Luang Prabang: a tonic for the soul

That’s what the Lonely Planet guide calls it… and while 9 times out of 10 the restaurant they recommend doesn’t exist, on this point, they were entirely correct. Mike booked us a silly fancy hotel at a decent deal for this stop (figuring that after two days on a boat we needed something fancy… not a bad call). The hotel ended up being right in the middle of the main street at the end of their nightly market (which is the most fun ever, we can’t stop buying things, and they are all awesome). Our first evening we walked around a bit, had some dinner and turned in early. Our first real day we spent wandering around the town. We’ve both talked about it and we can’t figure out why, but Laos, and particularly here, feels great, it’s just kinda magical and so far neither of us can pinpoint it, but it is great. The scenery is spectacular, the town is adorable (it’s a UNESCO world heritage site, so it’s pretty low key and there are restrictions on building, noise, etc.), there are gorgeous Wats (temples) everywhere, with monks in gorgeous orange robes hanging out. (As an aside, my favorite thing is walking by the monks’ laundry… gorgeous vibrant orange robes and sashes hung out to dry) The whole place just feels happy, relaxed and peaceful (and SUUUUPER HOT… but what are you gonna do). The great thing about the slow boat was that we made lots of friends, and because it’s a small town, ran into them all the time. After about the ninth time we ran into our fun British friends we made plans to go with them to the Buddha caves and waterfalls the next day.

The next morning we grabbed two tuk tuks for all 14 of us (15 including Matteo, but he’s so tiny) and headed to the Buddha caves, the caves were neat-ish with lots of buddhas, been there a long time, but it was hot and took a loooong time to get there… so it ended up feeling so so (we did end up with some great pictures though). After a second, really long ride we ended up at the waterfalls (and bear preserve? Who knows, but there were bears, in hammocks…) Thankfully, the waterfalls were gorgeous, a series of them going up hill, some for swimming, some for looking at… I would say as you went up the pools got prettier and less pleasant to swim in, but each was great for some reason. A middle pool had a huge rope swing, which we were persuaded to try even though we are chickens. Let me tell you, epic fail. Mike can’t motor scoot and it turns out, I cannot rope swing. I full on belly flopped both times, it was un-pretty although less painful than I’m sure it looked… next time I swing it will have to be with one that has a foot hold… Mike also almost killed our friend Steve, who thought he was going to land on Mike so he held on all the way through the back swing, grazing the tree and landing in what we all thought was a really shallow spot… but he was fine! And now Mike has a life debt to him ;) Good thing we’ll probably see them in Vang Vieng, maybe Mike can pull his inner tube to safety…

This morning we woke up early enough to see the monks on their morning alms walk. They walk through town and locals offer them rice and other foods for their morning meal. Very cool, but it takes place sometime between 5-6 am, good thing our hotel is on their route, so when I woke up at 5:45 I peeked out the window, and there they were! I grabbed Mike and we watched from the balcony. We’re enjoying our last day here, just hanging out. From here we will head on to Vang Vieng to go tubing down the river, then on to the capitol. Did I mention, we LOVE LAOS.