Luang Prabang

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By the time we found somewhere to stay in Luang Prabang we already knew we would be there for a few days. The people were smiley, the town was clean, the bars and restaurants inviting and it looked lively enough to keep us busy but not overwhelm.

The market runs along a single street 4 stalls wide (2 aisles) but as with all the others we've seen, has its own distinguishing traits. All the goods here are on mats on the floor and each pitch, cramped up to the next, is protected under a gazeebo type frame and tarp many of which we needed to duck for (yes, even me). In the rain, the vendors and their children are very resourceful to patch leaks using whatever is to hand and if unsuccessful, they resort to Heath Robinson guttering to divert what they can.

You could almost believe you were in France here at times. Apart from there being a lot of French visitors around the market and in the restaurants, the buildings are very similar to those you would expect to find in France with pretty coloured shutters and bistro style fronts. Bread (baguette) is in the diet here too which it hasn't been elsewhere and there is more than one pastry shop.

On day 2 we found the 'Big Brother Mouse' centre, a program for bringing students together with English speaking volunteers allowing them to practice their English in conversation and games. It was really beneficial to the students who were really keen to make best use of us and was rewarding for us too. Plus we got to find out more about Laos history from their stories and also some tips for more food to try. We attended 3 nights running.

We had intended to leave one Morning but the incessant rain put us off. We decided to stay one more day and night and set about finding a rainy day activity. A row off massage parlors next to our guest house was all too tempting so I price up a full body massage for 30,000 kip (£2.50) and Math was just about convinced to try a foot massage also 1 hour for the same price. Math's was physio I think (minding then working on his bad ankle), mine was one of those pleasure pain moments - just like the art of chilli eating. At times it felt I was in some sort of contortionist training then others it just felt like she was trying to skin me but all in all it was very relaxing and perfect preparation of the hours of bus journey ahead.



LOAS (so far)

Food - laab national dish, noodle and rice soup is extremely cheap, tasty and very filling.

Drink - loas coffee with sweet (condensed) milk - delicious hot or cold.

Alcohol - Beerlao @ 5% and 10,000 kip (80p) is everywhere - the company are said to own 99% of the market share.

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Comments

[Rosie Jones]

Loas coffee......Bet Math had twitchy legs after trying that one! Sounds delicious. The massages sound great too...at that price you could have one every day - but maybe opt for the relaxing kind rather than pummelling version. Sounds like there's a lot to see and do in this area....