Luang Prabang

a great late-afternoon perch with a "Beer Lao" (or wine)

Luang Prabang is a photogenic town.  Backdropped with undulating hills climbing out of the Mekong, it's main street is peppered with outdoor bars, perfect for watching the sunset.  None of the buildings are taller than 3 stories which allows the city's temples to take center stage, soaring to the heavens.  There are the shuttered windows, the old-fashioned bicycle-riding and saffron-robed monks.  Luang Prabang has a markedly different feel from other places.  

It's less frenetic, because of lighter traffic and the pleasing lack of fast food joints.  And here, life carries on unapologetically despite the presence of tourists.  The massages, tours and other services are there if you want them, just ask.  We love how laid back the attitudes are here.  No one's trying too hard to entertain or impress.  It's like making sure your guests feel at home without smothering them.  

vegetables for sale at the morning market

Khai Phaen & Jeow Bong

Lao food has Thai and French influences, for example, the French baguette has infiltrated the cuisine, and takes on an incarnation similar to the Vietnamese sub.  And wine is more prevalent here, which is nice because I was getting tired of beer.  The Lao papaya salad is a much plainer version than the Thai one - it's simply shaved ribbons of green papaya tossed in fish sauce.  From what we've seen, Lao food consists of an abundance of vegetables: turnips, cauliflower, leaf lettuce, all manner of fresh herbs.  Meat plays a smaller part in the cuisine, as does fish, but so far we've only seen "river fish" on the menu; nothing from the ocean.  And as expected, rice is the perfect foil for most dishes, with sticky rice being a stand-by.  One lunch, I went out on a limb and ordered "Mekong River Weed" (Khai Phaen) without being exactly sure what that might entail - in retrospect, I should have ordered rice with it.  A plate arrived with a small bowl of carmine colored chutney (Jeow Bong), which I guessed was a chili dip for the paper-thin river weed.  Pressed into sheets with garlic, tomato and sesame seeds the river weed is flash fried and is delicious!  But the Jeow Bong had a few large pieces of what tasted suspiciously like congealed fat or hardened pork rind.  I would later learn this was dried "buffalo skin" and it's not something I plan to ingest again.  But it's easy enough to tweak the recipe and omit the offending ingredient...

 temple at the Royal Palace Museum

After my Buffalo-Skin meal (Aron had wisely ordered a predictable but delicious curry), we headed to the Royal Palace Museum to check out the "Royal Cars".  Aside from the usual regalia, such as scepters and crowns, the monarch's vehicle fleet was also on display in a garage.  Yes, it seems that King Sisavangvong was the proud owner of two Lincoln Continentals from the 50s and 60s, a Citroen DS, a 1972 jeep, a well-used wooden boat and a Ford Edsel.  Back at the palace, the large entry hall had impressive mosaics made of Japanese glass illustrating famous or historical stories and the rooms were gilt with gold-leaf.  It was neat to see the Royal Howdah, a carriage positioned on the back of an elephant, and  the Royal Palanquin, or litter, which would need at least six men to lift the open bed.  Finally, we saw the Pra Bang Buddha, cast in a mixture of gold, silver and bronze, enshrined on a dais.  The ancient city of Luang Prabang was renamed after this image in the 1500s.

Kuang Si waterfall

Finally, we went on a dusty, bumpy tuk-tuk ride to the breathtaking Kuang Si waterfall, about 45 minutes out of town.  The multi-tiered pools of clear water, in an unbelievable shade of aquamarine, look unearthly against the pearl-grey stones.  The hike to the very top was a little treacherous, because of the loose dirt and gravel on the rocky path. For that reason, we're always glad we don't wear flip-flops.