TUN Day 8: 04/02/09 - Luang Prabang - Nong Khiaw

This entry is seriously overdue but there are still more entries to be updated. =O

Luang Prabang is famous for the monk procession in the morning, when the monks will collect alms from people. But this has turned into a tourist attraction, with tourists wanting to get up close with the monks to take photos and treating this as a Luang Prabang-experience, rather than trying to gain some karma.

The start of the procession. Monks in saffron robes in line, extending as far as the eye can see, with disrespectful tourists going up close to them. =( Anyway, we received some wrong info, so we were there like an hour earlier, when the sky was still dark and the air was cold. So much for wanting to see tourists monkeying around.

We should have allowed ourselves more time at Luang Prabang as there are still temples and some sites around Luang Prabang that we had yet to explore but we made an impromptu decision on the bus to Luang Prabang to visit Muang Ngoi, which was a place we have never heard of until i was reading LP on the winding journey to Luang Prabang. To reach Muang Ngoi, we had to take a minivan to Nong Khiaw where we would then take a boat upriver to Muang Ngoi. The minivan ride was really bad and here the driver was up on the van unloading our luggage.

I found the bridge very pretty. That's Nam Ou and Muang Ngoi is 45mins upriver by boat.

And the river journey begins. Skeletal trees forming a line.

Layers upon layers of mountains.

Even more mountains... I have to admit that i'm a city boy and i've never seen so many mountains in my life, so i was trigger happy throughout the whole boat trip.

And we were pointing out water buffalos to each other whenever we saw them lazing by the river banks. Yar, we are so sua ku...

I liked this pic a lot. 3 trees in a row.

And this is the end of the main street of Muang Ngoi, an idyllic village where people party all day and are not really interested in making a killing out of tourists.