We were on our way at 5:30 this morning to watch the walking monks. There are a number of Buddhist monestaries in LB and every morning the monks from these monestaries walk along the local streets collecting food. The locals, and now tourists also, sit on the side of the streets and place food (usually boiled rice) into the begging bowls of each monk that passes by. The monks periodically unload their collection into large communal bowls and then continue their walking. Nina noticed that in a few places the monks actually also distributed food to some local people from their begging bowls. We assumed these receiving locals are identifiable as poor or in some other way deserving.

After the monks walk we went back to the hotel for breakfast and then joined one of the classic Mekong long boats for a 5 hour cruise on the Mekong upstream to a Buddha cave and Xang Hai village where we saw local Lao Lao whiskey being made from rice. At the village we of course tasted some of the whiskey and at the Buddha cave we climbed a lot of steps to examine the cave. This was a relaxing and interesting trip and for Nina and I, a little nostalgic replay of our 2 day Mekong trip last year. However the character of the river was completely different to last year. We are now in the wet season and the river is much higher, much faster and a very distinct mud color.

After lunch we undertook the slow drive to the Kuang Si water falls. The road was in very bad condition with lots of big pot holes. In addition to these famous water falls there is an enclosure housing a number of Laotian local black bears. The falls were also showing the impact of the wet season and recent rain and were flowing with tremendous strength. So stong infact that swimming was prohibited in most of the pools.

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