luang prabang, laos - part 4:

This is my last post from Luang Prabang, Laos. 

Thank you for baring with me and the many, many photos I have posted! I will do a trip wrap up at the very end, combing Malaysia, Laos and Vietnam, sharing some of my tips and favourite spots.

Enjoy the last collection of photos, and I hope they encourage you to visit this special part of the world.

next: Hanoi, Vietnam

 

luang prabang, laos - part 3:

More photos from gorgeous Luang Prabang! Just one more post after this and then it's on to Vietnam.

We climbed the steps of Mt. Phousi one afternoon, which rewarded us with stunning views over Luang Prabang and it's surroundings. It's a pretty straight forward walk, however it can get a bit sticky in the heat and humidity. 

We also visited a Hmong village on the outskirts of the town, where we met some lovely women sewing and creating textile pieces for the night markets. I just love collecting textiles when overseas, so naturally I bought up - both directly from the women and the night markets. The night markets actually have to be, in my opinion, one of the best markets in Asia and one of my personal favourites. They are definitely set up for tourists, but the quality and variety of products is really impressive, especially if you are into local handicrafts. There are some products made in China, but these are pretty easy to spot, and the majority of the wares are locally made. The only issue was we had to walk through the markets every night in order to get to restaurants and bars, which meant we stopped and bought and stopped and bought more - every night! 

typhoon haiyan, philippines:

I just wanted to take a moment out from my usual travel posting and talk about the recent event in the Philippines - Typhoon Haiyan. As you may know a large area of the country was subjected to the ferocious power of the massive storm, leaving many, many people injured, homeless, and without basic needs such as clean drinking water, food and medical supplies.

Andrew and I were in the Philippines a couple of years ago, and to this this date has been one of our favourite trips ever as we travelled by boat around the stunning islands of northern Palawan. This area was also greatly affected by the storm leaving many villages (some of which we stayed in) completely flattened. 

Tao Philippines, the company we did our boat trip with are heavily involved in the local community and are currently doing incredible work trying to get basic needs to the villages affected. I highly recommend checking out their Facebook page to keep up with their progress.

I also want to encourage any donations, no matter how small it is, to the following organisations - anything that can help the beautiful people of the Philippines get through this awful time and start rebuilding their lives.

Red Cross
World Vision
Oxfam
UNICEF

Thank you.