Sunday 1st March - Luang Prabang

Sunday 1st March - Luang Prabang

Today slept in really really late cause felt shattered. Everyone else had gone for breakfast, and Tom had left at about 5.30am. Me and David headed off for some breakfast and crossed paths with the other guys coming back from filling their own bellies. Once I had my (now traditional) banana pancake for brekkie (must buy some syrup!) we headed off to see the main Wats of Luang Prabang. First we went to the Royal Palace Museum which is where the king used to live and entertain his guests. It had some wonderful designs on the inside but actually very modest compared to what you would normally expect for a Royal Palace, perhaps reflecting the developing status of Laos even in comparison to Thailand. Laos apparantly no longer has a King, but a government. We wandered down the road and had a beer (well the guys did I just got a nice orange juice from the market was soo thirsty in the heat.) It's still quite hot here and not the kind of place to rush around. We split from Ruddy, (durex) Jonathan and Jack who basically wanted to take in the local culture by drinking beer and chilling! - and headed towards Wat Xieng Thong which was a lovely wat full of chararacter and Luang Prabangs 'most magnificent temple' built in 1560. Again, modest in comparison to others I have seen in my travellers in South East Asia so far, but still lovely and had a glittering 'tree of life' mosaic on the outside wall of the main sanctuary (sim) which was most effective when the sun shone directly on it.

The temple was situated near the northern tip of the peninsula formed by the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers, and upon leaving we found a spot to have a quick snack with a beautiful view of the impending sunset. However, that particular event was something we planned to see from the top of the Wat Phu Si, which was a steep climb to get to but has panoramic views of the city and surrounding area ruled by a red sun (it always turns a proper red near sunset I dont thing I've seen this in any other country I have visited). Unfortunately the clouds prevented us from seeing it in its full glory, and we eventually admitted defeat and wandered back to the guest house. I was sorry to have asked for a mattress - basically I am moving in with the dutch guys because it is cheaper supposedly for all of us ie the room is 100,000 kip which should be 2.70 each, but they wanted more money even though our friends were paying 100,000 for three people! I fell out with the guy because I basically get really angry that one price is quoted then it changes and then it changes again. Basically they want an extra 40,000 kip a night (3.20) so total 12.80 or 4.30 for me to be in exactly the same room as all the other people in our crowd who are paying 100,000 (8.00) total or 2.70 each for three people. It really pisses me off! They're really sensative here but obviously lacking in fairness and common sense.

Ok so I'm annoyed, Had a good evening bowling, of all things. I come to Laos...and go bowling! Everywhere we go now we see people we met on the boat. Caves and waterfall tomorrow...its now 3am and even though I know Im tired I dont think Im gonna sleep. Just found a massive creepy crawly creature in the bathroom and thats not great because I'm sleeping on the floor...!

Money spent: Breakfast (pancake) 15,000 kip (1.20). water 3,000 kip (2.40), cigarettes 5000 kip (40 pence), orange juice 2000 kip (16p), entrance to museum and 2 wats 60,000 (4.80), fries (shared) 7,500 kip (60p), coke (shared) 3,500 kip (28 pence) beer 100,000 kip (80P), dinner 37,500 (chicken korma shared rice 1 naan) (3 pounds) 3 games bowling 360,000 (2.90), tuk tuks 10,000 (80p). TOTAL: 17.34

Best thing: Tree of life mosaic at Wat Xieng Thong and dinner over the river.
Worse thing: Arsehole guest house owner.