Soaking up Life in Laos

Luang Prabang

Yesterday we took a 9 hour bus ride from Namtha to Luang Prabang. The ride was crowded, hot, long, and the bus broke down... twice. Last night was Chinese-New- Year's-Eve and we tried to find some Chinese tourists here to party with. Unfortunately our efforts proved to be largely futile. We did find a Hunan Restaurant that had two large families watching CCTV's New Year's programing being broadcast from Beijing. We threw out a few 'XinNian KuaiLe's' (Happy New Year), and spent a little time talking with them. Because the upcoming year is my animal (year of the rabbit) people were especially excited for me. We also spent some time shopping in the famous night market in the center of town.

Today I took a much needed solo day. Instead of renting bikes with the guys, I decided to walk around Luang Prabang. It's a charming little town full of small cafes and little markets. I visited Wat Xieng Thong. This small temple was overrun by tourists. On one hand, the temple was really cool. I have probably seen over one hundred temples in my life but I am still amazed by the dutiful effort the monks, at even a small temple like this, put forth to maintain their institutions. Unfortunately, most people were not respecting the privacy of the visiting Laos locals and were blatantly taking photos of Buddha and those praying in the temples. In Thailand or India these people would have been removed from the Temple, but Laos is more laid back and most pretended not to notice the annoyance.

Walking along the Mekong River I noticed two boys no older that six bolt out of a shack on the far bank and run into a shallow, slow moving part of the river. They were stark naked. They picked their way carefully through the shallows to a small exposed sand bar about fifty meters upstream. Once they got there they jumped into the fast moving current on the opposite side of the sandbar and giggled wildly as they flew downstream. I imagined that their mother had sent them out to go wash up, and presumed that instead of doing something boring like taking a bath, they decided to play a bit. Of course when mom asked if they were clean, they would certainly assure her that they were.

I found a second temple complex named Ban Aham. This was laid out over a large complex and includes 8 or 9 stupas with one main hall. It was nice to relax in the shade and enjoy the outdoors in one of the many large grass lawns within the temple complex. I bought a couple pieces of artwork near here as well.

Upon the recommendation of an ex-pat turned local I walked for about an hour on the far side of the Mekong River. There wasn't much over there, but again, it was fantastic to soak up the sun.

Tomorrow we will head in a minivan to a supposedly fantastic waterfall at about 11:30. There are only 8 days left in my vacation so I need to enjoy the weather as long as I can!
C. Johnson