Necessary and Welcomed

Luang Prabang, Laos -- Day 2

We had high hopes for tourist activities this morning -- take a tuk tuk to the waterfall, rent bikes and ride around town, visit the museum, go to the butterfly park -- but in the end it became a necessary planning and welcomed rest day.

We’d been trading emails with good friend, Mike “Y” (Y-r-a-m-a-t-e-g-u-i) a work colleague and biking buddy of mine for the last twenty-seven years!  Before leaving home, we had discussed meeting in Vietnam -- Mike’s wife was born there and fled with her family during the war. Unfortunately, the timing to meet there didn't work out, but Mike, by chance, would be in Hong Kong next week for work. So, taking advantage of our foot-loose-and-fancy-free status, we booked tickets for the weekend to Hong Kong (You know, cause that’s how we roll.) Not only that, for the total convenience, we decided to stay at the Marriott Courtyard along with Mike and the rest of the Intuitive contingency. (Thanks Mike for making the hotel arrangements). Should be a fabulous weekend.  

Scott, from the guesthouse, giving directions

While we were in the planning mode, we also finally got our tickets to Australia, via Bali, in January and stopped by the Vietnamese embassy here in town, to rush through our visas. Dex and Kylie were not the least bit put out with our lack of sight seeing and spent most of the day down by the river embankment playing with their marbles. They are very good at filling their time in situations like this, especially when they are outside and have a place to make up games. In this case, they would roll different color groups of marbles down a path and then keep track of which alleyways they took, adding up points and assigning penalties based on the results.

As a result, the only tourist activity for the day was a late afternoon walk up to the stupa atop little Mount Phu Si just a few blocks away. Curiously, along the winding stairs were women selling small sparrows in tiny bamboo cages. We surmised these were offerings so bought a couple. Dex and Kylie we delighted to free their little brown birds up at top.

In front of his cafe

For the evening, we met up with David and Shelly at the night market just a block from the Mekong. We arrived a tad late for sunset, as we were preoccupied negotiating the purchase of a colorful, pleated skirt for Kylie. As we walked toward the river, David regaled us with a recap of the Hitchcock episode the kids had only just started watching on the boat.  What fun. It was another delightful evening for Team Hoornaert -- good beer, good friends and some good Thai and Lao food at the Coconut Garden. As we were saying our goodbyes, David and Shelly assured us their attic is always free, so we may be forced to visit sometime soon.

Kylie's skirt

Kylie, Dex, and David by the river

Shelly and Kylie