Ending with a Luang Prabang

This Unesco world heritage site always tops the lists of Things to do in Laos and it is very easy to see why. Beautifully preserved colonial architecture, gorgeous temples teeming with orange-garbed monks, sunsets over the Mekong River, wonderful hand-woven textiles from local hill tribes, fresh restaurants featuring delicious Laotian cuisine, cafes with wonderful croissants and coffee, markets with fresh produce and local handicrafts - all of this is a quiet and peaceful mountain town at the confluence of two rivers. It is a wonderful place to relax and pamper yourself for a few days which is exactly what yours truly did.

Alley in Luang Prabang

Buddhist Temple at Royal Palace

Morning Market

Bamboo footbridge over the Nam Khan river

Detail on Wat Xieng Thong

Cat & Cat

Monk relaxing

Night Market

Sun setting over the Mekong

I did rouse myself out of the relaxing stupor early once morning to see the monks run the gamut of tourist cameras at sunrise while receiving their morning alms (rice and other foods) from the devout and the curious alike. Many of the shutterbugs were pretty intrusive, and I felt bad for the monks, most of whom were very young boys, being on display like that. Of course, that didn't stop me from hanging back at a respectful distance to take a few snaps myself.

Morning Alms

Monks getting food donations

Some of the monks are really really young

I later spent an afternoon travelling up the Mekong river to visit the Pak Ou caves, which are stuffed full of various Buddhas. The journey itself was the highlight, three hours of nothing but river-gazing was a lovely way to while the day away.

Pak Ou lower cave

Pak Ou upper cave

On a boat up the Mekong

Rapids on the Mekong River

Monks on the banks of the Mekong

My final day, I tried my hand at dying and weaving with a course at the Ock Pop Tok weaving centre. It was absolutely fascinating, and I highly recommend it to anyone. We spent the morning gathering berries and leaves and dying natural silk skeins (which we then got to keep), and in the afternoon, we spent about three hours on the loom, weaving a placemat. Of course, my effort was nowhere near as impressive as even a Laotian child's work, but it was fascinating to learn the various techniques and it made me appreciate the hard work that went into my purchases from various stores and markets in town even more.

Dying silk

Ock PopTok weaving centre

Weaving on a local loom

UPDATE: as per request, here's what my finished piece looks like:

My wobbly weave