Luang Prabang

Hello, it's been a while and I've been itching to write some more and put a few more photos up. I think the last post was from our trek near Luang Nam Tha? From there we endured a sinuous and lengthy bus trip to Nong Kiaow via Udomxai. I won't be upset if I never have to do that trip again! There's not a whole lot in Nong Kiaow except beautiful limestone karst scenery and a river. We took a while finding a place to stay, and even then we relocated for the second night. I think lots of people have a romantic notion of what bungalows are, but in reality they mean holes in the floor, mouldy walls and often very basic furniture. The first bungalow we stayed in had stale sheets on the bed, rats in the ceiling and as a bonus, a nice collection of used hotel soaps in the bathroom. Oh, and a squat toilet. Since Pete was getting over a cold and I was getting one, the mould proved too much for our sniffling so we moved across the road to a similar, but cleaner bungalow. I'm sticking to tiles as much as possible now! This first photos is of the bridge, river and spectacular scenery in Nong Kiaow. It's the view that greeted us from the verandah of our second bungalow.




After a very relaxing day in Nong Kiaow, we caught the boat down the river to Luang Prabang. Now that the roads have been fixed up, it's much cheaper to travel there by bus, but it's just not the same as a boat! So after a bit of haggling we found our boatman and started the six-hour journey. The photo below shows the type of boat we caught. I'm sure it didn't have any safety gear, and although it had a toilet, it was an interesting experience to use it! Pete is happy to divulge the mechanics of peeing there to any males who might be interested.




Not long after we started our boat journey, ominous dark clouds appeared on the horizon downstream. At one stage during the following rainstorm, our skipper pulled off to the side of the river and stopped because visibility was so bad. I think he was worried about a few things: debris floating downstream, submerged hazards and some of the scary rapids that punctuate the usually calm river.



The sun came back out for our arrival in Luang Prabang, and the city (well, town really) was a sight to behold. Gorgeous colonial French architecture, local bars shaded by palm trees along the river and some really lovely shops greeted us when we climbed up the bank. I really loved Luang Prabang although I can see why some people might not. I suppose you could argue that you're not really experiencing another culture if you eat at the Scandinavian Bakery for breakfast, but hey, I wasn't complaining! The photo below is of the main tourist street in the town, and as you can see it's a mix of lots of different styles. The most beautiful buildings in my opinion are the French ones, but some of the locals have done a good job of opening new swanky restaurants and the like. Amusingly, falang (foreigners) are forbidden to hire motorbikes in Luang Prabang because there were too many accidents, and the rustic hospital system in Laos just couldn't cope with some of the injuries.




One of several things to do in Luang Prabang is to check out the Palace Museum. Laos was a monarchy up until the 1960s (?) when the palace was converted to a museum. It's quite modest by western royal standards, but it is a beautiful building nonetheless. As always in Laos, visitors are requested to remove their footwear before entering buildings, a request I have no problem with for a change. The polished wooden floors throughout the palace were cool and spotlessly clean. The Lao people are some of the cleanest in the world, I think. The decoration was sparse but so tasteful, and some of the royal gifts were really amazing. Moon rocks and a plaque from the US, gorgeous tableware and silverware from France, and just to round out the field, a boomerang from Australia! The photo below shows just one part of the outside of the building. Cameras were prohibited inside.




Luang Prabang has some of the most tasteful and lovely markets that I think I have seen. I think it might even be better that Otovalo in Ecuador! All the handicrafts for sale were so lovely, and I could have bought boxes full! In fact I did buy a few things: fisherman pants at $2 each, and a really lovely doona cover for $17. Boy did I regret buying that doona cover for a few days while I lugged it down to Vientiane!




Finally, travelling's just not travelling if you don't eat your way through the culture, so here's Pete doing just that. Each night we walked down to the night market and feasted on fish and chicken on a stick, fresh spring rolls and mini-coconut pancakes, all washed down with a BeerLao. I can't wait to go back!


Well, that's it for now. Right now we're in Phnom Penh where the people are definitely not so clean as the Laos! Mind you, the Laos have had an extra 20 years of peace to construct gutters and organise rubbish collection so I am trying to cut the poor Khmer people some slack. Today we went to the killing fields and the genocide museum. It doesn't make for a happy or fun day but I couldn't imagine visiting this city and missing them. I was disappointed several times during the day when some tourists (tourists, not travellers) didn't pause for reflection as requested by the Khmers at the killing fields memorial, or took photos of themselves smiling out from behind the bars at the genocide museum. I don't understand how people could be so cold or insensitive, especially when most Cambodians can still remember such horrible events. Tomorrow will surely be a more upbeat day since we are going to the palace museum to see the silver pagoda!