Breakfast on the terrace at the Sayo River Guest House - Jordan's passport was safely returned to the hotel reception desk earlier that morning - the scooter rental agency had returned the wrong 'security deposit' to another renter, the previous day, before we had got back to the office.
We walked through the picturesque laneways and rented bicycles, grabbing a coffee before starting the day.
We cycled south through the morning bustle, streets lined with hardware stores, tailors and scooter dealerships, stopping to check out the bikes for sale.
We found Ock Pop Tok (meaning: east meets west); a textile cooperative founded to promote and retain the traditional weaving skills of the tribal women of Laos. The tour included the silk worm process, weaving methods and batik and dyeing.
We tried silk worm poop tea and looked at the beautiful textiles for sale, before set off on our bikes again.
Stopping briefly at the monument to President Souphanouvong - born a prince, but became a senior leader in the Lao Peoples Revolutionary Party and regarded as one of the most outstanding revolutionary leaders of Laos.
Nearby, was the UXO Museum. The history of unexploded ordinance in Lao PDR is horrifying to say the least - with at least one person killed each day, many more are maimed.
Heading back down to the Mekong shoreline, we booked a tour of the Pha Tad Se Botanical Gardens which involved crossing the river by longboat. The gardens were begun in 2008, but had only opened to the public four months ago. The grounds were lush and well laid out, with excellent plant identification and grouping.
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| Heliconia indica |
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| Mt Pha Tad Se in background which gave its name to the gardens |
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| Mekong sunset |
The sun set as we crossed back over the river, illuminating the sky with orange strokes signalling the end of another beautiful day in northern Laos. Supper at the night market meant another dessert feast of coconut cakes .... delicious!!!
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