One thing I love about South East Asia is the juicy succulent fruit that is available everywhere.

In Chiang Mai there were street vendors selling little plastic bags of mango, papaya, watermelon, pineapple (and everything else) slices closed by a long bamboo toothpick that also served as a tool to eat the treat.

In Luang Prabang, next to the night market, there are many women who sell both Nutella crepes and all sorts of fresh fruit juices. I had dragon fruit juice today.

Why am I loving this town so much and why is it my absolute favorite so far?

For the colonial flavour mixed with the lush vegetation that makes everything a little wilder and unpredictable.

I walked my way to the Wat Xiang Thong and was amazed by the decoration on the walls of some of the temples. On the red painted surface many old stories are told by using colourful glass that depicts people, working life, animals, etc.

I have seen some of these stories on the pouches and the blankets that the women sell at the markets but don’t know yet what they mean.

I went to the Big Brother Mouse to pick up a couple of books, this special place promotes literacy and the learning of the english language. They are always on the lookout for someone who sponsors the publishing of a book or a local folk story and for English speakers who would go there in the morning and help locals practice their english! So beautiful!

I bought a book about old tribes of the region and I hope to meet some of this people tomorrow during my guided trek.

I went to look at the bamboo bridge again, and to be fair, it doesn’t look that sturdy from a distance or from up close! But then two monks walked past me and started to cross it and I told myself they do it, I do it. So I went. There is not much more to the other side than the experience of crossing the bamboo bridge and looking down to the kids, out from school, swimming close to the shores of the Nam Kham, son of the Mekong.

The guy from the eco tours had given me a voucher of 1.000 Kip for food at Utopia, a popular hippie place here in Luang Prabang. And I went to get my mango sticky rice, like the old times in Thailand. The cafe is a chilled out place filled with these colourful cushions and deck chairs overlooking the river. The vibe it is so chilled that I was sure someone was smoking pot. But didn’t see anything like that.

The thing with the currency here, is that they have a huge inflation rate and withdrawing the equivalent of 100 euros means I go around town with a million in my pocket haha!

There is a lot of young travellers in town and I chatted with a few of them today, especially a french guy who’s been travelling with his girlfriend for almost one year and said to have loved especially Myanmar (its on the list, its on the list!).

We were siting next to each other, me and this french couple, and were looking at the sun go down into the lower clouds, making them pink and then diving into the river.

There was a practise in Chiang Mai of buying a tiny cage with a poor bird inside to release it and get good karma. I saw people on top of the Phou Si mountain doing the same.

Anyways, the descent from the mountain was beautiful too, you know when certain colours keep in the air and you are able to take splendid pictures.

The Dara market, aka the Chinese market of the city with the fake and the cheap stuff is just too fake and too cheap. But the night market is a travellers dream. So, hurry! If you are reading this, you are entitled to request a prize. It can be a postcard or a small present, just ask me!

Such a voracious day today. I managed to squeeze in a back massage at the Red Cross (yes they do massage and the money helps a good cause) and it reminded me that I should take them more often…