And today's magnificent tree is...

...the Cannonball Tree (Couroupita guianensis) or dok manicort, growing in our local temple. It's an amazing tree, a native of South America in the Brazilnut family, with these dramatic fragrant flowers sprouting straight out of the trunk. Apparently it has significance in the Buddhist tradition, but seeing as it was only introduced to Asia (by the British) in the 1880s its role in the life of the Buddha needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. Nevertheless, a beautiful flower.

 

A bit of trompe d'oeil - but that is actually the view from the temple gate!

We've had quite a social week with a visit from our friend Lynette, who we met in Thailand, a boat trip with our neighbour Mike, drinks with our "landlady" Sue and a day weaving with Mone and Doi, the Weaving Sisters. We also had a great walk over the other side of the Mekong - always a favourite day out - and plenty of good meals and beer. 

The Duabanga trees in our garden have come into flower and are attracting flocks of Indian white eye. The flowers only last a day but there are lots of them

They are quite spectactular

As are the banana leaves. Here's our friend Noi cutting some to sell to the roadside food stalls for cooking and wrapping sticky rice parcels

Over the river at Chompet

The ancient little wat is getting a much needed restoration job.

This is Wat Long Khoun. The story goes that when the invading Chinese army camped here prior to their attack on Luang Prabang in the late 18th century the soldiers were so disturbed by the spirits of the temple they never slept a wink. So the next day they painted these Chinese warriors on the walls as protection

Beautiful views

I spotted this little carving in the rock!

The path up the hill is guarded by these giants

But when you reach the top, the wooded hilside is dotted with golden Buddhas among the trees

Coming back on the local boat at sunset

Apparently it's not edible but can be used for storing water

Our nextdoor neighbour Mike owns a boat and took us out for a sunset beer along with half a dozen friends, most of whom work for the charity Free the Bears 

Mike

Hera the dog with Matt from Free the Bears enjoying the view from the roof of the boat

Coming back to town after dark

Our favourite spring rolls!

Lynette was a bit nervous about crossing the bamboo bridge so we guided her over so that she could visit the weaving and paper-making villages over the Nam Khan

By fortunate timing we happened upon Veo, the co-founder of Ock Pop Tok handicraft centre. She is a master weaver and dyer and very kindly showed us her garden and her mother's collection of antique textiles from various ethnic groups. A real privilege and a beautifully gracious host

Lynette enjoying dressing up in ancient Hmong clothing!

The next day I took a weaving course with the Weaving Sisters. Here's Mone showing me how to incorporate beads. Her ethnic group, the Katu, are the only group in Laos who use beads in this way. You can always tell Katu weaving. It's incredibly fiddly to do!

Yes, yes, another beer at sunset!

Back to the land of BeerLao

 

Much as I enjoyed being by the seaside and appreciated the kind hospitality of Jack and Bua in their magnificent house in Klong Wan, we were ready to leave and it was a relief to get back to our favourite home - Luang Prabang.

New Year in Thailand was quiet. We searched the 7/11 for sparkling wine without luck so ended up with a few beers. The local teenagers let off fireworks outside the house on the beach but it was nothing like the old days in Kep.

We spent the last few days walking, chatting to fellow guest Lynette from Slough, and organising the details of our trip back to Laos. Chai, the friendly taxi driver, agreed to drive all three of us to Bangkok, dropping Lynette off on the way so that she could pick up a bus to her next destination. It was a 5 hour trip and a very early start. Inevitably Chai didn’t really know the drop-off point and the drive was a bit hairy as he tried to negotiate the traffic with phone in hand! Scary.

We made it to the airport on time, caught our AirAsia flight at 1:55 and in no time at all were back at Luang Prabang airport being picked up by Toui and Sue. What a relief!

These are tiny squid being dried in the sun.

The women of Klong Wan seem to do this work while the men go out to fish.

Klong Wan temple is a huge splendid building for such a small village.

But what's with all the tigers and zebra!?

A last beer in Thailand on our balcony at Yen Yen Homestay.

And a first beer in Laos! (There's a theme developing here!)

On our first day back in the Greenhouse Studio, we wandered round our local Wat in the evening light. This canoe is unfeasibly long. It is, apparently, riverworthy and is used in the annual boat races. I'd love to see that. 

The view from the temple grounds towards the Mekong.

Looking across the Nam Khan towards our house on the other bank

The second bamboo bridge across the river at the tip of the peninsula has been built since we were last here at the beginning of December. It will help in bringing tourists over to the paper and weaving villages.

This is the view from the bottom of our garden. Beautiful - even on a cloudy day like today.