Luang Prabang, Laos

  Luang Prabang, Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Monday, August 4, 2008

The first night we got to Luang Prabang we were pretty exhausted after the full day slow boat trip from Nong Khiaw so we just went for a quick stroll round the town, had a bit of dinner and got an early night. The next morning was Saturday and the guidebook said that a great way to get to know about Laos culture and history is to go to the former Royal Palace which is now a museum. So we went there after breakfast, it was slightly disappointing though, there wasn't much to it - a few old musical instruments, the former king and queens bedrooms and a few other bits and pieces. We walked round the streets of the town for a while after that. It's a UNESCO World Heritage town so there are really strict regulations in place with regards building types, styles etc. resulting in a really pretty town where walking down the streets feels like walking down a European street 100 years ago. We saw some nice temples and Buddha statues along the way. It was a really hot day too, easily the hottest since we left Vietnam. On Saturday night we went to a traditional Laos Barbecue where the waiter brings a bucket of charcoal to your table and you grill your meat and veg yourself. It was quite tasty but the portions were very small for what we paid.

1-At the Royal Palace

Loas Barbeque

The sun was splitting the trees when we woke up on Sunday morning so we decided to make the most of it and got a tuk-tuk for the 60km round trip to the waterfalls. The waterfalls were really impressive and we got into the freezing water for a swim, nice and refreshing. We didn't last long in the water though as we saw a few people going round with blood pumping from their legs and realised the place was crawling with leeches. Back in the hotel on Sunday evening we met 6 medicine students from NUI Galway so we went out for a night on the town with them. As part of its World Heritage status there's a curfew in Luang Prabang where all locals must be in their home by midnight so all bars close between 11 and 11:30pm but for some reason the bowling alley is allowed to stay open longer so we went there for more beers and tried to play bowling. I believe Lydia won the bowling coz I didn't hear the end of it for a few days afterwards!!!

Us at Waterfalls

2-Lydia at Waterfalls

We were a bit worse for wear on Monday morning so we got up late and after breakfast strolled round the town again. This time we stumbled upon a group of monks learning how to do restoration work on the wood carvings in the temples, so we watched them for a while then went and sat by the Mekong River for the afternoon sipping 7-Up's and reading our books. It was another scorcher of a day so we had to sit in the shade the whole time. It was really nice and peaceful though just sitting there for a few hours doing nothing. In the evening we climbed up the three or four hundred steps of the Phou Si Hill which overlooks the town of Luang Prabang. We stayed up there for sunset then had a stroll around the night market. Went back to the hotel early enough as we wanted to get up early the next morning. When we got back to the hotel there was this huge cockroach type thing with wings flying around the corridor, it was about the length of my index finger, when the receptionist saw it he caught it held it in his hand for a while, pretended to throw it at us then to our disgust put it in his mouth and ate it!!!
We got up at 5:30am the next morning to see the monks doing their morning walk round the town. They do this every morning and the local people all get up to give them rice and other food which they bring back to the temples to share around. It was nice to see and we were glad we got up to see it but it was over in 10 minutes and we were back in bed by 6:10am! In the afternoon we just spent a couple of hours online then went to see the new Chronicles of Narnia movie.

2-Monks Morning Walk

4-Visiting Temples

On Wednesday we booked ourselves into a one day traditional Laos cooking class. We started off at the market where we learned about all the different ingredients that we would be using during the day. We also saw some disgusting things while we were there, a fetus of a buffalo, ears, noses and heads from various animals, fish sauce (minging), bile, tripe, pigs feet, buffalo skins, I could go on for a while! When we got back to our "kitchen" we started making our dishes. First we made a type of salsa dip called Jeow that the Laotians dip sticky rice into. That was my favourite dish of the day. After that we made steamed fish in banana leaf with herbs, that was Lydia's favourite dish. Then we made a minced meat and mint leaf dish called Laap, we made a really tasty fish stew that got devoured and a speciality dish eaten only on special occasions which was lemon grass stuffed with chicken and herbs, dipped in egg and deep fried. After we finished the cooking we sat down to eat all our food with the 2 Canadians, 2 South Africans, American and Greek that were on the course too. The food was all amazing and we left the place stuffed and arranged to meet the South African couple and the 2 Canadian girls for drinks that night. Had a good night with them and ended up going bowling again, think Lydia might have mentioned that she won again!!!

5-At the Cooking Class

Derek, Karl & Tessa - The boys team!

Hung-over on Thursday and the rain had returned so we got up late, had lunch spent a few hours online, packed up our bags and went for a quiet dinner for our last night in Luang Prabang. We really enjoyed our stay in Luang Prabang but its time to move on!