Mekong river is at one end of the road and a restaurant and a monastery is at the other end. If you keep walking that way for a few more minutes you come to the Nam Tha river, as the old city is situated on a peninsula between the two rivers. There are villages on the opposite sides of the river banks, reached by boat across the Mekong or a rickety bamboo bridge over the Nam Tha (at least during dry season, it is rebuilt every year).

Tired on the first night after our long journey, we didn't do too much except dinner and an early night after a wander around the night market where the locals sell some excellent craft souvenirs but also dodgy whiskey with the choice of additional snake or scorpion to add flavour inside the bottle.

I woke early (Brenda didn't, still tired from the epic over the last 3 days) at dawn to watch the Tak Bat. This is the daily morning procession of monks through the streets of Luang Prabang collecting alms (generally rice, sometimes money) from the locals, who subsidise the monks living costs for the honour of having their spiritual and religious guidance in the town. A similar process occurs throughout Buddhist areas, but in Laos these processions seem more common. As you can imagine, this solemn ceremony makes for a wonderful early morning spectacle to be watched from a distance, at least it would have if other tourists weren't so selfish and downright arrogant. Not content with merely watching a ceremony that has nothing to do with them, they buy 'offerings' of inferior quality food from locals anxious to make some money, so as to get in line for the procession and give the food to the monks for a good photo opportunity. Bus loads arrive from local resorts and get in on the act. The monks look bemused and try to rush through it all, embarassed by the cameras poking right in their faces. I couldn't watch anymore and left. Fortunately you can wander down any side street here and happen across a completely deserted temple. Being common land for anyone to enjoy, you can generally wander around to your heart's content. At this time of the morning I was completely alone to enjoy some of LP's nooks and crannies whilst it was still cool.

Breakfast was a very, very good croissant. That is the other rather good thing about Laos, apart from the French architecture they have also retained the tradition of French food including croissants and great baguettes everywhere. We went for a wander around the main temple sites in town, including Wat Phusi on the hill (sometimes referred to as 'p**** hill' by local expats, though there are no dodgy activities going on don't worry) and Wat Xieng Thong, built in the 1560s. Wat Phusi is fairly modern and a bit tacky, but has good views over the town and rivers. Xieng Thong was more atmospheric, with a large tree of life mural over the back wall. We also took a cautious walk over the bamboo bridge for a better view of the sunset later in the day, watching a local fish in the river with his net, though he only caught rocks!

In truth there isn't much to do here except take things slowly and wander around soaking in all the scenery, which is pretty relaxing. Something didn't fit though, compared to when we were in Chiang Mai or Penang. Then we realised that Luang Prabang old town isn't really a town at all anymore, more of a tourist theme park. There are no local cafes or restaurants frequented by Laos (the prices for locals would be astronomically high). Locals only come here to work in the tourist industry. There are no normal houses or flats, only guesthouses and monasteries. There is a chicken and egg arguement about if this is the effect of the world heritage listing drawing in tourists, or the tourists were already coming anyway, with the airport expanding to international status this year though, a heck of a lot more are on the way. What you're left with is very pretty to look at, with nice restaurants and bars to dine and drink in, but lacks the vitality of Penang or Chiang Mai.

The Monday was Brenda's birthday, that's right, she's 30! I tried to be romantic and get her a coffee from a cafe to have in bed with a croissant. I got both but the nearest cafe was a 10 minute walk, which doubled to 20 mins back when their lids didn't fit the take away cups so I had to walk, dodging the usual mopeds, children and dogs with two hot cups of coffee. They were suprisingly still hot when I got them to the guesthouse, but only because they had forgotten to put milk in them like I'd asked for! Fortunately I had some whitener in my rucksack, but it didn't have quite the same effect...Scott and Elen had asked me to get a birthday card but I hadn't seen any, so guys, you sponsored a birthday croissant and coffee.

Looking to escape the theme park part of the town, we caught a boat (a rickety vehicle ferry) across the Mekong to Chomphet on the far bank, as we could see some interesting looking temples on a hill. This was another world compared to the old town. There were only mud roads, the houses were single room bamboo huts, underneath were piles of rubbish and chickens looking for food scraps. As we walked further along we came across some temples. Whilst mooching around one, I struck up a conversation with a novice monk washing his orange robes. He was friendly, had reasonable english and explained how long you have to be a novice monk for. At the same temple the warden produced three torches and asked if we wanted to see the cave. We were used to seeing little caves at temples but decided to take a look. We followed her 50m down a path along the river bank before she hauled open two large doors, down from which stairs descended into a dark cavern. Fortunately there were some (not very good) lights, going quite a way into the cave and illuminating several chambers. The first had several headless Buddhas. Continuing into the eery cave it became darker and the floor more slippery. There were some limestone cave formations, quite a lot of guano (which I cleverly got on my hand from holding the hand rail) and more Buddhas. After around 100m we came to the end and headed back up.

Back toward the village we stopped at another temple perched on a hilltop, which was a bit of a slog in the heat but rewarded us with views over the Mekong and Luang Prabang below. Novice monks sat chatting and studying in the shade. There was not a single other tourist and we were pretty pleased with ourselves for having a look over this side of the river.

Back on the modern side of the river we had a look in the museum, the former home of the Lao Royal family, deposed when the communists took over. Their car collection is still intact, and largely consists of old Lincoln's donated by the US (trying to bolster anti-communist support for Laos).

Being her birthday, Brenda was determined to have pizza for dinner. This didn't quite work out, despite us deciding to fork out a bit more money and go somewhere 'nice'. The restaurant did look appealing, but unfortunately the staff were completely useless, forgetting our order so we sat waiting for an hour twiddling our thumbs. The food was then mediocre and cold so we left in a bit of a huff. The only way to salvage the situation was to get a nutella pancake at one of the many stalls lining the main road. Good service, very quick and very tasty!

All that was left to do was sort our stuff ready to get to the next stage of our journey, the Elephant Conservation Centre at Sayaboury, more of which soon...

Lots of love

David and Brenda xxx