Day 14
Today I'm in: Luang Prabang, Laos
"Sabaidee" means hello in Lao. And here I am in Laos. And boy howdy, it is HOT here. Swelteringly hot. After two weeks in places like Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, I thought I was getting acclimated, but this is a whole new level of heat, even for someone raised in Texas. It was 38 degrees Celsius when I landed today (that's just under 100 degrees). It's cooled off a little bit tonight, but I expect another scorcher tomorrow.
To call Luang Prabang "sleepy" is understating things severely; this place borders on comatose. But in a good way! The town (about 50,000 people) is cupped in a bowl of green mountains right on the muddy Mekong River in north-central Laos. I know that just two days ago I was writing about the easy pace of life in Chiang Mai, but today that pace seems bustling by comparison. It may have been the heat, but Luang Prabang was definitely snoozing today.
This is the kind of town where dogs (and monks, as you can see in the photo) walk down the middle of the street rather than on the sidewalks, because the traffic is so light. Along the banks of the Mekong, there are people fishing, swimming, tending to small gardens, or just sitting on the bank chatting. People even ride motorbikes with umbrellas fixed to the back to protect them from the sun.
Sisavangvong Road is what passes for a "main drag" in Luang Prabang; it's a pleasant street lined with cafes (the French controlled Laos for enough years that cafe culture seems to have rubbed off; there were Laotians sitting at tables sipping coffee in front of each one) and restaurants. The entire town is a UNESCO heritage site and the architecture is a pretty fascinating mix of local styles (high-pitched roofs with teak millwork) and French influences (wide verandas and double doors).
The town rolls up its sidewalks pretty early (all of the bars close at 11:30pm) so although this is a popular backpacker destination, it doesn't have that douchey vibe that pops up wherever backpackers congregate. Sure, there are big crowds of British kids in Beerlao t-shirts comparing notes on their gap-year travels (why do I find them so insufferable? I think it's a personal issue) but there aren't any of the cut-rate internet cafes, faux Irish pubs and tattoo parlors that you see in places like Bangkok or Hanoi. It's basically just a quiet country town that happens to have some Western tourists passing through.
I've only had one meal here so far, but from what I can tell Laotian cuisine is pretty similar to northern Thai food. A lot of the names of dishes looked similar to the ones I saw in Chiang Mai. Tonight I had a plate of laab kai - spicy minced chicken with basil, mint and garlic - and plenty of Beerlao, the local and basically only beer available here. Tourism is Laos has only taken off in the last decade - the country didn't open to tourists until 1989 - and so prices are ridiculously affordable, even by already generous Southeast Asian standards.
Plans for tomorrow include trying to procure another scooter to visit the Kuang Si waterfalls out of town, maybe doing a cruise along the river, then meeting up with two of my former Ross sectionmates who will be arriving late afternoon. Until then, I'm hanging out on the balcony of my hotel (where the wi-fi is more reliable but still patchy) watching the lizards run around with a cold drink in hand!
Today I'm in: Luang Prabang, Laos
"Sabaidee" means hello in Lao. And here I am in Laos. And boy howdy, it is HOT here. Swelteringly hot. After two weeks in places like Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, I thought I was getting acclimated, but this is a whole new level of heat, even for someone raised in Texas. It was 38 degrees Celsius when I landed today (that's just under 100 degrees). It's cooled off a little bit tonight, but I expect another scorcher tomorrow.
To call Luang Prabang "sleepy" is understating things severely; this place borders on comatose. But in a good way! The town (about 50,000 people) is cupped in a bowl of green mountains right on the muddy Mekong River in north-central Laos. I know that just two days ago I was writing about the easy pace of life in Chiang Mai, but today that pace seems bustling by comparison. It may have been the heat, but Luang Prabang was definitely snoozing today.
This is the kind of town where dogs (and monks, as you can see in the photo) walk down the middle of the street rather than on the sidewalks, because the traffic is so light. Along the banks of the Mekong, there are people fishing, swimming, tending to small gardens, or just sitting on the bank chatting. People even ride motorbikes with umbrellas fixed to the back to protect them from the sun. 
Sisavangvong Road is what passes for a "main drag" in Luang Prabang; it's a pleasant street lined with cafes (the French controlled Laos for enough years that cafe culture seems to have rubbed off; there were Laotians sitting at tables sipping coffee in front of each one) and restaurants. The entire town is a UNESCO heritage site and the architecture is a pretty fascinating mix of local styles (high-pitched roofs with teak millwork) and French influences (wide verandas and double doors). 
The town rolls up its sidewalks pretty early (all of the bars close at 11:30pm) so although this is a popular backpacker destination, it doesn't have that douchey vibe that pops up wherever backpackers congregate. Sure, there are big crowds of British kids in Beerlao t-shirts comparing notes on their gap-year travels (why do I find them so insufferable? I think it's a personal issue) but there aren't any of the cut-rate internet cafes, faux Irish pubs and tattoo parlors that you see in places like Bangkok or Hanoi. It's basically just a quiet country town that happens to have some Western tourists passing through. 
I've only had one meal here so far, but from what I can tell Laotian cuisine is pretty similar to northern Thai food. A lot of the names of dishes looked similar to the ones I saw in Chiang Mai. Tonight I had a plate of laab kai - spicy minced chicken with basil, mint and garlic - and plenty of Beerlao, the local and basically only beer available here. Tourism is Laos has only taken off in the last decade - the country didn't open to tourists until 1989 - and so prices are ridiculously affordable, even by already generous Southeast Asian standards.Plans for tomorrow include trying to procure another scooter to visit the Kuang Si waterfalls out of town, maybe doing a cruise along the river, then meeting up with two of my former Ross sectionmates who will be arriving late afternoon. Until then, I'm hanging out on the balcony of my hotel (where the wi-fi is more reliable but still patchy) watching the lizards run around with a cold drink in hand!
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