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Published: March 6th 2008
Well that's how it started in Luang Prabang, sitting there minding my own business on my balcony overlooking the Mekong and a motorbike cop (straight out of CHIPs this guy was) stops out the front. I noticed that he looked back and took a photo with his mobile phone of the street, being somewhat inquisitive I had a look over the shoulder and coming down the street was a procession of elephants. This is when I said to the guy on the next balcony, ahh excuse me but there's some elephants walking down the street. Turns out he was from Hamburg and had just spent the last five nights here after escaping from Vietienne.
Luang Prabang has a lot going for it, the convergence of the rivers, heaps of great places for eat, good coffee, casual style and bargain massages. Not to mention tourists from everywhere, I think most of France is on holidays at the moment, but nothing is overdone due to it being the UNESCO listed town that it is.
The reason for the elephants strolling the streets was that there was a big parade the next day. From my loose interpretation of Lao it was to
celebrate Luang Prabang winning a really important tourism award for the third year in a row. This probably explains why every man and his elephant was out strolling down the street. There were marching bands, traditional dancers and the aforementioned elephants, definitely the highlight of Sunday morning.
In the late afternoon parts of Luang Prabang turn into markets where you can get all your handicrafts along this one long dog-legged street. Two blocks up is the food hall, well street, where all your finest Lao fare is for sale. Freshly BBQ Mekong fish, chicken or wild boar (including the head), plus your selection of Lao soups and curries. It's hard to find a dud meal at all in this place that's for sure, especially when you're paying the equivalent of AUD$5 to make a complete and utter guts of yourself. Oh and my favourite the pineapple cake mmmm absolutely delish.
Since someone back home was kind enough to stitch me up to host a dinner party I'm now on a mission to improve on my culinary skills. Luckily Luang Prabang is also home to a selection of cooking schools with this in mind it was off to the
Three Elephant Cafe cooking school. It's safe to say that I'm now a culinary genius when it comes to Laotion food. It was also interesting listening to the owner give her interpretation as to the benefit or otherwise of NGO's working in the area. Certainly made a huge contrast to what you hear back home about the good work that NGO's do.
One of the most elegant restaurants to eat at in Luang Prabang is the L'elephant. The food was absolutely delish as I mae a guts of myself with their Lao degustation menu and a very passable house red for the cost of one nights accomodation. Although not all was good as I'm blaming it for the invasion of my body by some organism that decided to turn me into the exorcist while out elephant riding the next day. Lets just say that the afternoon lazily cruising down the Mekong in a kayak was defered in preference to a tuk tuk ride back to the comfort of my balcony suite for some rest and rehydration.
There is something so right but also so wrong about paying someone $4 to massage your feet for an hour. After a
hard morning of exploring the Buddha caves it was time to give my weary feet some much needed respite. While the foot massage was a good way to bring some life back to the lower limbs it seemed only fair that the next day I continue to invest in my body. The Aroma Spa is just the place for that exfoliation and massage, all for the pricely sum of USD15, talk about the new cleansed me after a week of SEA grime.
Next stop Hanoi, initial impressions after flying in with twenty of my South Korean buddies is, it's a madhouse so stay tuned for more in the next almost exciting episode.
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