Food on a stick - and more

Luang Prabang, Laos, was a huge happy surprise. I thought that after Vang Vieng, I would never be as happy again - i couldn't have been more wrong. Luang Prabang, a quiet, very french influenced city, was as brilliant as Vang Vieng. Again there were baguettes on every corner (complimented by Le Vache qui rit cheese and mystery pate), and the people were laid back. On every street there were Wats (temples) and monks wandering around town. when i say relaxed, i mean to the extreme - i had to wake up a shop owner at one point so that i could buy something, and at one point i walked into a store, grabbed a bottle of water, and realized that no one was there to give money too. after a bit of inquiry (leaving the store and yelling, "excuse me, does anyone know who owns this store??"), i ended up just leaving money on the table and walking out with the water. Also, the night market was the most fabulous market I've ever been to - everything was gorgeous, hand made, and CHEAP. also, often i find that i'm very turned off buying things cause people push you to buy things - the opposite was true. In one instance, i picked up a purse and thought to myself "i'll buy this for $5, max" (my mind is in bargain mode). upon asking for a price, the lady said, "$1", and i said, "that's brilliant, so cheap!", which she quickly followed up with, "o.k., 80 cents!", and i actually had to throw money at her so that she would stop decreasing the price, amongst my protests. i ended up buying way too much stuff, but i don't regret it for a second...!!!

Possibly the best discovery of my whole trip was of the night market food street - Amazingly cheap, abundant, and delicious food, some of which came on a stick (fish on a stick - at first, a seemingly bad idea, but after one taste, you just can't get enough). I spent many hours with friends cruising this street and picking up random foods.

On one of the days I headed up to the waterfall with a couple groups of friends (both of whom i had met in Vang Vieng)...i wasn't expecting much, but when we arrived there were bears and a tiger in a conservation area - i love surprises, especially when they involve animals. behind these animals was a beautiful, tiered waterfall (tons of levels that all looked different and you could swim in each one). At the top where the big falls were no one was swimming, but one of the guys I was with said, "doesn't look taht bad - let's jump in". so, clearly, the adrenaline junkie me in said, "YEAH", and the scaredy-cat in me went, "but you first!", and in we went...no real danger of falling all the way down the falls (i think), and a group of korean tourists laughed and pointed and got some good pictures of the crazy western tourists playing in the falls. after a day of exploring the waterfall (you could go right up to the top and walk across and into the marshy area) and eating more food on a stick (chicken this time), we grabbed a tuk tuk to bring us home. the driver kept nervously looking out the side window, which was in turn making us nervous, but it turns out it was just a flat tire. i assume that this happens often to these contraptions, especially since they're driving up and down unpaved roads constantly...he seemed to be an expert at changing the tire (with the expection of the one time the raised tuk tuk nearly fell down onto his arm...), and the tiny crisis was fixed. I was so content on chicken on a stick and waterfall swimming that i wasn't concerned in the least, especially since there was a food stand in view from where we broke down.

The night scene was pretty chill in Luang Prabang (my liver was happy to learn about this), especially since there's a curfew (hotelowners close their doors at 11:30pm). I made a deal with the owner of my hostel - if I arrived home at 1am, i would buy him one beer, at 2am, 2 beers, and so forth. i thought it was a pretty fair deal and he seemed content with it too. Each night consisted of chilling at an outdoor bar, chatting with our ever growing group of friends.

the only negative thing i can say about my experience in luang prabang was my morning wake up call - i was really enjoying my hostel, except for one thing...every morning around 5am one of the managers of my hostel would wake up, and start hawking (like, trying to bring phlegm up from his lungs...though it sounded to me like he was trying to bring up a kidney). this would continue for about 1 hour (some asians seem to like spitting a lot, and clearing their throats - especially when you're eating or sleeping). after the second day i gave up trying to sleep and instead would wake up early to head up to the temples, see the sun rise, and watch the villagers give alms. Around 6am, monks would come out of their temples with large baskets and walk around town- the villagers would be sitting on the roadside and put food (mostly sticky rice) into their baskets as they walked by. it was incredibly cool to see and fun to participate in - and it beat having to lie around and listen to someone pull up a lung.

i also managed to do a cooking class...it was amusing, not super informative since all the dishes were cooked at once and i only caught snippets of each preparation, but the meal at the end was completely worth it (HUGE HUGE HUGE meal). We also got to go to the local market and we saw all kinda of weird shiznit - most weird of all were the bats. i can't imagine bats to be super tasty, but i guess someone does. The picture of the purple fruit are mangosteens - by far my favourite fruit here in asia (but closely followed by pomellos, mangos, and rambutans).

My adventures in Laos ended..i was sad to move on, but eager to check out the vietnam scene. a quick check of the calendar confirmed that i had stayed WAY longer than expected, but it was worth every single fish on a stick.