We got up early on our last day in Chaing Mei, Thailand to go to the Doisuthep Wat. The Temple is very high up in the mountains overlooking Chaing Mei. It is a very curvy drive to get up to the Wat. Once you get there you have to climb either 300 steps or take a tram to get the temple. It is ALL GOLD. It is amazing. Bells, monks, visitors, all kinds of religious rights (burning of candles, offering of flowers, ringing of bells, etc.) It was a fitting place to end our visit. We then went back to the hotel, packed and headed out. We went to another very good Thai restaurant, had lots of great food and proceeded to the airport. After we cleared security, we still had time to spend so Cathy and Cliff had a foot massage for 30 minutes. All over Thailand besides regular massages, Oil Massages, Head only massages, there is the king of all massages: Foot Massages. Everyone appears to get them, youngsters, old people, tourists, etc. It is ubiquitous. It is also very enjoyable.
We flew by prop plane to Luang Prabang, Laos the first Communist Country we have ever been in. It is just great, the people are friendly, the city is only 3 streets wide. It sits between two rivers (one is the famous Makong, the other the Khan River). The whole city is very charming, lots of French aspect of when they ruled Indo-China, lots of bikes and motor bikes, few cars. It is like being in a Graham Greene novel, or watching an old movie. We are very charmed. There are lots of shops selling village products, we plan to hit them tomorrow. We went out with the group for dinner. French Rose from Provence costs $18, we had two bottles. Cathy came back to the hotel to sleep, I of course went out and had a 90 minute massage. The picture of the river is from our 2nd floor hotel room (the highest in Luang Prabang). You are looking at the river and the people working in the rice paddies on the other side. Amazing!
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