Our Week in Laos

Okay, we still don't know what the point is, but we're having fun anyway. [insert ironic smile here]. :) Ashifa was very interested to read all the comments responding to her post. I think Doug's especially has her brain churning. We'll have lots more to say in a day or two, but I wanted to post something today. We arrived in Hanoi yesterday, just in time for Tet - the mother of all holidays in Vietnam, it's usually referred to as the equivalent of Christmas, New Years, and everyone's birthday all rolled into one. We got to see some of the celebrations last night and today, which was very cool, but the other feature of Tet is that everything shuts down for several days. So, I'm not sure when we'll be able to get back on the internet (or find an open restaurant or bus that's running).

So here are some pictures from our week in Laos - edifying explanation to follow (hopefully) soon!

One the bus trip from Vientiane to Luang Prabang - a preview of the weather the next day, which we spent mostly soaked:
Rice paddies:

Some scenes from Pha That Luang, the most important national monument in Laos - in Vientiane, the capital:





A handful of Lao kip. One US dollar is equal to about 10,000 kip. That's a lot of zeros to deal with.
When you're traveling in countries that have a season called "monsoon", you need to be careful. It's actually the dry season in Laos right now, but we had one monsoon day. The people of Luang Prabang (most of whom seem to ride motorbikes) were prepared. They used the same umbrellas the next day in the bright sun.
Laos suffered badly during the Vietnam War. It's refered to as the "most heavily bombed country in the world" and hundreds of people here are still killed every year by unexploded ordinance. This old anti-aircraft gun was right next to the major Buddhist temple in Luang Prabang.
A reclining Buddha at the same monument:
We did a two-day trek/one-day kayak trip into the countryside near Luang Prabang. A random lovely waterfall along the way:
Some things we've learned on our trip: little kids are the same everywhere, teenagers are the same everywhere, and dogs are the same everywhere. Every puppy likes a belly scratch. And Ashifa can not resist a puppy.
A Khmu village where we stayed on our first night of the trek:
A Hmong village we passed through on the second day of the trek:
A rice and corn grinder in the Hmong village:
Hmong kids working on a homemade luge:
Scenery along the Ou River during our kayak:

The Pak Ou cave - the huge cave is full of hundreds of old and new Buddha statues and has been used for something like 800 years for religious purposes. [Why won't this underline go away????]

Some of the Buddhas in the cave: