Luang Prabang, Laos Pt. 2

 Some things we learned about Laos:

• the average person can live off of $1/day
• the average income is less than $1000/year
• Laos is one of the world's 20 poorest countries
• no roads from bordering countries lead to Laos until the 1990's (I believe they opened to tourism in '87)
• they have a curfew of midnight..shopkeepers face a large fine if they're caught operating their business after hours..

on our way up to phu psi temple

there were serpents at the entrances to almost all the temples

jacki

 from phu psi we saw this golden temple in the distance..this is how we met our friend Sommay. He was at the temple studying, and we asked him what that was across the way, and how do we get to it..

buddha's footprint

sticky rice..

coconuts!

a lot of the tuk tuk drivers had hammocks in the back...

BeerLao Dark...much better than BeerLao, but half the size and twice the price!

water buffalo burger..BEST burger i've ever eaten, hands down. send guy fieri here.

a local Laos food...Lok Lap...fish and tons of cilantro...i was told this was also very delicious

naturally, we did a bit of shopping before sightseeing..

marge and i with our awesome bikes..i can't remember exactly but they were less than $2 for the day..

motorbike/pedestrian bridge that i mentioned in the last post..

it took us a few tries to find this place...we were in the right area, but rode past it a few times without realizing it...at one point we found ourselves on a dirt/gravel road, and asked a school girl on her way home for lunch if we were close...she just laughed and pointed in the opposite direction..

BUT...we made it! [jacki and marge]..i should also mention it was 100°F

Phon Pout

when we finally arrived here, we found it was closed. they're only open during certain hours of the day...the ladies in side must have seen us wandering around the grounds and poking around, because we weren't there 5 minutes, and they opened the doors..

this woman came up to us with neon orange string bracelets from the temple, and while she put them on our wrists she said a prayer...and then asked us for money.

my bracelet...and awesome tan..

this stuppa was multi-level and had gorgeous paintings all over every wall..as you got higher into the stuppa, it got narrower and narrower..