Laos is tranquil and laid-back compared to the rest of Southeast Asia. Paul set up his hammock to relax for 2 days on the slow boat cruising down the Mekong. There were no roads in this part of Laos until recently and still consists mostly of Hmong living a traditional village life. We saw elephants working on the river bank, people fishing, farming along the emerald mountains, limestone cliffs and caves (pictured above). The boat was full of almost 80 people (mostly tourists), however at the end of the ride some locals put a couple bags of rice on, so we can all say we traveled on a rice boat. Back in the good 'ole days when Paul did this 8 years ago, he rode on a much smaller boat with 5 locals and sat on several bags of rice. Times have changed. Luang Prabang is the ancient former royal capital. When we arrived there we saw an Aisan Black bear sleeping in the tree (below).
Laos is known for its cafe scene, specialty coffee, bakeries, French-influenced cuisine, and has restored many of the french-colonial style buildings in town, including the Royal Palace shown above. This town has my favorite tree, plumeria, and we smelled the aroma everywhere as we ran along the river. 32km south of town is the Kuang Si Waterfall, one of the most impressive waterfalls we have ever seen! Swimming in the gorgeous turquoise pools was refreshing too after the hike to the top of the falls.
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