I was woken at 6 by V clambering around and cursing in the dark. She had decided to get up early (always a bad way to start for us) and check out the alms ritual in the streets. Every morning at sunrise the monks make their way around town in a colourful and peaceful procession. Originally they would have been given food by the locals (the only food they got) but the the event has become a tourist draw. It has also had it’s fair share of controversy. Yesterday Arna had food forced into her hands by some pushy locals so that she could give it to the monks and be part of the ritual. Once she had handed it over they demanded payment ! This is normally food left over from the previous night and would just have gone to waste. Reminds me of buying food to feed the birds. I don’t have much respect for monks but they are human beings! Treating them as tourist attracting animals is disgusting. Some time ago there were a few cases of the monks getting sick from bad food and they wanted to stop the alms procession. The government would not allow it – they did not want to lose the tourism. Anyway V stood behind the hostel fence and didn’t even take any photos. If you want to be involved in this thing – rather go buy them a bag of rice.

Okay.. Off my box again… After collecting our passports at the Vietnamese consulate we headed for Utopia to have a brunch and take some photos. It really is a cool spot and we lounged around until our minibus was ready. The minibuses in Laos have been brilliant. Super comfortable and they just about all look brand new. Our driver took us out to the LP bus station and we transferred to a bigger van (also very comfy) before heading off on time and to our surprise (Arna had a miserable time the previous day).

The trip to Vang Vieng took five a half hours on incredibly windy roads. V was really battling to keep her brunch down even after using up the last of her motion sickness pills. The landscape was unbelievable. Karst mountains and endless deep valleys plastered with thick green jungle. The larger views could have come straight out of ‘Lord of the Rings’ – Laos has some serious tourism potential ! Unfortunately we battled to take photos as our van swung violently around endless chicanes.

After the minibus a short tak-tak ride got us into town. Already dark we started a search for accommodation. A spot we had seen on line and in our LP guide (LP now means ‘Lonely Planet’ again and not ‘Luang Prabang’) was on the far side of a 4000 Kip (30p) toll bridge. We turned around at the bridge and found something closer to town (Le Jardine Organique Guesthouse). Snazzy name, brand spanking new room, furniture and fittings – perfectly acceptable. We ditched our gear and headed down the main street to arrange a caving tour for the morning. Luckily we spotted a group of our friends from the Gibbon – 7 out of 10 monkeys – not too bad… and great fun 🙂

On another note. We are getting worried about the time we have left. Looks like we will run over if we don’t start skipping and rushing things. To be honest we are having such a great time we just don’t want it to stop. Oh well. We’ll worry about that tomorrow.

[Pictures: A small corner of Utopia – promise we’ll try get better at taking iPhone shots !]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi