OK, first a caveat. This is my first ever attempt at a picture report, so I will take it kindly if you cut me a wee bit of slack. I spent half the morning faffing about re-sizing pictures and re-figuring out the pic up load. I think I overdid the image re-sizing, but can't be arsed to go back and give it another whirl. So, for what it is worth, here we go:
Luang prabang.
Work took me to luang prabang in laos for a few days. As it was a work trip, no sightseeing time. There seemed to be a number of trips on offer around the town, which mostly featured 'trekking", or "elephants" or both. There is a waterfall somewhere which seems popular from the number of trips offered there. But, as said, I ws working so none of that for me.
That being aside, I loved, really loved luang prabang. It is a beautiful, restful little town. The main thing I got from it was that it was QUIET. Everywhere. No tape decks going at full blast, no TV blaring out, people seemed to be able to talk, and not shout at each other. The locals were polite, respectful and welcoming. All in all, it was a fair bit of a culture shock from Thailand. It was CLEAN!
The big things in LP, as far as I saw were markets. In the street outside my hotel there was a morning veggie/food market along the lane, and in the night the main street was transformed for much of its length into a handicrafts market.
Each day after the morning veggie market, it was swept, washed and left spotless - no smell, no garbage, no lingering distinctive odour. Amazing.
This is a world heritage town, and the buildings and architecture are left intact, an intersting smattering of colonial archetecture and local styles. Only a rare building of more than two stories high, most two stories or less (by law apparently).
The food at everywhere we ate (myself and a Thai companion) was of extremely high quality. Most of it was indistnguishable from thai food- just better presented, and much better quality. Our Tom Yang with chicken had chicken meat in it, not bone, snot, gristle and beak as so often seem the case here. The french influence was still strong, and lovely fresh french style bread was everywhere, with big bowls of soup, sandwiches, just on the street with some cheese. overall, I was really really pleased with the quality of the food everywhere.
Our hotel was a great place. Nice mix of traditional furnishings with modern conveniences - fridge, TV with cable, great shower with ample hot water etc. Staff were attentive, polite and discrete.
Sadly much of Laos was an eye opener for my Thai companion, as this is what Thais pride themselves on, but so rarely deliver. Taxi drivers were polite, gave the history of where we were going, filled us in on daily living - oh so different from what we get on our trips around Thaialnd. For much of it, laos reminded my thai companion of what Thailand was like in her youth.
The tourists seemed to be either mainly older groups or back packers, but despite the plentiful numbers of grungy backpackers in Tie-died pants and dreads, they seemed not to have impacted the locals too much. Nobody on corners offering drugs, girls or anything else (except the occasional "waterfall" - "you want go waterfall?"). No beggars on the streets, o kids chasing you with chewing gum.
The town closes at 12pm at the latest (by law as I understand it), so no great night life. I have an itchy feeling that there was no great 'adult scene" (shall we say), although a few massage places offered "full body massages" so a bit of hanky panky might be around - but I would not hold my breath. Women were pretty and invariable in local dress, which was pleasant.
I would go back in a heart beat. It was relaxing, stress free, laid back and welcoming. If you want frantic activity, it is not for you, but if you want to kick back amongst genteel charms, I highly recommend it. We flew from bangkok on bangkok airways, but many other ways to get there.
OK - I will try and put some of my butchered photos in:
The mekong:
Night market
street scenes
temple in the grounds of the national museum
Hmm. that will do for now.
Anyway, lastly, the "Big" thing to do in luang prabang (aside from trekking and elephants) is to get up at 5 am or so, and go see the procession of the monks on their morning alms round. As that happens outside my door each morning at home, I passed....