The flight over was very smooth, other than the 2 hour delay and after the short 1 hour flight we felt as if we had arrived in a different world! The surrounding countryside is spectacular - Luang Prabang is nestled amongst mountain after mountain. And since we landed at dusk we were greeted with a red sky over the mountain tops.
Describing Luang Prabang is a challenge! As we said in our last entry, we were not sure what to expect. It is a city (albeit a small one) where we have seen the biggest contrast between locals and travellers/westerners. As an ex French colony you can see this influence through French style colonial houses, baguettes at the morning market and a lot of relatively expensive restaurants serving steak au poivre, as well as Lao and Thai food. On the surface it seems kind of chic and sophisticated: when we arrived we took a walk along the river to see restaurant after restaurant prettily lit up, serving, how shall we put it, a lot of middle class French (apparently a popular winter destination for them)
However once you start to scratch the surface you realise that this part of town is only for the tourists, you never see a Lao person eating or shopping - only working or selling. The prices in a lot of the restaurants, although excellent value by western terms, are out of the price brackets of the Lao people - even for us coming from Thailand we were surprised by how much more expensive Luang Prabang is for food and accommodation.
On our first full day in Luang Prabang we explored the city on foot, which mainly meant seeing the temples (Luang Prabang is a World Heritage Site because of its 30 plus temples), which as a rule are less ornate and more 'lived in' than those in Thailand , but because of it at least as impressive. The last temple of the day was on top of the sacred hill, where after an exhausting climb up (very warm and humid) we were happy to rest for an hour and watch the sun set. After a very typical Lao meal of Mekong (river) seaweed, Papaya Salad laso Style, Mekong Fish stew and sticky rice, we set off for a bit of a wander at the local night market, where colourful scarves etc are plentiful!
Lao not being industrialised at the scale of Thailand yet, the products on sale are mainly hand made and therefore appear a bit more special than the market wares overt here. So needless to say we have bought a few bits and pieces! We were back at the hotel by 10 as the Lao are early risers and early to bed - as we found out the next morning....
At 6pm our alarm went off (is this a holiday??!) so we could get up and watch the local towns people offer food (Alms) to the monks. There are over 200 monks, all robed but barefoot who walk single file through the town with a pot, in which they collect the food given to them. For the local people it is a way of them earning 'merits' and for the Monks also as they give away some of the food they are given to the poorer children who are standing waiting nearby. It was special to watch but also quite poignant.
After the early start, we made the most of our day, visiting the national museum/ royal palace and then crossing the Nham Khan (the other of the two rivers that surround the peninsula on which Luang Prabang is built) to see the more rural and realistic Laos. The journey started with us crossing via a bamboo bridge - which we later found out had only been there for 2 weeks (Nicola was worried about it breaking!) - visiting some local villages - and ending with a chat to some novices (ie monks in training). They were keen to practice their English, so we managed to make some small talk!
Arriving back later afternoon, Nicola managed to convince JP that he really should try a massage (having never had one) and we had a traditional Lao sauna and massage - an invigorating experience! A really enjoyable day topped off with one of the best Indian (vegetarian) meals we have ever had - and all for surpirsingly little money (in direct contrast with our earlier observations).
Now is our last day in Luang Prabang, before we make our way by bus to the capital city of Vientiane (8 hours through apparently some of the most beautiful scenery in south east asia!). It started at 4am as we woke to the quite haunting sound of the temple drum from the temple outside our window, opposite our Guest House! We told you these monks do get up early! Fortunately we did not have to join them (after 10 mins it finished and we went back to sleep), but at 6am we did get up to see the Monks again.
Then off to a trip to a cave filled with over 500 Bhuddas (damaged, so they cannot be worshipped anymore), of all shapes and sizes, 30km down river. This was interesting to see but the total boat journey of 3.5 hours on the Mekong was a little too long and we were glad to get off at the end!
So, here we are - off for our final meal (we are tempted to go to the same Indian!), to check out the night market one final time (there may be that bargain we missed) and to pack our bags, ready for another early start tomorrow morning to Vientiane.........
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