Dropped into Luang Prabang

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A little prop jet carried us for an hour and a half to Luang Prabang. I had seen a bit about this town on Lonely Planet, so always wanted to come here. I do think I missed it by about 5 years. Seems everywhere you go it's "this is not the REAL _____". Don't get me wrong - LP is sweet, slow, beautiful....the old town is on a little peninsula bounded on one side by the Mekong and the other by a smaller river, the Phan. The distance between these two rivers is about 3 blocks.

There are beautiful temples every 500 feet. Monks in orange robes strolling; monks in orange robes with umbrellas, monks in orange robes studying in the shade of a tree in the courtyard of their temple, monks in orange robes sitting at the internet cafe......yes.......and there are little boutiquey guesthouses, little Asian art stores that would look perfectly in place in Carmel. Ruddy-faced NZealnders (why are they always burnt looking?) Dutch kids on really long back-packing adventures.

And it is quiet here. A motorscooter once in a while. Deep, dark teak buildings with gorgeous heavy doors that open onto the street. I feel totally safe wandering slowly around (as i did in Chiang Mai).

The guesthouse I had heard of was full, so I stopped a lanky Englishman on the riverbank and he graciously pointed me to where he was staying. It was super clean, again those heavy, dark wooden floors and perfect bathroom. (another splurge at $25) He invited me out with his wife and daughter to eat - so this is how travelling can be! I listened to the women complain a little and listened to their fears about hygiene while the man and I talked photography. He is a photographer by trade, in London.....but at a crossroads as to where to go with it. I encouraged him to do weddings, but I could tell he was too shy to deal with people.

The next day I just wandered and wandered; photographing everything I thought would be nice to share with all my folks at home. Found good coffee and croissants at a French bakery. (altho couldn't find anyone who spoke French here - and English is very rough for the Laotians) Photog'd my lunch w/the temple in the background. (stuffed lemon grass and watermelon/chili frozen slurpee thing. I got up early (6:30) to see the monks walk thru town to recieve alms from people. Alms in the form of sticky rice placed in their bowls. You're not spozed to buy rice to give to the monks (women selling little bundles) because that defeats the purpose of "giving" being the act that will get you closer to god.

There are little funky boat trips in these great long boats (the typical visual you think of when you think of Vietnam) but after talking to a few people, and the fact that I'm only here for today and tomorrow, I think I will stick to wandering.

Temple after temple. Gold leaf, Buddhas, curvy roof lines oh my oh my. Heat, smokey sun, the Mekong. The Mekong! The name alone carries such a residual memory from that time (or is it Apocolypse Now???)

There is a night market along the street of silks, cloths, scarves, silver, lamps, opium pipes, chochkes....yes, I spent a little and may have to buy a new duffle bag sooner rather than later. Oh - the money is funny - $100 equals 1 million Kip. That means that 2000 kip is 20 cents. Then people quote you in Dollars and I'm almost the stupid tourist who hands over a wad of money and says quizzically "Is this enough?"

Sat at dinner alone and eavesdropped on a couple of guys in their 50's - I stayed out of it until they started discussing John Kay of Steppenwolf. You KNOW I couldn't stay out of that one! They were really a couple of dorky guys, but what the heck - we wandered the night market and looked at the food being offered. Even me, the intrepid traveler, had to turn down the dubious fare. Pans of floating things. Something about floating things that doesn't work for me!

Last day I went up to a turquoise waterfall about 30 km out of town. I swam with a few other dutch and german tourists, locals too. A baby tiger had been rescued from poachers who had killed the mother. Now the tiger was grown up and in a big, jungley compound. Unable to be released because it was too used to humans.

Back on Lao Airlines and back to Chiang Mai where I am writing this. Off to Bangkok tomorrow and a few days later to Bali!

Thanks for comments and emails!

Ne

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Comments

[Hillary L]

Wish I was there
Hola K..Finally reading blogs...Glad Willet showed up. It all sounds so good...Have fun......

[vivian/micheal]

laos um!
wow is all i can say, go girl! you are awesome! to micheal: "you are spreading such enormous joy throughout southeast asia" and beautifully sharing with us too. micheal is visualizing with his new eyes, being there.

[Ricardo]

The Mekong
Ah yes, I do remember Mekong, just never considered it to be a tourist attraction. Things have indeed changed.