I've been in Luang Prabang for the last day. It was another 8 hour bus ride. It would have been 45 minutes faster but the bus broke down 10 miles out of town. One of the belts broke but luckily they were able to replace it on the road. I was just about to jump into a Tuk Tuk when they fired it back up.

Once in town I was impressed by the well maintained neighborhoods. This was once ran by the French and you can still see it today in the buildings and many small cafes. Yesterday we awoke at 5:30 to go feed the monks. They don't work so they ask for food donations every morning. They walk the main streets which are lined with locals and tourist and collect there daily meals. They are given everything from rice to bananas and candies. It was a really cool site to see. There orange robes pop with color in the early morning light.

In the afternoon we went to some of the local Temples and Wats. As we were roaming the streets people were squirting us with water guns and dumping buckets on our heads. I read they have a huge water fight on Lao New Year. But I thought I was going to miss it, since New Year was on the 13th. I talked to a few locals and they said they celebrated it for a week the 10th-17th. After seeing a few of the Wats I decided to join in on the fun. I talked to the guys in one of the groups that soaked me. They invited me to join in the festivities, after dumping a bucket of water on me. The rest of the crew joined in. We ended up spending 3 hours there. It was so much fun. We loved getting the other tourist. We nailed a few Tuk Tuks with about 8 people in them. The Lao people were a little more cautious with the tourist, so they didn't expect it when we drenched them. It was a really hot day, it felt nice to cool off. We had buckets of water, as the people would ride by on there bikes we would soak them. As the sun went down, I was cold for the first time on this trip. Being wet for 3 hours chilled my core temp. I decided to go back and change.

I ended the night with a good dinner in the street market. You can get a great meal for about $1. After dinner I went to the Night Market. It was all hand made crafts. I bought a few souvenirs. I try to hold off until the last day or so. But I wanted to support the local crafts.

Today were are going to check out a waterfall. Then back to Vietnam. I fly into Hanoi this afternoon. I decided do the 45 minute flight, since the bus takes 24 hours. It cost a lot more but my time is worth something.

5 more night before I head home.