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Published: January 25th 2015
Luang Prabang in the Early Evening
Note the mix of buildings and tropical surroundingsGreetings from Laos!
A drier, yet colder, first step out my door this time and onto the bus to Luang Prabang. 26 hours (16 Chinese and 10 of Laotian, teeth rattling roads) and I'm there! Welcome back to Southeast Asia and the lovely provincial capital of Luang Prabang. Founded in 698, this town has its own special history and architecture. The French wandered in about 100 years ago and set up their own "Paris of the East", and I think this is about the 15th "Paris of the East" that I've visited so far in Asia. Though this one is certainly one of the more beautiful Parises out there. Colonial French architecture among ancient Laotian temples with traditional housing sprinkled in the mix provide a really special atmosphere for wandering. And no I do not feel guilty about my first meal in town being a chicken and avocado sandwich served with spicy mayonnaise on a baguette. One does not come across such luxuries very often in Kunming. Fresh baked baguettes? SANDWICHES?!? I'll take a dozen!
Anyway, the first day was used to get my bearings and go for a jog around town. I had spent the previous evening out
with a British group staying at my hostel. Travel tip: if you ever need to get completely hammered, just find some British people and problem solved within the hour. Those guys are in a league of their own. Anyway, didn't slow me down from a nice 10km run on opening day. 26 hours on a bus; my body needed to MOVE! I'm glad I could see some stuff on my jog and it passed by pretty easy. Outside of the downtown are the more traditional dwellings. Wooden houses, some with thatch roofing. Lots of chickens and dogs wanting to join me, too. Returning to town, I registered for a cooking class the following day. I know nothing of Lao cuisine, so I figured I'd better be introduced as soon as possible so I could explore my culinary options as long as possible.
The cooking course was really nice. It was a group consisting of: a retired couple from the United States (seems as if they'd been to every country on earth including Antarctica), a retired couple from Australia, a French Canadian, an Italian, and an American girl all about my age. The course starts with a trip to the
Lao Houses
These are still very common living arrangements for many Lao people market and the teacher explains all of the ingredients used in Lao cooking. Good to have a guide to explore markets with. He picks up everything and lets you inspect it. I'm hesitant to do this sometimes at markets because I feel it is rude or I'm expected to buy or something. It was a very nice market. Not as big or exciting or as the ones I frequent in Kunming, but it wasn't wont for chaos, noise, colors, and crowds. The Lao language, high pitched and tribal sounding, is not very easy on the ears. Anyway, after the market we returned to the restaurant/classroom and got to it. We learned a total of eight dishes throughout the day. We made two for lunch and three for dinner. I'm also now educated on how to make Laos' famous sticky rice. It is 10 times easier than what my Lao friend in Kunming had indicated. The teacher finished explaining in about a minute. Three or four easy steps. After which I blurted out, "THAT'S IT??" Everyone looked at me. Teacher, "uh, yes." "OK". The food turned out really well, too. I've been lucky with Italians so far, so I paired up
A Trip to the Market
Some pretty hefty Mekong catfish! with him for the class. Turns out he is a professional chef at an Italian restaurant in Sydney. My luck continues. It was cool to see how graceful he was with the cutting of vegetables. Techniques I have yet to master. After the course, the retirees headed back to their tour groups (3 of the 4 were school teachers once upon a time). I am a teacher. The Canadian girl was a French teacher, and the American girl was also teaching English in Yunnan. Look up "Teach for China"; that was the program she was doing. Hats off to those guys; that is a tough gig. I'll take 4 times the salary, half the classroom hours, and about 1/3 the students, thank you. Anyway, the "younger" crowd went out for a drink after the course had finished. Back to the river to watch the sunset. Every day, the sunset was spectacular. My camera can't do it justice, so you'll have to imagine that it is ten times better than what I have posted here. Nobody was hungry for dinner. You get to eat all day in the cooking class.
The following day, I rented a nice Trek mountain bike
A Trip to the Market
Fried rat snack. Nice one! and road to the waterfalls about 30km south of the town. A really nice ride; overcast the whole way up, sun came out about 20 minutes after I arrived. Nice timing! The falls were also beautiful. Not to sound like a travel snob, but it really reminded me of Plitvice Lakes in Croatia. The water is turquoise and very clear. The falls were much bigger than I had expected, too. During rainy season, they ought to be spectacular. I hiked around and got all the way to the top of the falls and had a picnic lunch that I had brought with me. SANDWICHES, BABY! I was in heaven. Ah yes! Also at the waterfall park is the Lao Bear Rescue and Rehabilitation Center. It is really great. The exhibits were professional and every bit what you would expect to see at a world class facility. Plenty of information about the bears, professional staff, a good stop. Two of the bears got in a bit of an argument while I was gawking at them. One wanted the top bunk, the other wasn't having any of it. These are sun and moon bears, so not very big, but man they can
Cookin' with Mike!
Learning the art of Lao cooking get loud! I've never really heard a bear roar before. Impressive! I rode back in the heat of the day and was happy I packed my sunscreen. I stopped about 3/4 of the way at a small shop that had a nice shaded place to sit. I bought a 7up and a bunch of salty Mekong River weed snacks. (Think seaweed, but from the river). Pretty tasty! I had sweated a lot and needed to replace my salt levels. That done, I headed back to town for a shower.
After a shower and more wanderings, I went back to the river for dinner at one of the many cafes by the banks. Sunset on the Mekong: one of my all time favorite things to do in life I think. Had some nice Lao food, and it was happy hour, so by one get one cocktails. I ordered one and he brought out two glasses of the same cocktail and set them on my table. I was alone, so thanks for making me look like the town drunk, dude. I spent the better part of the hour watching the comings and goings of the cafe and pretending to read. I
There it is!
A beautiful sunset on one of the world's great rivers returned to the hostel and met the new roommates in my dorm. More British. We chatted for a long time at the hostel; they were impressed about my knowledge of British football and I was impressed by his knowledge of American football. The two Brits were brothers on their southeast Asian tour. Good guys. Liked to drink. It was my last night in Luang Prabang and apparently the thing to do in town is go bowling. Town ordinance shuts all the bars at 10pm, and the only thing left is the bowling alley. I bowled with one of the Brits, another Italian, some Koreans, and an Irish guy. It was fun. I did very poorly. Totally lost my touch! I don't think I've thrown a bowling ball in 5 years.
The following morning, I got breakfast in the hostel and had intended to go to the museum before my flight to Chiang Mai. The British guy joked, "A FLIGHT? Ooooh Mr. Money Bags!" Backpackers in SE Asia tend to be on a tight budget. Especially those opting for the dormitory. Anyway, aside from the two Brits, there was a guy from Spain in the dorm. He and I got
Kunagsi Falls
Me sweating it out after a nice ride to talking and ended up taking my whole museum time, so that closed out my trip! Off the the airport and new adventures in Thailand!
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