Day 12

Today is our last full day in Luang Prabang and we wanted to spend it visiting a temple.

I let Evie sleep in and went for a run and the local gym, met a couple of tourists there getting their sweat on, it was actually a lot of fun talking about our time here and working out at the same time.

By the time I arrived back at the hotel Evie was already having breakfast, naturally I joined her, straight after we got on our bikes and went to explore the city.

There is a day market called Dara market in the centre, however there aren’t many open shops there this time of the year, you can find quite a large supermarket for all your drinks and snack shopping though.

We cycled to Utopia, a bar and restaurant on the river, it is supposed to be the place to be for a party/good time, to be fair it was quite busy, I found it overpriced for the quality of the cocktails that we have received, it is a cool looking place though! Maybe I’m just getting old haha

Wat Xieng Thong was beautiful, a majestic temple, we were basically alone there and it felt like a very spiritual experience.

In the evening we have decided to go to a different night market first, one that is visited by the locals, in Thatluang Park, instead of the touristy one on the main street.

Coconut pancakes, absolutely delicious and gooey inside

Day 13

Good thing I have packed our backpacks yesterday, because we struggled to wake up this morning, story of our lives…

We are going to Nong Khiaw today for a couple of nights, we got a transfer to the North bus station, for 40,000 kip here you can get a minivan, which takes about 4 hours. This was a tough journey… on a 20km patch, they are building a new dam and also a new road, so you basically have to ride on dirt roads… It was not really enjoyable.

It was all worth it though because Nong Kiaw is beautiful.

Our accommodation is special here, too.

There is a chance here to see how the locals live, walk the main road in the evening and take a peek into their homes and their lives. Lao people seem to be really caring towards their kids and spend a great deal of time with them. Their homes are almost unfurnished, there is a TV and a bed, that’s it! I like how they get together in the evenings and have a meal with the whole family, sometimes about 20 of them crammed together at a small table.

We had a meal in the evening at Coco Home, met the owner, a very nice Swiss guy, his story is what we heard a lot of times so far, visited Laos, loved it, bought a house here and made it into a hotel/restaurant. The food was great, too!

In the evening, as we were sitting outside our room, we started chatting to a family from the next room, they are on a holiday from Vientiane, such lovely people, they gave us a plate of mango and shared some food with us. We had a long chat about our countries and taught each other some words, the little girl, only 4 years old, but already knew quite a bit in English!