Luang Prabang

I thought Vang Vieng was "unbelievable" for all the wrong reasons. Luang Prabang, a 7 hour bus ride away, is "unbelievable" for all the right reasons. I've been in SE Asia for 6.5 weeks now, and I have to say that if you are ever in the area, a trip here is simply a must do.

The town is the former, and traditional Lao capital--similar to how Siem Reap once was for the Khmers. It is perched on a peninsula surrounded by the Mekong on one side, and the Nam Pha on the other, and the northern tip of the peninsula is where the two rivers converge. Its also surrounded by high, forest covered mountains, giving it a very scenic setting.

It also helps that the place is loaded with well-preserved french architecture surrounded by traditional buddhist temples. It lends a very unique air to the place.

If you could compare SE Asian towns and cities to real types of people, than Luang Prabang would be an uber supermodel with a great personality and plenty of intelligence--extremely photogenic from all angles, and just a great place to be around.

There's a hilltop temple in the center of town that provides a great panorama of the place, and, unlike what the Lonely Planet guide says, you do not need to be fully covered to enter the royal palace museum. I and every other western tourist had no problem entering with tshirts and shorts. Yes, we had to take off our shoes and stow our bags, but that was understandable. The palace was unbelievable--well preserved, and recently renovated, it is probably the nicest palace i've been to in SE Asia.

Sometimes you manage to stumble across random things or people that you never expect to find in the middle of northern laos. I had two such incidents yesterday. The royal palace museum displays gifts from various nations to the people of laos, and of course, some from the U.S. are displayed. Sitting on a small trophy foundation, there is a red flag with white elephants on it, with some glass enclosed shards of rock just above it. The flag is the traditional flag of the lao monarchy, and the shards of rock are from the moon. The caption on the base of the foundation "this flag of laos was carried on board the apollo 11 moon mission by the astronauts, and these are pieces of the moon, presented to the people of Laos"--signed, President Nixon. I have to wonder what else was carried on the apollo 11 mission for political purposes, in addition to the small, shoulder patch sized lao flag.

Hours later, when I was wandering the night market directly next to the royal palace, I ran into a girl (not the indonesian teaching friend) who was Hockaday '04, and who I had not spoken to for literally six years. And we manage to run into each other in the middle of freaking Laos. Talk about it being a small world.

The night market is easily the nicest I've seen in all of SE Asia--they actually close off an active street between 530pm and 1030pm for the vendors to display their wares, and there really isn't that much "crap" for sale--yes, you can get your usual souvenir tshirt, but you can also have your pick of lots of traditional textiles and handicrafts.

The sunset is simply spectacular as well, especially when you are watching it from a bamboo shack on the other side of a river that you had to cross over via a rickety bamboo bridge.

Of course, not all news is good news. I've managed to lose my headlight/flashlight, and I had to buy baby powder to combat the possibility of prickly heat. Prickly heat is a non-infectious, non health threatening skin rash that occurs in the tropics when sweat can't leave the body--and it is starting to occur on my back, where i wear a backpack, so when I sweat, the moisture can't necessary leave it. I had it once before, in Fiji, and while it poses zero threat to my physical health, it feels like a bunch of ants are crawling all over you and biting. There's really not much you can do for it other than use baby powder, air conditioning/fans, and cold water showers. All of which I have been doing.