Lovely Lao(s) – First Stop: Luang Prabang

Wasn’t quite sure if it’s correct to say LaoS or Lao, so I’ve always let the “s” trail when I said it; but now that I’m here, I have learned that although either pronunciation is acceptable, Lao is correct.

“Sabidee!!” in a sing-song cheerful voice is sung out many times each day and means “hello”  and “Khob chai” means thank you. I have found that if you can master just these two simple phrases, “hello” and “thank you” in the local language and add a sincere smile, you can go far.

Lao PDR is Lao, People’s Democratic Republic, a communist country that runs north and south parallel to Vietnam. A land of kind, reserved, helpful and smiling people. A land that the USA bombarded the hell out of during the Vietnam War, dropping over 2 million tons of bombs, 30% of which are still active and to be found all over the countryside. To this day – forty years later, children and adults are losing limbs, eyesight and hearing by accidentally exploding these UXOs while playing, farming or building. A visit to the UXO Information Center was a sobering introduction to post-war Laos.

Surprisingly welcoming to Americans, the Lao people are mostly Buddhist and there are gorgeous temples and shrines to be found in towns, along roadsides and in numerous caves.

I joined Theresa (finally!!) on Friday in Laos in Luang Prabang, an UNESCO town in the north of Laos. She had met up with her daughter Jessie and her boyfriend James (who have been traveling SEA – Southeast Asia -since November 1) a week before and had already visited Vientiene, the capital of Laos, as well as Vien Vang, famous for its limestone karsts and tubing river.

We met at the Aussie sports bar, conveniently located at a central crossroads just down the road from our eco-bungalows at Sa Sa Lao and made plans for our stay in LP – a cooking class in the morning, touring the caves and waterfall, and making sure to find time for Beer Lao and cheap massages along the way.

Here is a holiday decorating tip from The Aussie – I’m sure it is Pinterest worthy; feel free to use. #yourewelcome.

My first night in LP we went to check out the night market and street food stalls. Afterwards, James and Jessie led us to Utopia Bar and bought a couple of rounds of Lao Lao whiskey shots for us all…and so the fun began. We immediately met Sara from Colorado and she introduced us to Royce from Conifer, our hometown in Colorado — small world! Although friendly enough, Royce was a big fan of hearing Royce talk and pretty much knew just about everything, having lived in Laos for the past two years running an elephant sanctuary just outside of town. 😉

After a few more shots of Lao Lao (illegal) rice whiskey and a ton of laughs later, we stumbled out to the main road and somehow managed to flag down a tuk tuk back to SaSa. (Lots of double words in that sentence!)

In the morning, we met for our cooking class and were taken to the local market to purchase the items we would need to make Mekong fish, lemongrass pork baskets, fresh  spring rolls and other yummy stuff. The market was colorful, stinky, noisy and amazing. Pig knuckles, mini-eggplants, chard, cilantro, melons, squash, carrots, cabbage, dried spices, garlic, peanuts, noodles, and bags of blood. Num-num.

We headed over to the fish stalls and chose fresh fish swimming unsuspectingly in large bins of murky river water. The fishmonger promptly slammed the fish onto a table and bludgeoned him (her?) with a club and scrubbed off the scales, then swiftly fileted it. The process was repeated 5 or 6 more times until we had a good amount of fresh fish for our class.

We purchased fresh vegetables and pork and then climbed back into our tuk tuk to return to SaSa. At this point I began to feel not so great, and ended up in bed for the next 18 hours fighting an intestinal battle that was thankfully pretty mild and just laid me low, causing me to miss the rest of the cooking class and New Years Eve.

The next day we visited the two top attractions in LP – Pak Ou Caves and the Kuan Si Falls. A slow boat down the Mekong River brought us to a small village called Ban Xang Hay, where Lao Lao rice whiskey is made. Beautiful textiles (see weaving pix below) along with scorpion-filled Lao Lao whiskey bottles are sold here.

Next stop – to the upper and lower caves, filled with Buddhas of every shape and size. Using our headlamps to explore we poked around a bit before climbing back into the boat.

After a rushed lunch back in town, we took a van to Kuang Si. The falls were spectacular! We were able to hike to the top of the falls to the overlook. The steps were uneven and OSHA would’ve had a field day issuing NOVs (Notices of Violations) regarding the steps and handrails! The falls cascaded down to various levels, creating pools with limestone rock formations and plateaus which in turn caused new falls and pools of turquoise and aqua water. Absolutely breathtaking!

 

 

 

Another afternoon was spent visiting Phu Si, a stunning temple reached by climbing 329 steps to the temple. Sort of a Manitou Incline of Southeast Asia…right? Boxes of numbered prayers and banana leaf wrapped marigolds were available to purchase as offerings, as well as caged birds to be released for good luck.

 

And let’s not forget the massages – full body massage at our “resort” for only $8, and an incredibly awesome 30-minute foot massage for $4. Twenty-two ounce beers for $1.50. Noodle soup for dinner $3. Our bungalow was $16/night, so $8 for Theresa and same same for me. And getting 2 million kip at the ATM can make ya feel like a millionaire (even though it’s only $240 USD! 😁

But what we will never forget about Luang Prabang was the incessant chanting of the monks. It went on most days at various hours, but for some reason, the large temple near our bungalow offered chanting – ON A MICROPHONE and with some sort of sound system normally reserved for raves and EDM festivals – All. Night. Long. For three of our nights. Loud. Incessant. Annoying. Non-stop. Continuous. Repeatedly. Did I say non-stop? O. M. G. #shootmenow.

Anyway. All in all, a great town – on to Pakse for a two-night stopover on the way to the 4000 Islands.

Sabidee!