Luang Prabang Day 1

iv> I am posting this using the excellent (

again) wifi available at our guesthouse.  It seems to us that the rooms keep getting better and better and this one has a rain showerhead and the water gets very hot.  The hottest since I've arrived in Southeast Asia.  

This morning we woke early and some of us walked with our guide Sanh up to the local market where people buy their food for the day.  It's like a farmer's market at home only the wares are spread out on blankets and there were all kinds of things I didn't recognize.  Sanh did his best to point out certain things like banana leaves, various mushrooms, and hibiscus flowers.  The sun was just rising when we had our breakfast, and prepared to board the slow boat again for the trip into Luang Prabang.

The boat we were on today wasn't as nice as the one yesterday.  All of these slow boats seem to use old car seats or airplane seats (some even recline!) nailed to wooden slats and nailed (or not as the case may be) to the floor of the boat.  Today's boat had a toilet that you cannot flush but need to pour water down manually to clear the bowl.  You know what, it works just fine. 

Before lunch, we stopped at another village but this one is larger and more prosperous than the other.  This village has a temple and the villagers can make some wages by selling the beautiful scarves that they weave on looms.  We had a little boy follow us for a while and once Sue (who is bubbly and English) started playing with him, we soon had many more village children following us around.  They gave us a small bunch of the tiny and fragrant bananas you find here and also fresh local tamarind.  The sun came out just in time to let us get the boat to shore and that visit was the highlight of the day.

We stopped at the Pak Ou cave which is just outside of Luang Prabang.  This cave carved into a limestone cliff has hundreds of tiny buddha statues placed there over the last few hundred years. 

Once in Luang Prabang, we found our guesthouse and then headed out for dinner in the very, very trendy and 'Falang'-friendly downtown area.  There are many outstanding restaurants and the one Pooki led us to was all lit with delicate paper lanterns, water features, and spacious tables made of exotic wood.  There is only outdoor seating and we enjoyed the Lao BBQ which is set up like Korean BBQ only they bring a bucket of glowing coals and a metal cooking bowl and you cook your meats on the metal and blanch the vegetables in the hot broth.  It's kind of a bittersweet idea actually because the Lao people are so poor that they normally cook over coals because they have no appliances, electricity, or gas.  The menu also had a page dedicated to helping foreign tourist understand the culture of Luang Prabang.

We then briefly explored the night market which is full of genuine textiles and handicrafts until it closed at 10pm.  This city has a curfew of midnight and the local people have to go home to sleep in order to get up early enough to give alms to the monks.  I have made some mental notes on what I might want to buy tomorrow.

Anyway, it is getting late and we have another full day tomorrow. I am still having problems with images so they might appear out of order.  Thanks for visiting.

Leslie