After the tuk-tuk dropped us off, I seperated from my fellow travellers because I wanted some higher class accomodation. There was a reason I chose to sleep at the bus station, after all. I headed towards the river, and went into the first nice place I saw, the Luang Prabang River Lodge. They wanted $30 a night, but I negotiated them down to $25, including breakfast. The room si delightful, with a nice bathroom, air-con and cable tv! After showering and changing, I went looking around town. Firstly, I bought something to eat for breakfast. Right next to my lodge is a food stand selling baguette sandwiches. It appears as though there is still some French influence alive in Laos. I walked through an interesting begetable market, before heading to the main drag and looking around. The town is quite pleasant and small, and feels totally isolated. There are no tall buildings, and no modern-looking ones either. I stopped for a while to have a manfo fruit shake, a ubiquitous and cheap drink in the region. I went to two large temples, which were mildly interesting, but not much different from the ones in Chiang Mai. I also signed up for a cooking course tomorrow, as Lao cooking has some appeal. For lunch, I got water buffalo sausage, which was absolutely delicious. I can't wait for the cooking course! After 
lunch, I went to The Royal Palace, which was very small! It is barely larger than a mansion in Vancouver, and was only built around the turn of the 20th century. Nevertheless, it was a pleasant building and had some interesting items that formerly belonged to the royal family. Luang Prabang has a hill with a temple on top that bisects the center of the twon. I climbed up for the view, and was intrigued by the tacky 'Buddha footprint' at the top. Buddha obvisouly had enormous feet. After descending the mountain, I went to the river to hire a ferry across to see the temples on the other bank. There is no bridge crossing the Mekong in Luang Prabang, thus the settlement on the opposite bank is nearly comepletly distinct from the town. When I got off the boat, I saw tons of barefoot children running about. I walked until I arrived to the first temple, which had no one selling tickets. It was not too interesting. The second temple had a legion of people near the ticket selling booth, and I was followed by two little girls up the steps into the temple. One of them spoke passable English. They ended up convincing me to give me money after a used their flowers as offerings, and further extorted me when the girl complained that her shows were broken (they were). I finally ended up at the last temple, where I saw two American girls who informed me that there was also a cave. A man at the temple gave me a flashlight, and a teenage monk followed me into the cave, where he guided me. He also spoke passable English. I ended up getting bunched behind a group of four other tourists, who were having trouble in the cave. It was a bit difficult to see, but not too difficult to get through. I tipped the monk afterwards, and took my boat back across the river. I had a snack with the other toursits from the cave, and then retreated to my room to shower after sweating for the whole day. I went for dinner at a cafe where the 'fried weed' on the menu appealed to me. It turns out it is similar to seaweed, but from the Mekong, deepfried and coated in sesame seeds. I also ordered fish which was steamed in a banana leaf, and absolutely delicious. By this point the night bazaar had set itself up, and I walked through it on the way back to my room. I bought way too much, and will now have to carry stuff in a bag alongside my bagpack unless I ship stuff home. Shopping in Laos is not as exasperating as in China, as it is very easy to bargain. Many times the vendors will accept my price on the first go, even if 50% off! There is no song and dance to go through like in China.
lunch, I went to The Royal Palace, which was very small! It is barely larger than a mansion in Vancouver, and was only built around the turn of the 20th century. Nevertheless, it was a pleasant building and had some interesting items that formerly belonged to the royal family. Luang Prabang has a hill with a temple on top that bisects the center of the twon. I climbed up for the view, and was intrigued by the tacky 'Buddha footprint' at the top. Buddha obvisouly had enormous feet. After descending the mountain, I went to the river to hire a ferry across to see the temples on the other bank. There is no bridge crossing the Mekong in Luang Prabang, thus the settlement on the opposite bank is nearly comepletly distinct from the town. When I got off the boat, I saw tons of barefoot children running about. I walked until I arrived to the first temple, which had no one selling tickets. It was not too interesting. The second temple had a legion of people near the ticket selling booth, and I was followed by two little girls up the steps into the temple. One of them spoke passable English. They ended up convincing me to give me money after a used their flowers as offerings, and further extorted me when the girl complained that her shows were broken (they were). I finally ended up at the last temple, where I saw two American girls who informed me that there was also a cave. A man at the temple gave me a flashlight, and a teenage monk followed me into the cave, where he guided me. He also spoke passable English. I ended up getting bunched behind a group of four other tourists, who were having trouble in the cave. It was a bit difficult to see, but not too difficult to get through. I tipped the monk afterwards, and took my boat back across the river. I had a snack with the other toursits from the cave, and then retreated to my room to shower after sweating for the whole day. I went for dinner at a cafe where the 'fried weed' on the menu appealed to me. It turns out it is similar to seaweed, but from the Mekong, deepfried and coated in sesame seeds. I also ordered fish which was steamed in a banana leaf, and absolutely delicious. By this point the night bazaar had set itself up, and I walked through it on the way back to my room. I bought way too much, and will now have to carry stuff in a bag alongside my bagpack unless I ship stuff home. Shopping in Laos is not as exasperating as in China, as it is very easy to bargain. Many times the vendors will accept my price on the first go, even if 50% off! There is no song and dance to go through like in China.
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