Luang Prabang, Laos

An early start today, up at 5am to go and see the Monks Alms Ceremony in the town. Their food for the day comes from this ritual, held very early in the morning. From what I understand, they are only allowed to eat food given to them on the morning of each day, received either from this ceremony or from family. It is a very regimented ritual, with closely observed etiquette and routines. People line the streets to give food to the monks, locals and tourists.
We watched for a while and then myself and Rachel decided to follow the monks to see where they eventually ended up. We gave up as they only seemed to walk around the block but we caught three teenage monks having a laugh when they thought no one was looking. One boy took the lid of his offering pot and playfully hit the monk in front of him over the head. It was really good to see them having a laugh

We booked a minibus to take some of us up to the Kuang Waterfall which is about 45 mins drive from Luang Prabang. There has been a lot of rain over the last few days and we are now towards the end of the rainy season here so there was loads of water. No chance to swim as the power at the waterfall was amazing.
There is also a bear rescue centre which is really worth a visit. It has the Asiatic Black Bears (Moon Bears) and Malaysian Sun Bears.

Had a walk round the local food market this morning before brekkie. There wasn't anything there I was brave enough to eat. A few witchity grubs, river snakes and some bugs that came out of something that looked like a honeycomb.