Luang Prabang

Dec. 9

The 6 hour car ride from Muang Khua to Luang PraBang went according to our plan agreement, which is a surprise in itself. I thought for sure he would pick up a few more people as it is pretty unusual to travel in this country with empty seats!! In fact, he only stopped about 30 minutes for lunch at a local street restaurant where we had rice and chicken. I did pay for his lunch which wasn’t that much and a way of tipping him.

In Luang PraBang, we(Thanh and I) tried to have the driver drop us off at the guest house I had found in guide book. But the driver didn’t seem to be able to find it and rather than waste his time and gas, I told him to just let us out. It was about 3 pm, so plenty of daylight and I thought we could ask someone, which would save us from walking around too much, plus carrying our bags. We found a coffee shop by the Mekong river, and relaxed for a bit. Then, Thanh asked someone and he told me to wait while he looked for the guest house. So off Thanh went, and I thought he would be back in about 15 minutes or so. Well, I waited, and waited, and waited. After about 45 minutes, I was thinking this isn’t good. What could have happened? I did have his mobile number, but that was all. Finally, he returned. He never did find the guest house we had chosen, but did find another one. In fact, he had checked out several, trying to get a good price. They were all about 8-10 USD. But the one we stayed at was on a main street, with a nice big room, two beds, cable TV, and a decent bathroom, plus a good lock on the door.

Luang PraBang is a UNESCO world heritage site. This is probably the one city in Laos that gets the most tourists. There are a number of Pagodas and Buddhist monks that live here. Monks are generally young men or boys that devote any number of years being a monk, then go back to regular life. There was a National Museum that I visited to that was very interesting, which contained lots of art, photos, furniture, and artifacts from the early history of Laos. You have to take your shoes off more in Laos almost everywhere. For example, in the guest houses, your shoes stay outside. I always worry that someone might steal mind, but they most have small feet. Ha!

On one of the main streets, there is a night market. This market is several blocks long and every night they setup. They sell most everything, from food to clothing to jewelry. And you can bargain too. But I just like to look for a bit. The crowds of people, lots of other Asians from Japan or Korea, seemed to checking out the market.

One night, we walked through the buffet night market. Food sitting out in pots everywhere, even a vegetarian buffet area. Well, we finally decided to eat a small corner street stall. They cleaned a table for us and ordered some pork and rice, and vegetables-not sure what kind, but they were green. The food was ok, but the flying ants disturbed me. I kept knocking them off my arm and trying to keep them off the food. Unbeknown to me, Thanh was almost out of Kip-Lao money. So then he tells me this after we have ordered the food. I had tried to use the ATM machine early, but I couldn’t get any money, but I thought I had enough. I could use my US dollars, but better to save them for backup. Thanh did have some VNese Dong, which he then went to change for Lao Kip. Again, I waited for him to come back, not knowing exactly where he had gone or when he would be back. Now, I had eaten the food, so I had to sit there until he got back. Now, the people in Laos are pretty laid back. They just let me sit there without asking me about paying or taking up space for others. Thanh did return with Kip so then we paid and walked back to the hotel.

Earlier, when I tried to use the ATM, a young woman tried to help me. She spoke good English but looked Asian. I then asked her where she was from. She said USA. Portland , Oregon. Smalll world!

I will write about my one day of trekking next... I wrote this after getting home.