Our home base in Laos was the small city of Luang Prabang while on our Three Kingdoms of Indochina tour.  Laos was my favorite of the three countries on this tour and seemed to be far less ‘Westernized’ than cities in Vietnam or Cambodia.  We ventured through the countryside to the Kuang Si waterfalls passing rice fields and small villages along the way.  Returning to town, we boarded a traditional river boat for a trip up the Mekong River to the Pak Ou Caves where we saw hundreds of Buddhas.  Temples visited were Vat Xieng Thong, Vat Hosian, Vat Mahathat, and those at the National Palace Museum. A highlight was a visit to an elephant rescue camp nestled in a jungle valley on the banks of a river where we learned how mahouts train their elephants.