July 18,

We both awoke by 0630. Up and about, having Javas (still loving my coffee); and breakfast of oatmeal (with PB for me; Nutella for Jeff). The weather showed sunshine today and we saw some blue skies from our balcony.👍🏻 At 1000, we went out walking.

Our first stop was the Luang Prabang National Museum & Royal Palace. It is described as a “local-history museum in a stately former King’s mansion with gardens & ornate architectural accents.” We arrived around 1000 and paid 60,000 LAK ($2.78) each. The sun was shining!! A blessing right there! Anyway, we walked around the Phra Bang Hall & History of Prabang building. It is gorgeous in this sunshine. This was a beautiful Wat: all gold guild with white contrasting walls outside; the Naga balustrades lining the entry up; and the amazing roof-line – multi-tiered and curving peaked tresses. Inside were many Buddha statues and more gold gilding. No pictures were allowed. We exited and then went to the museum/ Royal Palace. Again no pictures were allowed inside! Bummer! It was just as described, a museum of Laos and was the living quarters of King Sisavang Vong, the last King of Lao Kingdom of Luang Prabang and the founding King of the Kingdom of Laos. [Side – his son, Sisavang Vatthana was the second and last King of the Kingdom of Laos, forced to abdicate in 1975.] Anyway, there was lots of Laotian artifacts- pottery, religious idols, and gifts given to the King. Some of the rooms were set up how they were when the building was the Royal Palace. There were beautifully designed walls and gorgeous, massive pieces of furniture. The whole complex was well worth the entry fee!

Next we went to Wat May Souvannapoumaram. This wat has the same interesting staggered roofline with a relief gold gilded entry. Jeff paid the 20,000 LAK (93 cents) entry fee for each of us,. And we went into a very rich, red worship room with the surplus of Buddhas. One was Jade, I appreciate these the most as art pieces… it contrasts great with the gold. But the outside was the best! The gold-gilded, front facade was so 3-D and a picture of an ancient kingdom/time. I could have spent a while here looking at each person, animal, building and landscape…

We moved on to our third stop, or rather hike! We went up Mount Phusi!! It is really just a hill. There is a stupa on top built in 1804. According to a placard… Lao folk story tells how this mountain was moved from Sri Lanka by the monkey king, Hauman… There are “traditional storytelling” venues around here, which this is obviously promoting. We paid the entry fee to go up – 30,000 LAK each, or $1.39, and did the over 300 steps up. Once up there were sweeping views of the Mekong and Nam Khan Rivers, that make the old part of Luang Prabang a peninsula. This is a great spot for sunrise and sunset, but both times are busy. We were here around noon, and not too many. The views were spectacular. Walking around there were differing Buddha statuary and a few small temples- one of which was set in a shallow cave enclosure. As I was taking off my shoes to go in a cat preceded me and splayed himself out on the cool marble… good idea, as it was getting toasty. We left and then saw a scorpion! He was meandering on the brick path. Time to head down! Just kidding! (LOL) We did finish up here, doing our own meandering. We exited down through another wat that is under renovation. Not much to say about it.

Now we went walking back to our place. The weather was holding out, so we pressed our luck and went to a scooter rental! Jeff ended up at the one that the store across from us owns. He paid 180,000 LAK ($8.35) for a day. We went briefly to our place and put on swimsuits to go to Kuang Si Waterfall. It is a 50 minute drive out of Luang Prabang.

We arrived and paid 60,000 Kip each which included an electric car shuttle to and from the car park. Where we were let out was a sort of shopping stall area that fed into a sort of zoo! They had Moon Bears that were rescued from illegal wildlife trading… interesting, but fun to watch. We made it through and found the path to the waterfall… WOWZA, you could here the power before you saw them. There was so much water surging down the rocks that the spray ricocheted all around. Some of the viewing platforms were underwater, as well as flooding in the normal pools where you can swim! But not swimming now!! Many ‘No Swimming’ signs were posted all over. So we got our pics and left. It was awesome, though.

As we headed back we did stop at the Laos Water Buffalo Dairy. We shared a very expensive Buffalo Ginger Ice cream cup, and decided to go for broke buying some Buffalo Blue Cheese! We dropped 50,000 Kip for cup and 164,000 Kip for the cheese, which totals to $9.93. Holy Cow!- literally! Jeff said they were raking in the profits, true that. It was good ice cream and I can’t wait to try the cheese. Anyway, we managed to get back – without spending anymore money.

Back at our place, we freshen up and went right back out for early supper at Sahai Cafe. It is a nice place and more upscale, but hey we were spending money today. I had ‘Confit Duck leg, strawberry sauce- grilled for crispy skin, served with stock, cascara and strawberry sauce, carrot mash and glazed snap beans mustard seeds.’ Jeff had ‘Citrus Pork shoulder stew, red onion pickles, mashed butternut, roasted potatoes.’ His dish (not a stew) came with a salad, and we given two small bread rolls. We shared a 500ml carafe of a house white wine. It was a lovely meal to end our packed day. And cost us 845,000 LAK, which is $39.20.

So we were blessed with a glorious sunshine day and we took advantage of it!!!