We arrived in Luang Prabang, Laos five days ago. This is the first time either of us have been to Laos. The currency in Laos is called Kip —100,000 Kip is USD$4.79. Yes, you read that correctly, 100,000 Kip is less than five bucks. This makes for interesting ATM withdrawals as the limit is 2 million Kip ($95.80).
We stayed at The NamKhan EcoFarm and Resort, which is on the NamKhan River. The resort is 15 minutes outside of town. We had switched to this property last month; in hindsight, we shouldn’t have made this switch as it would have been more convenient to stay in old town Luang Prabang.
On our first full day here, we woke up at 4:45 am to get into town for the Buddhist Alms Giving Ceremony. At sunrise, hundreds of Buddhist Monks walk down Sakkalin Road in silence as they receive food (rice and packaged wafer bars) from followers.
After watching the Alms, we started exploring the town by going to many of the various Vats (temples). We had a lovely breakfast at Le Battenton Cafe French Bakery. Due to being a French protectorate from 1893 to 1953, the food and architecture has a heavy French influence. There were times that we felt that we were in the French Quarter of New Orleans based on the similar architecture.
Luang Prabang is surrounded by the Mekong and Nam Khan Rivers. We walked along the riverfront and in the afternoon, went to the Traditional Arts & Ethnology Centre and the Royal Palace. The afternoons in Luang Prabang are so fricking hot (direct quote from Jane) and we spent an hour or so before dinner at Maolin Tavern where we enjoyed BeerLao Blonde (very tasty and more importantly cold).
We had an early dinner at one of the most beautiful restaurants we have ever been to, Manda de Laos. The food was delicious and the service was excellent. By far this has been the most expensive meal we have had on the trip, almost one million Kip.
Sunday we were up early again as we had a full day of adventure ahead of us. We kayaked to the Pak Ou Caves. The caves are straight out of Indiana Jones and then we kayaked to lunch where we shared a table with a couple of students from the UK.
After lunch we took a van ride to the Kuang Si Waterfalls. We arrived around at 3:00, which was great since most of the crowd was thinning out. The waterfalls are really lovely.
On the way back into Luang Prabang we stopped at a Hmong Village. Our guide provided an overview of how they live. The poverty in the village was pretty sad.
When we got back into town, we went to the night market where we both got a Lao noddle soup which we really enjoyed.
Monday morning we chilled at the resort with a leisurely breakfast and read for a while. We took the 1:00 shuttle into town and went to the UXO Lao Visitor Centre. UXO’s are unexploded ordinance. Laos is the most heavily bombed country nation, per capita, in history. Between 1964-1973, Laos was hit by an average of one B-52 bomb-load every eight minutes. The US dropped more bombs on Laos during this period than those dropped during World War II. A large percentage of bombs that were dropped never exploded and continue to cause casualties and injuries. Today, the government of Laos has teams in the field using metal detectors attempting to identify unexploded bombs so they can be either detonated or removed. I am not sure if the metal detectors currently being used are any stronger than the ones used by the old guys at 6:00 pm on Rehoboth Beach. I wonder why they can’t use satellite imaging to identity these bombs, likely due to costs. For anyone visiting Luang Prabang this is a must see.
After the UXO Visitor Centre, we had some time to kill so we went back to Maolin Tavern. After our beers we walked over to Tamarind Restaurant, where we had a cooking class. Since Tamarind is a working restaurant, they did not have room for our cooking class in their old town location, so we took a tuk-tuk outside of town where they have a beautiful setting for a cooking school.
Our class consisted of a couple around our age from Montreal, a guy from Sao Paulo who lives in Berlin, a couple from The Netherlands, an older guy from London, and a woman from northwest Spain – a great mix of people. Chef Sit did a great job providing instructions to us. We made Jeow Mak Keua (eggplant dip) and Jeow Mak Len (Lao tomato salsa), Mok Pa (fish steamed in banana leaves), Oua Si Khai (minced chicken stuffed in lemongrass) and Khao Gam (purple sticky rice with coconut sauce). The food was delicious and our group had a wonderful time at dinner.
After four nights at The NamKhan EcoFarm, it was time to leave. Again we had a relaxing morning before our ride in a jeep, that was at least 50 years old, to the train station. The train station is a modern structure 30 minutes outside of town. It was built by China and we had heard these nightmare stories about security, but when we arrived we had no problems. We are currently waiting for our high speed train to our next destination in Laos, Vang Vieng.
The people waiting for the train are mainly Chinese or White. There are few Laotian’s taking the train. Our ticket is $18, which is insignificant for us, but for people from Laos, where the average annual salary is equivalent to USD$2700, it is an expensive ticket. Laos is the poorest country we have ever visited. The GDP is $18 billion. As a comparison (to other countries that we have visited) Ghana is $66 billion and Kenya is $85 billion. It is tough seeing the poverty, pollution, and living conditions for so many people, especially children.
On the train to Vang Vieng, I was listening to the Tony Kornheiser Podcast. Over the weekend I wrote a letter and to my delighted surprise it was read today. You can listen to my letter being read at the 59:00 minute part of the podcast at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tony-kornheiser-show/id1148650883?i=1000648772177 I am now the official temporary SE Asia Correspondent of the Tony Kornheiser Podcast.
Traveling Walters 