Wifi defeated me this morning – I wasn’t able to upload photos for my daily blog post. But here in Chiang Mai we have cable internet/wifi, would you believe! So from now on I have no excuse. Anyway, back to yesterday.

We really did need a bit of a rest day. The kids were feeling a bit of sensory overload, so Dan and I tag teamed and went out to wander the streets one after the other while the kids spent some time on the internet and playing games.

Dan came back from his first foray saying that I really needed to go and pay the morning market a visit. It’s a food market, mostly frequented by locals although unsurprisingly there are a fair few tourists wandering up and down as well. Fortunately for us we’d bought a book from Big Brother Mouse that explained the foods we were likely to encounter in the market. Foods like fried buffalo hide….and a myriad of other things that I’m pretty sure I’ll never have the courage to taste. Fortunately there were plenty of familiar items to take a look at as well. As usual, I’m constantly stunned by the lack of refrigeration. The fish was super fresh however – often live and swimming in an esky until someone requested it.

Luang Prabang is full of pretty little quiet side streets. They’re cool and lush, and are often full of galleries, cafes and interesting little shops. I could spend hours exploring, if only I had the time.

We’d come across this paper goods shops, and the girls enjoyed choosing some lanterns. There were a few photos of President Obama in the shop on display, so we assume that we were in good company!

And yes, we felt that we all deserved another massage.

Dan went off to the local temple for some chanting. I finally took the opportunity to purchase a few textiles from both Ock Pop Tok and the TAEC shop. So many beautiful handicrafts!

After an ice cream we met up with our American friend Peter, and headed up to the park alongside the Viewpoint Cafe, part of the Mekong Riverview complex. Peter was going to play his fiddle for the Riverview guests while they had wine by the river at 6.30pm, and we were privileged to attend as Peter’s friends. It was all highly civilised! Then we progressed to the Viewpoint Cafe for dinner. It was one of the most delicious meals we’ve had in Luang Prabang, made all the more delicious by the company and the sharing of stories.

So that’s almost the last of Luang Prabang! I’m typing this from Chiang Mai – but that’s for the next instalment!