Making friends

Some new rice-planting friends in Nam Nyan village near Luang Namtha

Making new friends in Laos has been easy. The people are ultra-friendly and very accommodating, a smile goes a long way here and despite the well-trodden tourist track, its easy to step off the main route and wander into the timeless scenes that you find in villages, pagodas and rice paddies around the region.

This is one of 7 monks, his name is Olay, at Wat Xieng Mouane in Luang Prabang