#21.5 The market

Halloh. No bus yet. There was a night market on the main street every night. There were hundreds of booths with lovely fabrics, clothing and jewelryThese cutting tools may well have been made from steel from American bombs. This lady is setting up. This little girl is cutting fruit. It was fun being in LP on the weekend. The children were off school. It was fun to watch them play or help their parents with their booths.Yum, BBQ!

#21.4 the Royal Palace

Only recently, the Lao government made the palace into a museum. Much of the original furnishings were still there. There were beautiful old (1000 year old) Buddah statues on display. Cameras were not allowed, so I took a shot of the palace, the house Wat, and the sign for the Royal theatre. Notice the word royal was chiseled away and painted over. One room was devoted to gifts to the royal family from countries around the world. In 1969, the U.S. gave the family a plastic model of the lunar rover from Apollo 11 and some tiny moon rocks incased in glass. The royal garage had two Lincolns an Edsel and a Citroen. For trips around town, the royal driver prefered the Citroen. It had a manual transmission. It was lovely museum.

My bus is due any minute, so I better wrap up. This sign was on a shop front door. I REALLY wanted to knock!
Doahlah

# 21.3 more LP

Hi. I just checked my work. I have been moving these photos to make a row across the top. Picasa is moving them to suit itself.
This old fellow sells ice cream from a cooler strapped to his bicycle. He uses a small megaphone to call out to tourists. "Halloh my friends, I am selling ice cream. Would you help me by buying some ice cream"? This novice monk came to the wall of his wat to see what was happening. He had no money. I bought him an ice cream. 25 cents.
Monks robes line drying inside the wat. There are many wats and many monks in Luang Prabang. The third image is a fence using interlocking grating pieces left over from the American secret war. Our military used these to help their vehicles travel over soft (muddy) ground.
Last image, assembling the Christmas tree!
I am in Vang Vieng Laos. E mail is three time the cost in Luang Prabang. Yesterday I began to download Picasa in an internet shop. It would have taken 35 minutes. I happened to find a shop with Picasa already loaded in one of the teminal. I am going to hire a motorbike and explore the area. I will return later and write some more junk. Wish me luck.

Doahlah

# 21.2 more LP

This is looking back at the entance to a small cave on the mountain.

At the entrance to the wat, this woman is selling tiny birds in tiny cages. You buy the bird and release it for good luck. (I think).

Here is a Lao style tuk tuk Lao style sawngthaew, literally two row seat vehicle. Both are same same but different in Thailand.

# 21.1 Phu Si

The city is divided in two by a small mountain. On the summit is a famous Wat, Phu Si. It was always too hazy, or the sun was in the wrong place or whatever. I never could get a good shot from below.
The first image is one of the many Buddah statues on the pathway.
The next two are views from the top.
Novice monks, on their day off like to hang about and practice their English. This young monk is trading E maill addresses with this lady.
I had a long talk with a 16 year old novice. He asked many questions about women. I told him about Thai women only wanting money. I held out my hand and pretended to be Pen. "Give me 50 bht, give me 20 bht". He covered his mouth and laughed heartily.

#21.0 Luang Prabang

Halloh. Luang Prabang is a UNESCO World Heritage city. I'm not sure what that means, but I suppose one thing is the limiting of real estate development. It was originally inhabated in the 8th century. It later became a French provincial town. The Royal Palace is here, located near the river to allow easy access for the royals and visitors. The Royal family lived here until 1976, when the new ruling Pathet Lao shipped the king, queen, and their son the crown prince off to the east. By 1981 all of them were dead, probably from malaria and malnutrition. I was told by a docent at the palace museum that the prince has children living in town. Here are two typical buildings in town. I spent four nights here and wasn't ready to leave.
Near the main pier is a antoher spot for cross river ferries. As usual, I'm having a difficult time with Picasa. I am going to change the memo numbering system. I will give each subject a number, and a secondary number to show it's the same family of stories. Like the Dewey decimal system!
This is a private bridge across the Nam Khan river, which joins the Mekong in L.P. It's 2000 kip each crossing. Thats about 25 cents.
Next story will be 21.1. OK? Ducklass

Oops! two #18's. #20, enough already

Hi. What I meant to say was, without the cruisers there wouldn't be much income in Pak Beng.
First image is bags of oranges coming aboard from another boat. There were some mattresses passed over too.
Another shot looking foward.
Getting on board. I wouldn't want to try in the rain!
There was a mirror for beauty adjustments. The reflection is the snack lady.

In summation. This was a wonderful cruise. The scenery was breathtaking. But it was fatiguing. The boat was full. You couldn't move around much. Most of the seating was wooden bench. Cushions were sold. There were some soft car minivan type seats. I suspect, they had been removed from crashed vehicles.
I met some really nice people, and have been running into them here in Luang Prabang. I was going to take a bus to the east to see the caves where the Pathet Lao lived to avoid American bombs. It's an overnight bus that leaves LP at 5 P.M. and gets to Vieng Xai 'late the next afternoon'. The seats recline 'a little bit'. I think I'll chill here an extra couple of days and go straight to the Plain of Jars.
I hope you enjoyed this series.
Bye for now, Doahlah