August 10, 2016 - Luang Prabang

I woke up at 6am again! What is wrong with my body that it doesn't know how to sleep in on vacation...
Since we decided to stay a 3rd night but had only booked 2 nights, we had to move rooms over to Manichan's new house guesthouse, Mali House across the street.

We then went in search of pan au chocolat that we'd seen the day before- even though we had no idea where we'd seen it. After walking for a bit down the main street, we realized where we were and how we'd gotten so turned around the day before.

We finally found Le Cafe Ban Vat Sene- with the beautiful pan au chocolat. I felt like I was back in Europe, sitting at an outdoor cafe enjoying a European breakfast and coffee. 

There was also a coffee shop we saw the day before but couldn't remember the location. Luckily we ran into it  after a short walk down the street. One can never have too much coffee! Cafe de Laos was also very European looking and the owner spoke English well. He gave us a bunch of coffee beans to smell and then select which we wanted. He made us siphoned coffee at our table. I was amazed, because I'd never seen siphoned coffee before. Tetsuko and I had fun taking videos. It was delicious and very strong. We were both slightly cracked out after. 

In the late morning I got picked up to go to Luang Prabang Elephant Camp. Tetsuko had zero interest in being around elephants. I was the only one on the trip. I was expecting a lot more people. The drive was very pretty and it was nice to see local villages. I was surprised to see that nearly all had electricity. There were some beautiful rice fields too, but unfortunately I don't see any pictures.

At the camp I was told about how the elephants are protected by the Lao government. There were a bunch of adult females and one 4 year old baby. Most had been abused or overworked logging. I got to feed them sugarcane and banana leaves. The baby was adorable. Then I got to take a ride for about 30 minutes. The mahout (trainer) led the way with a very weak "leash." The elephant loved to stop and eat along the way and she walked so slow. Just like my mom's horse Tristan! 






















Next, the driver took me to Tat Kuangsi, which is a nature area that has black bears that were rescued from poachers. It also has a river w/ shallow waterfalls for swimming. The pictures I saw showed a calm river with azure-blue pools. This was not the case when I was there, and yet, there were still some crazy people and kids in the water. 

The drive back was rough. The guy was driving like a mad man and I got car sick. I needed a rest after that trip!

Around 6pm Tetsuko and I went to hike up 250 stairs to That Chomsi. The view was beautiful, but it was crowded with tourists. 

I was hungry by then so I got "take out" for 10,000kip from the vegetarian buffet guy. And I can't forget about the beer!

Around 8pm we went out to the night market to buy omiyage. I spent my max budget of 100,000kip ($10!!)


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