July 11,

I awoke and saw around seven monks lining up right in front of our place. Every morning they do a ritual walk. According to a brochure that was in our place – it’s called Sai Bat (Alms giving). It was raining, so we will not watch it today. But I noticed the monks lining up here were so young. In training?… I have lots of questions? Anyway, we finally got up & about, around 0700. My coffee stash was getting low so we went out. There are many local shops selling their own local brands. We stopped at Crazy T Cafe so I could try theirs. I got it as a take away. As we were leaving, we saw a man making what seemed to be coconut pancakes. So we bought one of them for 30,000 LAK, which was $1.39.  We went back to our place for breakfast. My coffee was alright, but not what I want every morning. But the Coconut Pancake, well, that was awesome! It was very densely packed, mostly with freshly shaved coconut. We split it and had our yogurts. It was enough – we were satisfied and full! 

The day was rainy, drizzly most of the whole day. So we read, watched YouTube and lazed away the morning/afternoon. We had a break in the rain and went out for lunch at Tamarind Restaurant. We had a Taster Plate called Five Bites. 1- Sai Oua, which is Luang Parbang Sausage; 2- Som Pak Gat, a Leafy Green Veg. Pickle; 3- Sinh Savanh, ‘Heavenly’ Dried Buffalo; 4- Sa Mak Keua, a Salad of Minced Pork, Eggplant, Banana Blossom, Bamboo, and Sesame Seeds; and 5- Miang Kham, Lettuce Wraps of Noodles w/ Paste, Nuts and Herbs. It was very unique and a great sampler of Laotian food. Jeff had a Pineapple and Ginger Crush smoothie and I had an Iced Lao Coffee. The total we paid was 300,000 LAK, which was $13.93. We went back to our place.

Afternoon changed to evening. We did laundry, at least, we were a little constructive. We also listened to some of our stored music favorites. There was a brief respite in the rain so Jeff took advantage and went out for us supper. (Our place has a bigger umbrella and we never leave without it.) He got Beef Ragout, which was a stew of beef, potatoes, and carrots served over noodles. While he was waiting, he also got a lemon tart (we’d had their pear almond one already, yesterday or two days ago… I forgot to mention it, but it was great). Jeff also got a red wine and brought all the goods home. We ate the stew over rice noodles and I was sent back to fond memories! It was great – comfort food! We did not have the tart as we were filled. 

     July 12,  

       Happy Anniversary to my sister and her husband!!!

I was awakened at 0430 by drums this morning, which is the first call for the monks to get up and about for their alms walk, which happens at 0600 right now. I guess it’s 0530 when it’s not the rainy season. I was able to go back to sleep, and we got up around 0630.

I went out to the closest coffee shop, Lu La Lao, to check out their coffee. I read their tasting notes and ordered the varietal they call Java, as a takeaway. It was kismet!! When I tried it back at our place… Ohh Lala!! Love it! So I’ll purchase from them maybe tomorrow. The coffee is from Tateng, Sekong Province in southern central Laos. We will not be getting down there, but it could be a place to visit in the future,🤔 maybe??? Jeff had his hot cocoa and we had breakfast of Muesli, yogurt, and milk.

Then the day cleared, some blue sky and a peek-abo sun. So we went out – going to 3 Wats, or “Vats” as the signage here calls them. The first and closest one to us – Vat Sop Sick Haram – is not listed in the brochure we have. It seemed to have three main temples: one had a large sitting Buddha- when we entered here some boys in training (I think) to be monks scattered out; the second had many smaller Buddhas lined up in an altar fashion; and the third had one larger Buddha surrounded by many smaller ones. Now we moved on to the second vat- Vat Sen Souk Haram. This was in our brochure – the name translates to “Temple of a 100,000 treasures”. There was a side temple that houses a large standing Buddha, which can be seen from the main street out front. Also another side building had a large Buddha footprint. The main temple of this vat was closed. Our last and third vat- Vat Nong Sik Houn Muang. It is not in our brochure. The main temple here was also closed but it had the Naga balustrade daring one to go in. A side building housed a very worn, well-used drum. One of the culprits waking us up in the wee hours of morning!😂🤣

We also walked along the Nam Khan River which feeds the Mekong and flows through the city of Luang Prabang. We stopped and bought veggies at the morning market. We also stopped for a Mango shake to cool us a bit. Then we went back to our place, and just as we settled in… it rained. We ate the yummy lemon tart!😋

It kept raining off and on for the rest of the day. For supper, we made pasta with the last of our jerky and veggies we bought today at the market. After supper we watched a movie. I blogged with Jeff reading and editing. We were lucky with our rain dodging today.