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Alex and I have now been in Luang Phabang for six days now, which has allowed us to really explore the town and the surrounding countryside. The pace of life is this sleepy marvel of a town is an absolute pleasure. The town’s residents are invariably charming and even quicker to smile than the Thais, which is saying something ! Luckily for us, spoken Lao is similar to Thai to more or less the same extent that Portuguese is similar to Spanish (or even more), and written Lao is to Thai what the Roman alphabet is to the Greek. Which means that with a bit of creative interpretation we are able to navigate quite comfortably here. I have tried to adjust my Thai to sound more like Lao, skipping consonants, replacing Rs with Ls…to all of you who know me well you will understand why I am enjoying this so much ! The most important phrase here is
Baw bpen nyang, the Lao equivalent of
Mai bpen rai or “It doesn’t matter”. This is an essential piece of linguistic kit in a place like this.
Alex and I have been up to all sorts of things. The last few days
The Hmong night market
The nightly Hmong market is a magical vision. Lights seem to hang in space over stalls filled with beautiful textiles woven by local tribes from the hills around Luang Phabang. have been so busy that it isn’t really possible to recount everything in the order we did it, so I’ve used a bit of bloggistic licence.
The day before yesterday we chartered a little four-wheeled tuk-tuk to take us to Kuang Si, some 30km to the south-west of Luang Phabang. Here there is a reputedly wonderful set of waterfalls with dozens of pools ideal for a swim. Our tuk-tuk driver told us it would
Take about an hour to get there. We hopped into the back of the van and sped off. On the way we stopped off at a roadside fruit stall where we picked us his young daughter who would be accompanying us on the journey. In true Lao style we also got us a large bag of the juiciest, sweetest pineapple you have ever tasted…a free “in-flight snack” to keep us going. Barely a mile out of Luang Phabang the road deteriorated into a potholed joker of a road. We inched ahead at about 3 miles an hour, avoiding the cavernous craters which were filled with lovely-looking muddy water (it had rained the night before)…however, once we had passed the suburbs (pah !) of Luang Phabang,
Money money money...
This is about 50 pounds worth...or about a million kip...! the road - although still unsealed - improved markedly and we were able to make good progress. The trip to the falls was particularly scenic. We passed through paddy fields, populated by herds of lazy water buffalo wallowing in the mud, forested hills where locals were gathering wild plants and fresh bamboo shoots, small villages where groups of playing children would wave at us frantically…once in a while a wide river (not the Mekong ?) would pop into view, a man casting his net into the coffee waters hoping to bag himself a catfish. It was an extremely bucolic ride, made even more satisfying by the fact that the tuk-tuk was open to the elements…we felt very close to the landscape indeed. It was a delight.
The falls themselves put Erawan to shame. Granted, the water was quite a bit chillier (but there were no nibblerfish !) but the falls were of such a beauty, and the pools so secluded and of such a fairytale quality, that we couldn’t wait to jump in. The main fall was huge (20 metres or so) and there were a number of different levels, like at Erawan. After a couple of dips in
Oh so refined...
Alex reading the morning's news (aka The Bangkok Post) over a citron presse. Toasted ham sandwiches are on their way ! some wonderful secluded pools, we went on a hour-long walk around the falls, climbing all the way up to the top, crossing the river as it tipped over the edge (quite unnerving), and back down the bottom. It was a steep climb and an even steeper descent, but local Lao were happily and nimbly running down the slopes in their flipflops, putting us gawky falangs (note, not “farangs”) to shame. The trip back was even more stunning in the evening light.
The following day, we signed up to do a cookery course at a local Luang Phabang restaurant called “Tum Tum Cheung”. The one-day course here specializes in Luang Phabang cuisine and is quite well-known. According to a photo displayed on a board outside, “The Naked Chef Jamie Oliver has enjoyed our course”…Quite an endorsement, since Jamie Oliver is one of the few TV chefs Alex and I can stand ! The recipes cooked by Tum Tum are taken from a cookbook written by Phia Sing, the former royal cook to the Luang Phabang Court. Initially hoping we might be the only ones on the course, we were joined by two charming French ladies (coucou Gratiane et Agnès !
A monk a minute
To put is mildly. This is a ubiquitous sight in Luang Phabang...and an enchanting one. The rainy season coincides with many youngsters enrolling as novices for a few months. Hence the profusion of monks. j’espère que le séjour à Udomxai s’est bien passé - laissez-moi un petit message !), who were filming a series of short documentaries about life in Laos. We had a whale of a time, first visiting the market and then spending most of the rest of the day cooking up a Lao storm in the kitchens. By the end of the class in mid-afternoon all four of us were full to bursting. But on the way back to the centre of town, we happened upon a large celebration taking place at a table under an awning by the side of the street. Upon enquiring I discovered it was to celebrate the birth of a new baby. In Laos, all babies go through a Buddhist-animist ceremony a few weeks after birth to welcome them into the world and to forge a link between them and their
pii, or guardian spirits. This animistic belief is very widespread in Laos, and, although officially banned by the Communist Government, is
de facto a second religion practiced concomitantly with Buddhism. We were invited to sit at the table with the guests - festive music (think Lao-Thai fusion pop, a bit of Latino…) was blaring at
Phousi Market
Luang Phabang's bustling food market. It has a very different feel - the emphasis is very much on game, river fish, and wild forest fruit and plants. Walking around it is fascinating - these are sticky rice baskets for sale. full volume through huge speakers rigged up to a CD player. We proceeded to spend the next hour being plied with vast quantities of ice-cold Beer Lao (you need to try it), loudly playing Lao drinking games we didn’t understand, and raising our glasses to the little 2-week old tot in the corner who was happily fast asleep. It was quite surreal. To be welcomed into such a joyful family celebration was a real honour. All four of us were quite bowled over by the warmth of the welcome. Suffering from excessive consumption of food and Beer Lao, we had to leave with regret. But what an experience !!
It is late now - and the internet shop I’m in is about to shut…There is much more to write, and many more photos to post, but this will have to wait a little while.
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Carl Baugher
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Khoi mak Lao lai lai
Sabaidee, I am happy to see a postive writeup about Laos. I am married to a beautiful Lao lady (mia khoi bin Lao) and have a luk sao (Lily) who is two. I have been to Laos twice and Love the people hence the comment title. Thanks for the Blog and the pictures. I recommend to anyone that reads your travel Blog to visit Laos and enjoy.