11 November
Luang Prabang
KIM: Right... so that was a shocking day. Rice soup is not great, but seems to have helped a bit. Coupled with the 'over the counter' (??) antibiotics Mark picked up and some great re-hydration powder stuff and I'm doing ok. Not so much as now everyone knows I was on the loo... but what's a blog that doesn't include ALL details of our trip!

I have to be honest - I'm writing this about a week or so later... so from memory, here goes!

Today we tackled Phou Si Hill (MARK: "pronunciation as you want to say it...!!"). The monumental and sacred hill starts with quite a climb (190 or 328 steps - my memory fails me). Half way up on a wide open terrace looking down onto the Royal Palace Museum (which we never made inside) we met the abandoned temple of Wat Pa Huak. After paying the entrance fee, we were expecting great things when we climbed the rest of the way and reached... the top!! Unfortunately, our expectations weren't exactly met - a gilded stupa on a large rock and an un-kept chapel for prayers. Besides the lovely view of a part of town we didn't even know existed, we were disappointed in our 20,000 KIP investment. Suggesting we head down the hill a different way was a smart move though... a short way down we passed the remains of a former gun from the Russians (overheard from tour guide) used to defend the city during the revolution (courtesy of google!).

To make all you budding Buddhists out there supremely jealous and the rest of you as confused as us, we then passed the temple that is home to Buddha's footprint. A shrine which houses the footprint has so much incense burning that peering in to see this sacred thing is impossible! Does it exist (and who was he really?) are questions unanswered to us!

A little bit further and we passed every day of the week Buddha statues named, Tuesday Buddha, Saturday Buddha etc... part of us wishing we knew the meaning of it all... the other part of me wishing I could sit down and never stand up (still food poisoned) we carried on down the hill and had a stroll along the banks of the Mae Kok River.

We booked our trip to Vang Vieng for tomorrow. A minibus to take us to tubing and party heaven! Still feeling dodgy but hopefully the trip won't be too long... hmmm...