We were in Luang Prabang for 3 days and 4 nights, all of which were extremely hot! The first day the temperature said it felt like 118 degrees, with what seemed like 100% humidity. It was like Houston x 100 during the summer. Our hotel was about a block from the Mekong River, and each morning at 5:30 the monks in the town would walk down the road were they would receive rice from the townspeople. Being in this town was very “eye-opening”…..you could donate your old books to the town because many of locals really enjoyed reading but rarely have access to books. Luang was very charming and the locals were great! The town runs on tourism so there were many restaurants and outdoor bars where we watched the US game. We walked most of the time in the middle of the street and we could see millions of stars at night. We spent one day riding on the back of a truck to a waterfall to swim, which was beautiful. The next day we went on a boat ride to a cave up the Mekong River, followed by a one hour foot massage for 4 dollars! The 24 ounce BeerLao (the local beer) was 1 dollar! All in all, we loved the Luang Prabang, but wished for cooler weather…which we got on the way to the airport when it poured down rain (just a little too late)!
Siem Reap, Cambodia
From Luang Prabang we caught a short 1 hour 10 minute flight south to Siem Reap. We spent a lot of time at our hotel pool trying to cool off! We hired a private driver and tour guide to take us around the temples of Angkor Wat for 8 hours. We learned a great deal about the history of Cambodia and the Hindu and Buddhist religions. The town of Siem Reap is not much to write home about…it is small and dirty, but it does have a street with multiple pubs on it to please the tourist. You can get 50 cent draft beer all day! This town seems much poorer than Luang Prabang…we have seen many land mine victims playing musical instruments on the roadside that are asking for money; all of these people are missing limbs or eyes or something else...very sad. Yesterday we saw a child about 3 years old or younger sitting alone in the temple with no parents around, which was again very sad. We have been very tired of eating noodles and rice everyday of the week, but yesterday we got to eat some great (or maybe not so great) Mexican food!
We are now in Ho Chi Minh City, aka Saigon which is in south Vietnam. Now off to watch the US kick some ass!
Angkor Wat Temple, Cambodia
Ta Prohm Temple, Cambodia
Bayon Temple, Cambodia
Kuangsi Waterfall, Laos
View of Luang Prabang, Laos from above
