July 9,

We were both awakened by drums at 0530, but I went back to sleep and didn’t get up until 0800, due to not getting to sleep until midnight. Again, I don’t know why. We set about, settling in – unpacking a bit. We are in a cute house rental, and will be here for two weeks. The inside is beautiful wood: floors, walls, ceilings and even window shutters. It reminds me of old style houses in the Philippines… well, all throughout S.E. Asia really. We sat up on our balcony and had our Javas. It is a very quiet and pleasant way to begin the day. So gonna love this! The housekeeper came as was arranged by the host and collected our money for our stay.

So at 0915, we went out for breakfast. We decided on Cranky T Cafe and Bar. They do homemade bagels! So we each had one: I had egg and cheese on mine; Jeff had ham and cheese on his. They were very good! The bagels had a sour cream taste to them. The meal cost us 150,000 Kip, which is $6.96.

We finished and went back to our place. We got in touch with Jeff’s sister and her husband on a WhatsApp video call. Then we went back out to a grocery store. It was about a mile away and we just walked it. We need the exercise! We were able to find most of the stuff we wanted and checked out. Jeff paid with an app he was able to download and get approved online.

Back at our place we unloaded and cooled off. For lunch we ate a light bit: last of the peanuts and some mixed nuts. Then I blogged and Jeff read. We went back out to Zurich Bread Factory and Cafe for supper. We had pumpkin soup, watermelon feta salad, and Luang Prabang sausage, called Sai Au LBP. Our bill was 690,000 ($32). Tourist pricing!! I had a Very Berry smoothie and Jeff had a BeerLao. The evening was chill-axing!

     July 10,

   Happiest Anniversary to one of our Nephews and his wife!!!

Jeff had his turn of not sleeping well. He said he didn’t get to sleep until 0200!! Overachiever, that’s what I say!🤨🙄  Of course, we were awakened by the 0530 drum call. We will get out and check this out some morning… just not today, and back to sleep. Finally, we did get up and about, having our Javas out on our 2nd story balcony! The weather here has been gloomy. The skies today were very gray, overcast, and looked to rain any minute. So it was going to be a stay in day. We had breakfast on the balcony – Muesli with milk, yogurt, and mango juice – as we listened to birds, and watched the goings on of life.

Morning gave way to early afternoon. There was a spot of light rain, after it finished we went out for lunch. We went to a local Laotian restaurant, Nang Tao. We had Laos’ version of Khao Soi, and Stir-fried Rice Noodles. It rained as we were waiting. Both of the dishes were fantastic! I enjoyed the Khao Soi better than Jeff. But I say it should have its own name… it is not at all like a Thai Khao Soi. The Noodle dish was literally, fried fat noodles with big crispy areas, then it was stir-fried with egg, veg, meat, and an umami sauce. Yum – and yes, salivating as I write this! I had a Coke and Jeff had a Sprite. Side bar: Pepsi has a larger presence here than I want to mention. Anyway, our bill was only 110,000 LAK or $5.10. We walked back in a light sprinkle.

Afternoon turned to evening with off and on again rain. I gotta mention here… I’ve left my soft cast off all day and it feels okay, but weak. Jeff’s knee had a minor setback due to schlepping our luggage on and off the boat for two days in a row, but is better now… Update completed. We went out to the nightly street market in Luang Prabang. There’s a lot of souvenir-type shops, then we found the food part. We got two kinds of jerky-type meat: one a beef, and the other a fish?; a big salad with a dressing; and chocolate, chocolate chip cookies. We also bought a baguette from a bread store and a bottle of wine from a little local shop. This was our yummy supper!

It was a laid back couple of days. Hopefully, we can get out in earnest tomorrow.