This morning we rose early to see the famous Luang Prabang alms giving ceremony – hundreds of monks leave their temples at 6am, walking in a line down the main street and the locals give them each a small amount of food.
After breakfast we joined our boat for the trip up the Mekong. We sailed all morning, stopping off once at the Pak Ou cave, which has been used for a thousand years as a Buddhist temple, and contains thousands of Buddha statues.
At lunchtime we reached our first destination, the Khamu lodge, where we’ll be staying in posh tents, complete with bathroom and terrace. The place is beautiful, with amazing views across the Mekong, lots of flowers and butterflies and a restaurant in the middle of paddy fields!
In the afternoon our guide gave us a tour of the neighboring Khamu tribe village, as well as various demonstrations of local traditions, such as how to throw the traditional fishing net, panning for gold and an archery contest using traditional bows and arrows.
We have 5 fellow travellers who include Betty and Jude, a Canadian and American in their 60s who live in Qatar and work as teachers to the children of the Royal Family. One of their pupils receives £20 million every year for his birthday. The lucky b’stard. Also travelling with us is Susan from San Francisco who is very nice.
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