July 14,

We were up and about by 0700. I was out of coffee so we went next door to Lu La Lao Coffee. I picked out the Java varietal that I loved and had them coarse grind it. Jeff paid and I went back to our place. Jeff went half a block and bought us both a coconut pancake. I had that lovely coffee fresh out of the grinder… sooo good.☕ Jeff had his hot chocolate. Then we had those yummy coconut pancakes, still warm! For toppers we had half with PB and the other half with Nutella. This day was starting out with a taste bud explosion!!

The housekeeper came and did a cleaning of the place – changing linens/towels, and a general tidying with a sweeping/mopping. We were able to video with Jeff’s sister. Her husband was attending a funeral in the eastern US. An uncle of his passed. The family will be in our prayers. The morning gave way to early afternoon. It looked as though it should have been raining all morning, but it never did.

Finally around 1300 we went out. We went past a couple of places where we could stay for our extended five days, and found the one we wanted. Now for lunch, we went back to 3 Thep Restaurant. It has good food and is on the Mekong River. We ordered Fresh Vegetable Spring Rolls, a Luang Prabang Salad, and Red curry with chicken. While we were waiting I got up and looked at art and pictures on the walls. One picture grabbed my attention… it was a photo from September of 2024. It showed massive flooding. Where we were sitting was in water!!! There must have been a 15 vertical feet rise of the river.🤯 It was crazy, but incredible. This made me think of the dam that was being built… no wonder, eh! Anyway, our drinks and food came. I had a watermelon shake and Jeff had a Beer Lao. The food was great as we watched boats cruising up and down the Mekong!

Back at our place, we booked the place online, and watched some YouTube. For supper we went light, having crackers and bread from one of the many bakeries, and a bottle of wine. It was another fine day.

     July 15,

This morning I woke up at 05 and 06, but I did not hear the drums! Maybe I’m getting used to them?!? That’s a crazy thought. I woke Jeff at the 06 hour and he did not go back to sleep. We both got up and around by 07. He amazes me that he can just lay in bed and read while I’m sleeping every morning. I guess it’s still true love!💘🥰  Anyway we got around; had our javas; and breakfast of Muesli, yogurt, and an apple(me) – plums(Jeff). The plums were a rare find at a street stall and very lovely.

We did a load of laundry, mostly consisting of our packing cubes. It is actually the first time we’ve machine washed them. I’ve done hand washing of spots but it was definitely time. Jeff went across the street to the little local convenience type store and exchanged for another five gallon sized water. They only charge 10,000 LAK, which is 46 cents! Then we listened to music as morning came and went. I blogged and Jeff read. There were a couple of light sprinkles only. For lunch we had cheese and bread. I blogged more. Some of you may have seen we are having an issue with our website. We’re working on it. Sorry about that!😔  Afternoon became evening.

At 1630, we went out for a walkabout – 1.6 miles to get supper. We wanted pizza and Jeff found the highest rated one, Pizza Phan Luang. Going there enabled us to get to another part of town. This is the more “local living” part, not the UNESCO part of the city. We had to cross on a converted railway bridge(?) over the Nam Khan River to get there. I, of course, thought it to be a tiny bit problematic. Anyway, we arrived at the pizza place safely. The owners- a Canadian husband married to a Laotian wife. We talked a bit with him about Luang Prabang, as he made our Chicken Curry with Coconut Milk. A wait staff then served us our delicious wood oven pizza with curried chicken sauce and tomato sauce, onion, and mozzarella cheese. I had a glass of red wine and Jeff had a beer. It was a great pizza, and we were “serenaded” by the ‘meoweiest’ cat I think I have ever heard.🤣😂  We finished and paid 305,000 LAK, or $14.14.

We walked back and had a wee bit of sprinkling as we’d had coming. Just another day in Luang Prabang.