Laos

From Hanoi, we flew to Luang Prabang, in the northern part of Laos. This is Laos' second largest city, but still feels very small. The people are friendly there, perhaps part of the Buddhist culture.

Speaking of which, every morning at 6am, the Buddhist monks, mainly teenage boys who have moved to Luang Prabang from poorer areas of the country, walk the streets in line, collecting rice from the villagers. This occurs everyday, and many of the villagers wait each morning on the sidewalk outside of the house, with a large pot of rice. As the monks pass, each monk receives a small clump of rice, which accumulates to be their food for the day.



Le nombre de temples/moines par habitant etant trop eleve, au lieu de faire le tour des temples pour offrir du riz au moines boudhistes, les habitants de Luan Prabang attendent la procession de moine tous les matin aux alentours de 5h30 6h. Le boudhisme pratique au Laos est different de celui d'Indes. Les moines ne cuisinent pas et sont nourris par les habitants avoisinant le temple. Il ne sont d'ailleurs pas tous vegetarien puisqu'ils ne peuvent pas refuser la nourriture qu'on leur donne.













Laos has a very beautiful countryside, and a short ride from Luang Prabang leads to some fantastic waterfalls at Kuang Si. There is a large waterfall which is in 3 main sections, and afterwards leads to a series of small falls and pools. While the water is a bit cold, swimming in the pools is a great way to relax and enjoy the scenery.











Piscines naturelles, tres rafraichissantes!













Also located near the falls is a Asian Black Bear habitat...















From Luang Prabang, we took a bus ride for several hours across the mountains and valleys of Laos, enjoying the views and trying not to get carsick as the bus swerved rapidly around tight turns on steep cliffs.
8h de bus de Luan Prabang a Vientiane, la capitale du Laos. La seule route qui relie les deux plus grandes villes du Laos ressemble a une petite route de montagne tres sinueuse et pas bien large en comparaison avec la taille des precipices qu'elle longe. Paysage magnifique, pas bien desservie par la photo ci-contre.



Ultimately we arrived in Vientiane, the capital city, but unfortunately we only had one night there before we flew to Cambodia. Vientiane is more westernized than Luang Prabang, but this led to some very nice yet still inexpensive meals, mainly french cuisine influenced by the colonial period.
Lever du soleil a l'aeroport de Vientiane.
Depart pour Siem Riep et les temples d'Angkor.