Lovin' Laos

Our flight from Bangkok to Luang Prabang, Laos, was 1 hr 15 min, but once we'd landed it felt like it was worlds away. Luang Prabang is a Unesco World Heritatage site, with a population of just over 100,000. We've been having an incredible time here and would highly recommend it. It has an interesting mix of asian and french colonial influences, which is seen in both the architechture and food (had amazing coffee and baguette for breakfast, for example, and then a fantastic lemongrass curry for dinner). In addition, it is chock full of "wats," or temples. These have their own unique Lao style and are a sight to behold. Each temple has its resident monks, ranging in age from about 10 to 20. There seem to be hundreds around the city.

We've also been visting temples in neighbouring villages and checking out the local crafts, as well as spending time doing not much other than wandering the streets (slowly, because it's so incredibly hot!!), and sitting down often for a cold drink.

We've also been to Tet Sae Waterfalls - amazing - about a half hour tuk-tuk ride from Luang Prabang (followed by a short boat ride up river). We had a bit of a swim in the pools and climbed up the limestone falls. Lovely and refreshing (did I mention how hot it is here?).

This morning we rose at 5:30am to watch the alms procession of Buddhist monks which takes place every morning. Hundreds of monks donning saffron robes making their way through the streets made for an incredible scene. A very peaceful way to start our day and the perfect way to end our time in Luang Prabang. Later in the afternoon, we made our way to the capital, Vientiene. We're only in Vientiene for a day, a stop over on the way to Phnom Penh (Cambodia), but it's given us the chance to check out a few of the main sights, one of which was That Louang, an amazing and beautiful golden temple.

Tomorrow, we're off to Phnom Penh to meet our housebuilding team and get started on the house building project!

We're doing great and hope you all are too.

Love,

Polly and Stephane

Bangkok Adventures

We got into Bangkok in the middle of the night, after a very long 24 hour journey, which took us through Seoul and Taipei. Suprisingly, we've suffered very little jetlag! The first day we were up and touring around the city, negotiating our first tuk-tuk rides, brushing off the occasional con-artists and eating amazing Thai food at the night markets! We've been loving the 17 cent chicken skewers and the $2.50 dinners for two. Yesterday we headed to see the sights of Bangkok - massive reclining buddahs and sparkling temples.

Today we're off to Luang Prabang in Laos where the pace will likely be a lot slower than the craziness we experienced in Bangkok. We're happy to be escaping the urban jungle and hope to soon be lazing by the Mekong River .

We're off to catch our plane!

Getting ready to go...

We're getting ready to go: planning, packing (carry on luggage only!), washing, organizing (not necessarily in that order). We purchased a camera that we hope will survive the journey. It's water proof (good for monsoons), dust proof (good for the big cities - Bangkok, Phnom Penh), and sand proof (good for the beach!). We're hoping to be able to update this blog and upload pictures every few days. Stay tuned!

Tomorrow, we're off to Bangkok. We'll be there for about 3 or 4 days, getting over our jet-lag, visiting sites, eating yummy food, and plunging into culture shock, maybe in the back of a tuk-tuk, with smiles spread wide across our faces!

Gotta go pack!!

Love,

Polly and Stephane