We spent maybe three nights (see- its all getting foggy now!) in Luang Prabang, explored the city and the neighboring (annexed?) village across the river for a couple of days. We also wanted to rent motorscooters to travel over land up the mountain, but because of an increase in tourist scooter accidents, they have outlawed renting scooters within the city! So we went to the waterfalls with our friends... but I'm getting ahead of myself.
The religious and historical center of the city sits on a finger of land that rises like a hump between the Mekong and one if it's tributaries. We strolled back and forth on that sliver of land for hours until we knew it well! The Laotian people we interacted with were by and large very friendly and happy- not pushy, trying to make a sale like many we encountered in Thailand. I could have spent weeks in Luang Prabang!
happy! french baguette sandwich (Laos was a French protectorate in the 19th century) and a fresh-from-the-tree-next-to-the-bungalow-delivered-five-minutes-ago green coconut with the top lobbed off and a straw sticking out of it with which to suck up the coconut water
Below is a collage of photos from multiple days.... starting with the bungalows that we stayed in- our friends from the boat stayed at the same place, and we probably rented out half of their housing stock! It was great fun to walk down their little path between the bungalows and the garden (with chickens running around!) and see your friends relaxing on their porch. We drank many a Beer Lao on Jo and Jeff's porch- just a few doors down from ours!
the bungalow
I fell in love with soup for breakfast. One day Dave and I ventured out the opposite direction on the road to town, into the local residential neighborhood. We found a soup shop that a woman had set up under an awning at her house- basically in the carport. She had a table full of veggies and meats and a couple of huge pots of mysterious broths simmering on outdoor burners. A whole crowd of locals sat around her. We had fun trying to order soup for breakfast with no meat- we eventually got it- not a lick of English was spoken! Unfortunately, I don't think we took her picture- the pictures below are from another soup place.
the Laos version of Vietnamese Pho- spicy noodle soup in a thin broth (typically with random meat, but here with just veggies)... for breakfast. yummy!!!
Derrek eats a pepper on a dare....he was in tears in minutes!
There was a large whitewashed school on our walk to town (the bungalows we stayed at were off the beaten path- awesome!)- we saw lots of kids in blue uniforms. They all looked very happy!
three schoolgirls on a bike- on our way into town
Town was littered with temples- we didn't poke through many- it was incredibly hot while we were there, and it sapped our desire to do touristy things like that. But we saw some- and definitely looked at many from their main gates!
one of the many temples we saw
we often ran into novice monks on the sidewalk
While walking around I got a great taste of the vernacular architecture, and took a few shots to share. I loved how simple the spaces were, modest yet beautiful.
house on stilts- the open air ground floor stayed cool in the heat of the day and residents used it for daily chores
another vernacular house that I loved
building a house- check out that bamboo scaffolding!
plastering over a woven reed mat to create the exterior wall of this new house
another Laotian house I like
Walking around, we found that many shopkeepers and younger Laotians knew some English- but not lots. One day we wandered around with Derrik, who had a Laotian phrase book- we had quite a bit of fun with that- made a couple of people laugh. Dave learned how to say "I need a haircut" in Laotian.
Chelsea, Dave and Derrik with the proud Laotian who showed off his English skills when we (Derrik really) tried to show off his Laotian speaking skills
We often took breaks to slurp down fresh fruit smoothies- yum! We saw this guy working hard down the hill from one of the smoothie places...
this man was slicing 1" thick boards out of a tree trunk, by hand, in the dead heat of mid-day
Tuk tuk drivers lined up at the edge of town to take tourists out to the waterfalls and caves in the countryside. Their tuk-tuks were often decorated beautifully!
one Kick Ass tuk-tuk
One afternoon Dave and I decided to go for a walk outside the "touristy" (but not over-touristy) old city into the village across the river.
the village across the river
We didn't take the bamboo bridge on the way there....
three monks approaching the bamboo bridge
This is the main bridge- it has metal supports and wooden boards for the road bed. One way. People just FLY over it on their scooters!
the main bridge between the french-colonial-architecture-heavy main tourist area and the village on the other side of the tributary
People on the other side of the bridge must not see many white visitors- they all stared and smiled at us as we walked down the dusty road.
women frying eggrolls in the street- after Dave asked if he could take this picture the woman offered us each an egg roll- just to try out the wares! so tasty, greasy and fresh!!
we came across a street in which someone was drying racks of rice skins, used to make spring rolls and the like
someone's pet monkey!
shops along the road
Once we wandered through the village a bit, we found our way back to the bamboo bridge and crossed it. Kids were playing in the water below- jumping off the bridge. We had to pay a toll at the end- something like ten cents.
the bamboo bridge, from the other side of the river
One night Dave and I climbed to the ridgetop temple at Phou Si. Many tourist gather there for sunset, and we were not let down!
ridge-top temples
a tradition we fell into: a vendor sells caged finches at the foot of the temple- letting a finch free is considered good luck. We bought one finch's freedom. I'm sure they just get caught again (or better yet- they're trained to return to the vendor!), but it was fun.
At night we often at street-vendor food....something that some guidebooks warn you away from (as it might be "dirty") but we never had any problems. We found our favorite place the first night we were there- a man and woman with a cart full of veggies and noodles in bowls- you buy a plate's worth for the equivalent of fifty cents, load it up with all the veggies and noodles you can possibly eat, and hand it over to the woman who stir-frys it in a large wok over an open flame. You buy a large Beer Lao for seventy cents, and sit down at the long common picnic table that stretches down the alley. There is toilet paper, chopsticks, and hotsauce on the table, and you just fall into conversation with those travelers already squatting next to you. So fun!
the best sidewalk food in Luang Prabang!
eating dinner at a local "food court" in an alley- many vendors cooking only one thing- everyone had a picnic table set up. we took over one and ended up attracting more merrymakers to us! from left- Derrik, Chelsea, Dave, Jo from Sweden, Jeff from Belgium, random merrymakers who joined us, Julie from France (missing is Eva from Canada)
some of the street-vendor food- fish grilled on an open flame, handlily made into finger food with the addition of a split bamboo stick
Dave was playing with his camera settings while we were there, and took some very nice sepia-toned shots:
Mekong River, in Sepia
sunset along the ridge at Wat Pousi
1 comment:
Those sepia tones are great! I'm enjoying catching up on your journeys!
Post a Comment