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Published: January 16th 2007
After much contemplation (“Should we stay one more night?”), we took a bus to Luang Prabang the next morning. The scenery along the route was just an amazing collection of rolling mountains, low misty clouds and endless greenery. According to the Lonely Planet: "The pictures do not lie; Luang Prabang is stunning. An incredible collection of Buddhist and French colonial architecture clustered together on a small riverine peninsula and surrounded by mountains... Over the past decade, tourism has boomed, but even that has done little to dampen Luang Prabang's unique atmosphere, and many visitors find the pleasure of simply wandering the streets makes them extend their stay a lot longer than planned." Actually, the whole town of Luang Prabang is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, for its preservation and blending of two distinct cultural traditions, French and Buddhism.
When we got there, we took just under 10 hours deciding on a place. You see, after staying in our beautiful bungalow, we had a bit of a "have the whole cake" mentality. Well worth it b/c the place we settled for was in the heart of the main area (and they didn’t have curfew!). That night, we feasted on pizza, local
food, and of course, Beer Lao.
The next day, we took a trip to the Kuang Si Falls, which is "a multi-tiered waterfall tumbling over limestone formations into a series of cool, turquoise-green pools." It was simply stunning. We climbed all the way up to the source of the falls, and it was well worth it… the water is so pure and clear, and soft running against the skin.
When we got back to our guesthouse, we took our rented bicycles through town, biking along the river, through villages, past temples, shops, and neighborhoods, saying, "Sabaidee (hello)" to locals. I just remember laughing a lot and taking in the moment for the blissfulness that it was. I think the best way to enjoy this quaint town is by renting one of these bikes and exploring on your own.
We ate at a nice bistro and biked to the night market to shop (actually I shopped and Brent was annoyed). Afterwards, we went to a bar/café and just as we were starting on our second round, they were closing down. You see, drinking stops at 11 p.m. in Lao, with some guesthouses even enforcing curfew. Anyhow, we didn't
let it dampen our spirits. We downed our bottles and ordered two more for the road. By this point, we were emerging into "ugly tourists"-- loud, laughing, talking while biking under the influence, as all the shops were closed and people were in bed. Well, almost everybody. Our drunk and happy, blubbering selves ended up hanging out with some locals for about an hour, eating their banana chips and my delicious snowball cookies.
So that was Lao. I went with somewhat of high hopes for the place b/c a friend of mine, who had backpacked for 6 months, could not stop raving about Lao as being the best place she’s traveled, with the nicest people she has ever met. I’ll agree to a certain degree--the place is just scenically breathtaking (well, this is coming from a city girl, but yes, it was stunning) and the people there are so chill. It seems like everyone moves at 10 mph, chilling, talking, and driving (but no honking). It was a great place, and even better thanks to the company. Cheers to that!
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Brent
non-member comment
Lightning still scares me!
Heya girl! I have had a hoot already reading through your blogs and reminscing on some of our adventures and the ones I heard fresh right from you back in the lazy days of Laos. I definetly crushed you in the beer chugging but it was you that brought out the loud Americans in us! From my cozy western world seat to yours of entering a most intrepid time of your life that you are playing out right now: GOOD LUCK and keep letting the world lift you up. I will be cheering and keeping up on your globetrotting. :-)