Luang Prabang

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Wow, I love it. What a pretty place, and gives you a neat feeling having boated through wilderness and then arrived here. There's a definite vibe - the natural and architectural beauty, plus an infectious feeling of calm and serenity.

All along the river front are outdoor patios beneath the trees, though the real main drag is parallel a couple of blocks inland. There's a steep hill in the middle with a spire upon it, lit eerily at night. The charming buildings are two story with shutters, and there are shops and cafes all over.

There's a definite French influence besides the building; you see some signs, menus and other material in French, plus baguettes as street food. A great place to walk around, not much traffic at all.

Money is interesting here - one Canadian dollar is about 8200 Kip. Thai Baht and US Dollars are also accepted, so we've got a real jumble in our wallets right now! Today I paid for something in Baht and got change in dollars and kip.

We suddenly found that we'd filled our camera memory cards yet again and had to burn another DVD; cost about $10, I'm not sure if that's reasonable or not.

Last night we went and saw a performance, it told part of the Ramayana, the Hindu epic. This part was the kidnapping of Sita by the demon Ravana rather than her subsequent rescue in the similar performance we'd seen in Bangkok. Following was a short dance demonstration by a couple of the northern minority groups.

The food here is great, similar to Thailand in some ways, but entirely different in others. We've eaten baguette sandwiches, various soups, and the soft (not fried) springrolls. Also, "Lap" which is like a cold minced meat salad with lime and cilantro, nice and refreshing. More steamed dishes, and dishes flavoured with dill. There's less spice than in Thailand, and the flavours are more subtle. There's a crispy black dried mekong seaweed with sesame seeds sprinkled on; toasty flavour with a hint of fishiness. Sticky rice is the rice of choice here; it comes in a small wicker basket with lid and has a certain chewyness that I like. You'd see sticky rice only occasionally in Thailand, mainly as a dessert with Mango. In one Chiang Mai restaurant I asked for sticky rice instead of regular rice. The waitress frowned. I repeated "Sticky rice", a look of understanding came over her face, she nodded. After a minute, two shots of Tequila arrived. I thought it was for a different table, but Farah figured it out - "Sticky rice" = "Tequilas".

Language is difficult when the system and sounds are entirely different, really they do a great job since most foreigners (like me) are hard pressed to master more than hello and goodbye. Also, this language group uses tones - so that the same word said with a higher, lower, rising or falling tone can mean something entirely different. Also, try and imagine a distinct sound somewhere between "P" and "B". Man.

Took a ride out to a waterfall and got a look at rural Laos. The waterfall itself had the bizarre milky blue of the glacial lakes in the Rockies like lake Louise. Pretty setting though.

Luang Prabang will be our only stop in Laos, tomorrow we fly directly to Siem reap in Cambodia to see Angkor!

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Photos

Stunt riding
See lots of trick riding with a parasol in the other hand

Just put friend's bike up in the tree!
Insight into the Lao sense of humour

Breakfast
Coffee, sapodilla shake and rice soup.

Night market
The bangkok one is ugly and frantic; this one is beautiful with the soft lighting and the colourful and neatly arranged goods

That Chomsi at night
Sits atop the steep hill in the middle of town

Alms gathering
The faithful sit and dole out alms of sticky rice to the Monks

The waterfall
with bizarre Lake Louise-like colouring

Sunset across the Mekong
From Wat Chomsi on the steep little mountain

Heading up to Wat Chomsi for sunset
The women at the base sold wee live birds in tiny bamboo cages - for good luck. Good luck for the birds if you set them free.