Day 7 – September 24 –Luang Prabang, Laos

Today is a day of preparation. We want to check out the city, book our rafting/kayaking trek for tomorrow, and nail down our next few steps. Maybe head to the south of Laos and visit the 4,000 islands or go to the capital, Vientiane, or just move on to Cambodia.

We first visited LP’s most famous temple, Wat Xieng Thong, just a 5 minute walk from the hotel. This is an incredible temple. Unlike the Thai temples we saw, this one has not become a tourist attraction and been restored several times. Inside the main temple the gold paint showing various teachings of Buddha is pealing from the walls. There were at least two worshippers in the temple as we were walking around, and various monks were on the grounds. Incense hung in the air, further increasing the temple’s appeal. Outside was another large structure, built in the same design as the temple, which housed the royal funerary carriage, about 35 feet tall. It was incredibly ornate. Along the back wall several dozen statues of Buddha in various poses, standing, sitting, reclining, created an interesting audience behind the carriage. Overall, I think this is one of my favorite temples so far.

After, we decided to walk along the main street of town, passing the famous Scandinavian Bakery on the way. Robin’s girlfriend, Heather, raved about this place. I am happy to say that her enthusiasm is not misplaced. It was very good. We both had smoothies. It is really nice to get something cold in you as we walked around in the increasingly humid day. After the Bakery, we passed the Hmong market and went to Mount Phu Si, a hill in the center of the old part of the city which houses a Temple, Wat Thammothayalan, and a stupa, That Chomsi. We hiked up the hill, and even though the temple and stupa were not as impressive as Wat Xieng Thong, the view from the summit was fantastic. Awe inspiring. The Mekong and Nam Khan River (one of the Mekong’s tributaries) surround the city on three sides, and the city is so green with palm trees and ferns, that the homes and buildings almost look out of place. Since it is the end of the rainy season, locals sit on the banks of the river and light fires from palm branches to dry their clothes. The wet branches create lots of dense, white smoke, creating this surreal vision from the top of Mount Phu Si, almost like the city is letting off steam. Fantastic sight.

After we walked down the hill, we had lunch at a French café and checked our emails. We have decided to fly from LP to Vientiane on the 26th and then take the overnight bus to Pakse on the 27th, arriving the 28th. Unfortunately, there are no trains in Laos and the Pakse airport is closed for renovations. In Pakse we can take a boat to the 4,000 islands and see the largest waterfall (by height) in Southeast Asia. Then, we’ll take a bus to Savannakhet for a flight to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We got those tickets booked, ready and willing to make the most of our time in Laos. For a country I really had no clue about 12 months ago, we are going to be seeing a lot.

We also stopped by the Kopnoi store, which is a fair-trade store for Laos artisans. It is owned by the same Quebecois couple which runs the book exchange we went to last night. The mother of one of the proprietors, a Quebecois woman who lived in Westchester, Los Angeles for 10 years and still has a home there, spoke with us at length about living in Laos last night at the book exchange. She was at Kopnoi today, and related the same stories, again, while we were desperately trying to remind her we had heard all this before. With her outrageous Quebecois accent, I decided to name her Fofie. Fofie suggested we stop by her daughter’s bar tonight, called Hive, to check out the “ethnic fashion show” and have a “marvelous cocktail.” Yeah, sure, we’ll go, find you, and hear your life story again for the third time. No thanks. We are going to stick to the BeerLaos and BeerBoom.

We had dinner at the hotel, at the Cave des Chateaux. Actually, the food was great. We really liked the seaweed and dried beef appetizer and the spring rolls. I’ve never had spring rolls like the ones we’ve had here. I’ve also never gone this long without having ice, but I really don’t want Montezuma’s revenge. That would be tres merdey.

We called it an early night since tomorrow we are going kayaking on the Nam Khan and Mekong rivers. We’ll also be visiting the Pak Ou caves, a series of caves in the river where generations of LPers have placed Buddha statues. The statues number in the hundreds and it has become a very important local shrine. We are also visiting the village where Lao Lao Whiskey is made. Bring it on!