Luang Prabang, 11th + 12th February 2020 (Day 10+11)

Yesterday and today we were out and about in and around Luang Prabang.

We walked across one of the two Bamboo Bridges. The bridge was built by hand and is completely made of bamboo.

Before the rainy season starts here, the bridge is dismantled each time as it would not withstand the heavy water flow.

After the rainy season, it is rebuilt again.

A pretty shaky affair, we tell you 😂🙈

But the bridge shows how stable and robust bamboo is.

Afterwards, we took a short lunch break by the Mekong River and enjoyed the tranquility there.

In the evening, we strolled through the night market. Every day, starting at 5 pm, the main road is closed to traffic and numerous pavilions are set up where locals sell their goods and souvenirs.

In Germany, it is unimaginable that a main road is completely closed every evening for about 5 hours 😂

Here, it's completely normal!

We ended the evening in a rooftop bar above the night market, where we had a great view of the whole scene!

For the next morning, we set our alarm for 5 o'clock!

Every morning between half past 5 and 6, the monks walk through the streets to have their alms bowls filled by Buddhists sitting on small stools by the roadside.

Everything that lands in this bowl (most of it is rice) the monks are allowed to eat until noon. After that, they fast until the next morning.

It's really fascinating to see how many monks there are in this city.

Afterwards, we were driven to Kuang Si Waterfall, 30 km outside of Luang Prabang, by a minivan.

At the beginning of the waterfall trekking path, we walked through a moon bear and sun bear rescue station.

Especially the very small bears were really cute, how they bit each other's ears and played together.

Then we went through the jungle, with the loud chirping of crickets, towards the waterfall!

Wow, this green-blue water is simply amazing!

After hiking up to the biggest waterfall, we started the descent again after a photo session.

At 3 pm, the bus drove back.

The bus ride was quite fast at times. There were a few bridge construction sites along the way, where a makeshift clay "road" was created next to the bridge, which we went down and up again at not quite a slow pace 🙈

But we arrived back in Luang Prabang in one piece and spent the evening by the Mekong River and at the night market!