Luang Prabang, Laos: The Pearl of Laos

Saturday Nov. 21

Luang Prabang, Laos Day 8

Cool, Comfortable Weather

Both of us got up early as we went to bed quite early again 930pm.   Sandra had a restless night as she was concerned about her boyfriend who just lost his mother.  So we were packed and ready to leave for the airport quite early. 

Mr. Yea also arrived early.  While waiting for our driver, we learned more about Mr. Yea.  He is 25 years old and when he graduated high school, he worked odd jobs so that he could afford to go to night school and learn English.  His first job was to carry cement and he graduated to being receptionists at an international company where he got to practice English.  Being a tour guide is his dream job, which he just started recently.  He has the best smile and best attitude and his enthusiasm is contagious.  We had the best time with him.  I have his email address so will stay in contact and send him photos of our tour. 

We got to the airport around 815am for our 930am flight to Luang Prabang.  It took a good 30 minutes to check- in even though there were only about 3 people because the computers were down so the tickets had to be hand written.  They were still efficient though.  I heard JFK just had a problem where the air traffic control system went down with lots of chaos so this wasn’t bad.  While waiting in line, Mr. Yea and us started talking some more.  We told him about us and you should have seen his face when he found out how old we were!  I think we are older than his mother!  He was born the same year we started in IBM.  Anyhow, the  enchanting conversation made the wait in line seem short so before we knew it we had our boarding passes and it was time to go to the gate.  We said our goodbyes’ to Mr. Yea and our driver and headed to the gate.  I really hope we can stay in touch.  Mr. Yea truly is a good person with a big heart and loves Laos!

Mr. Yea

Our flight was short and uneventful except there were some VIPs from China on our plane.  But the Vientiane airport has to be the quietest airport next to Paro airport in Bhutan.  You could here a pin drop because we were the only ones taking off and it was only a turbojet!

And when we got to Luang Prabang, a bit of the same but the airport did seem to be a bit busier as we heard another plane take off.  Our young guide Toi who has lived in Luang Prabang for 15 years and our driver Mr. Tang met us.  Both of course were shocked at the weight of my suitcase as I was still carrying the 10kg stone mortar and pestle.  Anyhow, they were able to get my suitcase in the car and off we went to our guesthouse – Lao Wooden House. 

On the way to the guesthouse, Toi, in perfect English, gave us an overview of Luang Prabang.  It was the capital of the Lao Kingdom (which is bigger than it is now) between the 13th and the 16th century.  Today it consists of about 500000 people.  About 60% are Buddhist and the rest believe in Taoism, Spirits and Animalism.  Because it is hilly and is surrounded by two rivers (the Mekong and the Nakhan) the temperatures are mild in the winter and very dry.  In the dry season, there is a lot of slash and burning going on so the pollution is quite bad.   And unlike Vientiane there are more motorbikes in Luang Prabang than Vientiane and arguably more temples per sq km than any other town in Laos.   Many indigenous groups also live in Laos but there life is difficult.  The average income for the indigenous people is 300 USD/year whereas the average income for Loas “citizens” are 800 USD/year.

We then arrived at our guesthouse, which is a gorgeous wooden house a block away from the Mekong one way and a block away from the main street the other way.  Our room was quite quaint although basic.

Our home in Luang Prabang

We unpacked, got organized and then headed for the town as we wanted to get a cup of coffee at Jomo a famous coffee house that serves coffee made from Laotian beans which are unique and buy some fruit as we planned on participating on giving alms to the monks at sunrise the next day.  Jomo was fabulous especially since they had homemade pumpkin pie which is Sandra’s favorite.  We liked the coffee so bought some to take home as gifts.  We then went to the fruit market where we bought bananas, tangerines and mangosteens for alms.   We dropped our purchases off at our hotel so that we could focus on the main activity for the afternoon – window-shopping.  We explored beautiful stores, which were selling exquisite handmade silk material with exquisite designs, and beautiful ebony and rosewood hand carved bowls and plates.  Gorgeous but expensive!  We agreed we would not buy anything until we check out the famous night market first. 

Main street Luang Prabang

Surprise! @Jomo we had freshly made pumpkin pie. Delicious!  After all it is almost Thanksgiving.

Flowers of Luang Prabang:  Plumeria, the national flower.  It is said it was the first flower to bloom after the destruction from the wars.

I forgot the name of this flower but it is used to make tea.  The tea is quite delicious and seems to be popular.

Sticky rice crackers:  Take left over sticky rice, shape into round cracker and let dry outside.

Beautiful orchid or is it a lily?

We stopped at a wine store and met the two cute kids.  The store was closed so we came back later to buy some reasonably priced Chilean wine.

After exploring the town, we decided to go to Tamarind, a highly recommended restaurant in Luang Prabang.  They have cooking lessons but unfortunately, we did not have time to take it.  We tried 3 dishes famous in Luang Prabang:  Dips with riverweed, chicken stuffed in lemon grass and fresh spring rolls.  I had a lemon grass and ginger drink and we also shared a bottle of wine.  It was fantastic.  I liked it so much that I bought their simple cookbook and some of the spices.   And I bought a roll of riverweed as in Japan and in the US,  seaweed is available  but not riverweed. 

On the way to Tamarind, we saw the groovy town library.  Literacy and education is still a problem in Laos but many NPOs are trying to change that.

Yummy food from Tamarind:  3 dips with Riverweed.

Minced chicken stuffed in lemongrass

 

Make your own fresh spring rolls

We also had a great conversation with two guys from Chicago who just arrived just like us but they arrived from the States!  Also, it was their first visit to Southeast Asia.  We had a fun conversation.  We then headed back to our guesthouse for some rest and for me to check email and work on my diary. 

At 7pm it was time to head out again.  We decided to explore the night market.  It was OK.  It definitely was geared toward tourists.  I did find some small bags that I will use for gifts and considered buying some beautiful mahogany serving dishes and bowls but geez I've got so many so passed.  However, I did not find any Laos silk or silk scarves that appealed to me.  So we decided to check out the morning market and then decide what to buy.

We stopped at the sundry store around the block from the guesthouse where I bought water and Sandra had a crepe with bananas for her dinner.  We then headed back to our guesthouse, had a glass of wine and did some major chatting which meant we missed our usual bedtime of 830pm and stayed up until about 11pm!

Night market stall selling mahogany and rosewood bowls and platters.

Scenes from the night market