Today at lunch Nick said to me “days like today make me wish we could just travel forever”. We have just as many (or maybe more) days where we look forward to going home, but today was not one of them.

Millie slept in until 8:30 and then we headed downstairs to our hotel’s breakfast. We had great fruit, pastries, fresh yogurt, eggs, and a Lao rice porridge. They served us coffee in a French press which felt like a luxury after a week of Vietnamese jet fuel.

It was frustrating when our Airbnb fell through yesterday, but by this morning we couldn’t imagine staying anywhere else. We got really lucky with this last-minute booking.

We only have this room for two nights, so after breakfast we had some planning to do. We had questions like: How long should we stay in Luang Prabang? Where else in Laos should we visit? When should we fly onwards to Thailand? What city is best to fly from? We figured it all out and set out to walk to the train depot to buy some tickets for a few days from now.

This was our first daytime exploration of the city and I was immediately charmed and fell in love with it. There is an active temple on almost every block, and a good coffee shop on every other one. So our walk had alternating aromas of incense and fresh coffee. It was a crisp morning and just perfect.

We got our train tickets and stopped at the post office for Millie to write some postcards home.

We came back to the hotel and booked some upcoming lodging, then set out for lunch. We walked along the river and went to our second Obama-was-here establishment of the week.

Millie got a coconut, Nick and I got beers, and we shared fish & chips and spring rolls. We watched boats along the river and Millie drew.

She insisted on ordering everything for us and then paying the bill. We can’t believe how confident she has gotten recently, she will talk to any stranger. By the end of the meal, our waitresses were so charmed by Millie that they took turns picking her up and taking photos with her.

After lunch we walked to the tip of the peninsula, stopping in at every temple along the way. Millie loved getting to take her shoes off and running in to, as she says, “prayer”.

She said “I prayed for a good life and a good family. And for a phone which I think I will get because my family is good to me.” Master manipulator.

As we were walking back she told us “When I grow up I’m not going to be a monk” I asked why and she said “they have to be too polite, too quiet, and they prayer too much.” Fair enough, this is also why I’m not a monk.

After all the temples we continued our beautiful, aimless, and rambling walk. We reached the end of the peninsula where two rivers merge.

We turned around and walked towards Phousi hill (pronounced Poosy which made me laugh like a child every time). The sun started setting as we climbed the stairs upwards above the city.

We got to the top right as the sun dipped below the horizon. We took some photos but didn’t stop for long because whenever we stayed still we noticed mosquitoes buzzing around us.

We walked down the other side of the hill and the path led us out directly into the night market. We walked through the many stands selling touristy souvenirs and towards the food area.

At the food area I was in charge of running around and getting a selection of things for us all to try. I came back with coconut pancakes, fried spring rolls, dumplings, pork and rice bowl, and mango sticky rice. We loved everything. The market was lively with a good mix of tourists and locals.

After we were full, we walked back to our hotel. We turned town an alley and stopped for a while to listen to monks chanting. It was the perfect end to a very relaxed and beautiful day.