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Day 3 Mekong boat trip to Luang Prabang
We rode back down to the Lakefront after breakfast for the second leg of our Mekong boat trip. Many of the village people were there to see us off as we loaded our luggage back onto the boat. It was another relaxing day playing cards and reading novels on the cruiseboat as we chugged down the Mekong. The Laos family piloting this boat live in a cabin at the back, whilst the rest of the boat is spaciously decked out with seats and an open floor. Many such boats ply their trade up and down the Mekong river. We had lunch on the boat, which, not surprisingly, consisted of yet more rice. We stopped by a small fishing village where our boat crew lived and went ashore to meet their family and friends. It was a typical riverside village, with lot's of wooden stilt houses and no electricity or running water. There were, however, a lot of chickens and dogs in the village. The roosters crowed continuosly. Seth got out his Devil Sticks and juggling balls much to the delight of the village children.
The LUT riders arrived in Luang Prabang just as the sun set over the Mekong. After loading our stuff onto our support vehicles, we rode the 2km to our guesthouse. Riding past a market, we encoutered the by now familiar sound of squeals and laughter and the sight of little kids chasing after us. It wasn't just us taking photos, many of the foreign tourists in this town were equally bemused by this sudden appearance of a whole band of unicyclists in the most unlikely of places. There were a lot of monks walking towards their temple. Colourful orange robes were dotted through the streets, as the monks headed home. This area of Luang Prabang has a World Heritage status. We cycled through a market before turning a sharp corner to get to our guesthouse. A few anxious looks appeared when we arrived to find that we had lost Barry and Nick. Luckily they were found safe and sound before dinner. The night market was in full swing after dark. Lot's of colourful fabrics, clothing, silks and other handicraft were on sale. Nathan bought many exotic chopsticks to give away as presents when he arrives home. Gilby, Sid and Ken went to the slowest internet cafe in Laos (imagine dialup speed, now imagine it was a dialup version of your dialup), and gave up in frustration. Hopefully we will find something suitable tomorrow to upload the website.
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Further downriver, we stopped
by the Pak Ou caves to admire the Buddhist statues set inside these limestone
formations. Hundreds of little Buddhas lined the nooks and crannies within
the caves. 
