The day after NYE I randomly decided to go and see the Kuang Si waterfall with two other people, it was worth it as it was beautiful and probably the best thing about going to Luang Prabang. Even though I can hardly swim, I jumped off a rope swing into the magical blue lagoon, that got my heart going quite a bit. 
Unfortunately, whether it was the water, or the egg sandwich I had for lunch, or the vegetarian buffet I had later on, I was up all night vomiting and with bad diarrhea. I fasted for a few days which probably did me good after all the beer I drank over the period of many hogs. I still managed to walk around the town, but really I couldn't see what all the fuss with the place was about. There's some wats (temples), but there's temples everywhere in Asia. Maybe my stomach condition soured the experience.
Anyhow, on the 3rd of Jan I got up at 6am to see the monks taking alms. It is a very sombre affair, the monks are not allowed to speak or anything and have to walk in a meditative state holding out a bowl into which the local people put in handfuls of rice and fruit (possibly other stuff but that was mainly what I saw). Some of the monks had done quite well, their pots were overflowing and they had to throw some stuff back into baskets that were on the roadside. One of my compadres was wearing black wellies and a bright yellow beanie hat, I think she got more photos taken of here than the monks did. I was trying to be polite taking a picture of the monks as they walked away, some people were very rude, getting right in their faces with the cameras.
As a digresion, I was under the impresion that the Buddhist monks were not allowed any possessions. Strange then that I've seen a lot of monks with mobile phones, and some with cameras and laptops. Maybe the high-tech stuff doesn't stop you achieving enlightenment.
From Luang Prabang I took a minibus to Vang Vieng. A 6hr ride through very bendy mountainous roads probably wasn't what my guts wanted, but I managed to hold on. Vang Vieng has a bad reputation for being a hell-hole of Western twenty-somethings getting absolutely out of their faces. The Travelfish website even suggests avoiding it completely. I think that would be a mistake, the place has been the highlight of my Laos trip so far. The scenery around is stunning, limestone cliffs and rivers. I stayed at the Sunset Guesthouse (who gave me a free t-shirt). My own little bungalow for 50,000 kip a night (about $6). Not that cheap actually, the Spicy Laos backpackers which ahs just opened there had cheap dorms and a cool hanging out area but it was full when I arrived. We went out on a couple of bike trips to see the caves nearby, which was good for me as I'd never really ridden a bicycle before. I don't have any pictures unfortunately, but my friends had a lot of fun at my expense, as did the locals. On the way to see the "water cave", I fell of and grazed my knee quite badly. Luckily we were passing through a village and a family came out to see what the hell this crazy farang (foreigner) was doing sitting on the roadside. The old man of the house cleaned up my wounds with some iodine and sent his daughter off on a motorbike to get me some plasters. Not nice to fall off, but it turned into a nice little experience.
My time is nearly up at this internet cafe (I'm currently in Savannakhet, south-central Laos, you can see Thailand over the Mekong), so my tubing and happy pizza stories will have to wait 'til next time.
Sabaidee!
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