Luang Pra-gang

Feb 27, 2011

Luang Prabang seems to be a bit of an oasis, and the best we've seen of Laos so far. After dropping our guard in Pai for 4 days, the 'entrepreneurial' attitude returned with a vengeance on the north side of the Mekong. We were back to bargaining (and poorly) for the simplest of goods and services. Along with a new currency and a new economy, it made me feel a bit like the village whore; everyone trying to get a piece.

-A group of Irish travellers were ravaged by Thailand as well as Laos on the border crossing so I got over my experience quickly. They were given incomplete papers back from the Thai border agents, forcing them to ferry the river twice more (with a healthy kickback I'm sure) to straighten out their documents and get past the Laos border agent. -

Luang Prabang doesn't seem to share this sense of urgent and ruthless solicitation. No one yelling at you to use their tuk-tuk for your trip to the corner store to get some water. No seemingly honest hostel manager recommending the somewhat further 'Chinese market' to go shopping; only to discover it is a run down parking lot, filled with used automotive parts and cooking utensils. (but I'm not bitter). If it weren't for the shipping costs I may very well have purchased a wok or arc welder. Oh well, it gave his buddy another fare. But I digress

So... Back to Luang Prabang. The front streets of this city still have the charm of what used to be a French colonial town. The lasting architecture has actually had this area declared a UNESCO world heritage site. Little winding cobble streets with fresh vegetables for sale in the morning, and coffee shops and restaurants littering the main streets. At night a market appears adjacent to a Temple along the main road with all sorts of souvenirs, clothing, opium pipes and the such. They do embrace their history here.

The night food market is one of a kind. For 10,000 Kip (about $1.25) you can fill your plate from a buffet of all kinds of local vegetarian dishes. Most without names or recognizable ingredients, you just follow your nose and fill up. For another 10,000K you can add a BBQ meat dish to complete the feast. It's the center of activity every night. After two days on the boat to get here, we recognized a few faces and formed a bit of a posse while we took in the town. Took a trip to the local waterfall, partied a few nights (only until the local curfew of 11:30 of course) and lazed about in the 35 degree heat at the riverside cafe Utopia.

Tomorrow most of us are splitting up, heading this way and that. We're heading up the Nam Ou to Nong Khiaw, while most others are heading south to Vang Vieng or Vientiane. It's the end of the 'Luang Pra-gang', but over a year, I'm sure we'll have plenty of time travel with as good a group as we found here.

Sander