LOAS : LP Day three 22/2

My post for yesterday was brief because I forgot to say we went to the night market after dinner. The market is acknowleged as one of the best in SE Asia. It is huge, very well laid out and with good quality products. A lot of the stalls have the same products and there is a large component of Hill Tribes craft work. This means that you are sure to get a good deal if you bargain. We didn't do much buying last night but had the chance to think about what we might go back for once we had the overview of what is available. We will probably venture back tonight.
This  morning we walked around the foreshore of the tributary of the Mekong the Nam Khan River towards the junction. The houses along there are beautiful French contruction  houses or modern copies. Most of them are now guest houses. It was an area we hadn't explored before but we were on the hunt for the one and only supermarket. Things were desperate because we had almost run out of tea. The hotel only supplies Liptons which I don't much like and all the local shops only sell green tea. We were relieved to find Twinings English Breakfast so the next few days are covered.
We then retraced our path slightly to the steps up Mount Phou Si : all 328 of them.  This is a steep mount  on the tongue of land between the junction of the rivers. The town wraps around the base and there are steps up from opposite sides. Of course we inadvertantly  chose the steep side to climb. There is a stupa at the top which dates from the early 1800's and a small temple along with numerous smalĺer niches in the rocks housing very variable statues of the Buddha. As it is Saturday there were quite a lot of locals bringing offerings to the temple as well as a few large tour groups so there was quite a crowd at the top. Naturally the view was much photographed and there was a lovely breeze so we lingered for a while. I was most amused to be grabbed by a young Asian man  along with an attractive blond woman  to be in a photo with him. Observation subsequently revealed that he and the blond where in the same tour group so I suspect he was temporarily confused into thinking I was part of their group too.  Walking down took only half the time especially as it was a more gradual path. For lunch we headed to a favourite bakery only to discover that it had been ocupied by a cycle group. Undaunted we moved down the street and were successful in obtaining our lunch just 10 minutes before a tour group of 20 arrived.
This evening we plan to walk down  toward the night market to photograph a couple of temples that have different and distinctive colour decoration. Then dinner and a bit more shopping.