Luang Prabang days 2 and 3

Duck blood salad

It has been a busy 2 days. Yesterday we started our day with a boat ride on the Mekong River. Over 2000 miles long, it starts in China and ends in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam Nam.   Our first stop was at a whiskey brewery. This is not what you think. All the whiskey is made from rice using a type of still. There are 3 grades of rice whiskey. The premium being 90 proof. Strong stuff. However some of the bottles have snakes or scorpions in the whiskey bottle. Yuck  from there we went to a handcrafts shop where they made paper and wove the most beautiful silk wraps.

From there we continued our journey north up the river to the cave of the 400 Buddas. Upward we took the stairs and entered the cave. Our local guide Phet conducted an offering ceremony with us. When it was over we left our own Budda to stay in the cave with the others.

Paper we made

Our return down river netted us a lovely Lao meal prepared by the boat captains wife.

In the evening we went into town to a local restaurant for dinner. But before dinner we stopped for drinks at really a Lao only place to have grilled duck and Duck Blood Salad. It was made up of chopped duck organs, greens and duck blood. Several of our travel companions were courageous enough to taste the salad. We did not. They did however declare it very good.

Today we rose early to participate in giving alms to the monks. 5am wake up call. We drove to town where small chairs, a wrap and a small basket of sticky rice was waiting for us. Off came our shoes and we sat in the chairs waiting for the monks to walk by with their bowls for us to put the sticky rice in. Phet had shown us the day before how to put the wrap on. In the still of a dark and cool morning the monks came down the street warped in their orange robes and no shoes.

Monks with their bowls

Waiting for the monks

We then went shopping in the morning market bee were each given one thing to buy to take with us to the village we were going to outside of town later in the morning. The item was written in Lao and we had to try and figure out what it was. Stopping at each stall we would ask in Lao for the item. I kept being sent further in the market. Barry was luckier. He got his after only a few tries. Spring Onions. Mine turned out to be bean sprouts.

With the shopping done we headed out of town for to the village. What an amazing experience. Three different groups of people live in this village. Lao Hmong and another whose name I don't recall something like Makun. So much went on there I could write pages. But here are the highlights. We met the chief of the village, spent time with first and second graders in class doing math,  read to them in English, played a game with them, they sang for us, met with the local shaman and learned about the Hmong people, met two babies that now make the village population 419, cooked the ingredients we brought from the market together, sat down to a Lao lunch cooked by the community, learned how to shoot a crossbow.  Visited the weaving center and learned how to weave cloth sitting by ourselves helping to weave on the looms. We were sad to say goodbye to our new friends and headed back to our hotel.

We are on our own for dinner tonite. So we are heading into town with another couple to eat and do some final shopping at the night market. Tomorrow we head to Vientiane.