Our second day on the Mekong begins in the mist. The air is cool forcing us to don our sweaters and jackets — I even opt for my toque! By midmorning, it's all been stripped off and we are peeling ourselves from our sticky seats.
Breakfast at our guest house is fresh fruit, REAL ginger tea stewed with fresh slices of ginger, egg sandwiches and a delicious coconut milk sticky rice porridge, which Jenn, insisting I would have to eat it all, then proceeds to abandon her egg sandwich and scarf down the porridge.
Our boat family crew is waiting for us at the dock, and by 8:30 am we are away. Today's journey will take us almost 8 hours and includes a stop at the Pak Ou caves before arriving in Luang Prabang.
Our driver continues the tricky job of steering the longboat down the river, swinging from one side to the other as he chooses a rock free route. We notice the river is narrowing more, creating stronger rapids than the previous day and corridors of rock to pass through. Life on the boat is comfortable. We play card games with Brett and Jenna and Kao teaches us to play a version of "sit head" which we soon understand, after deciphering his accent, to mean... well, you can figure it out!
We sample tamarind pods and some of the ACTUALLY spicy "locals" breakfast. Another delectable lunch awaits us today: Tom Yum soup (with gorgeously plump juicy shittake mushrooms), sautéed spicy Morning Glory, a glass noodle veggie dish, green beans and carrots, and a savory pulped tomato sauce. We all try to come up with a way to bring our fabulous boat cook along with us for the remainder of the trip.
Around 3:15 pm, we begin to notice sharp limestone rock faces soaring up along the landscape and by 3:30 pm, we arrive at the Pak Ou caves.
For centuries, the upper and lower caves have been used as repositories for Buddha images, so now several thousand serene Buddha's greet you at every turn (and in every nook and cranny). It's a compelling stop.
We arrive in Luang Prabang shortly after 5 pm, say goodbye to our boat family and tuk tuk it out to our guesthouse accommodation. It's a luxury day as our lovely guesthouse, situated just outside town, is perched alongside a local river, with beautiful gardens and well appointed guest bungalows. Upon our arrival, we are brought a cooled fruit juice and a homemade lemon/coconut cake. De-luxe!
After a clean up, we head into town to explore the night market. Dinner is down an jam-packed alley where you pick out a heaping plate of whatever looks good to you for a grand total of $10,000 Kip per person (that's just over a dollar folks!).
Satiated, we meander through the hundreds of stalls, eyeing the wares. Many of the stalls peddle the same scarfs, clothes and trinkets and we wonder how much of what is for sale is actually made in Laos. Tonight we case the joint — maybe tomorrow we purchase!
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