Mornings were particularly quiet, except of course for the ol' chicken alarm starting up about 4 am.  Everybody, it seems, has chickens.  Then the monks would be up chanting around 6 am, but we sort of got used to that too.

In Laos we encountered not only a new language, but also a new script and alphabet, different again from Thai, and also indeciferable to our untrained Canadian eyes.  Most of the signs here were in Lao and French.  I thought we were doing pretty well knowing a few simple but important phrases in Lao, like "Hello", "Thank you", "Where is the toilet?" and "May I take a photograph?"

It was always cool and overcast when we ventured out for breakfast.  The mists over the Mekong would burn off around 9:30, and then it would really warm up.  We explored a little further each day, and also did a few excursions out into the countryside.

Luang Prabang was small enough that we often ran into some of our fellow travelers from our slow boat trip, and we would often make arrangements to get together for dinner.  Having a wider social life and more extensive visits was lots of fun too.

There were lots of little coffee bars and sidewalk cafes.  At the Scandinavian Bakery you could even find current English language newspapers from Bangkok.  Most people were checking to see if Iraq still existed.

There was no doubt we were in a pretty remote corner of the world.  We didn't find out about the bombing in Bali until about three days after it happened, and only then from worried friends back in Canada who were hoping we were okay, and someplace else.

The tragedy in Bali has prompted a lot of discussion among international travellers here.  When we ran into our friends Marta and Emily a week later in Vientiane, they had changed their plans to travel through Indonesia and were heading back to Thailand to visit a few national parks.  Carol and I are scheduled to go to Bali in late January.  We'll see how things look after the dust settles.