Luang Prabang
At six in the morning we took the bus (seemingly bought with Japanese foreign aid judging by the enormous sign that was put up on the side of the bus) to Luang Prabang. After a couple of stops we thought that nobody else could get in any more. We were wrong. There is always room, you just have to sit in the aisle. Who cares if you crash down on bags of rice. Little babies don't take up much room and children can sit on other people. Be flexible! After a couple of hours everybody was still in a good mood. The loudspeakers blasted out a radioplay that was very funny. Well, we couldn't understand it, but everybody else was laughing. The last hours we drove through some very nasty mountains that made a lot of people sick, especially those sitting in the aisles. People kept on rubbing Tigerbalm on their temples and under their noses, but it didn't help very much. To keep spirits up we cracked a lot of lame jokes, but now we were the only ones laughing. After 11 hours we made it with very sore asses to Luang Prabang.
Luang Prabang is like a breath of fresh air when you arrive from Vientiane. This is the old Royal Capital of the Lan Xang kingdom. The city is located at the confluence of the Khan and Mekong rivers and from the hill Phu Si you get a splendid view.
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The streets are dotted with magnificent Wats. Around 32 temples are still standing. UNESCO made it a World Heritage site a couple of years ago and rightly so. Here you see Wat Mai Suwannaphumaham, build in 1797. |
| The most breathtaking temple is Wat Xieng Thong (the first buildings date back to 1560). The Wat consists of several buildings, may of them wrapped up in gold. This is the funerary carriage house, just one example of the architectural wonders of Luang Prabang.
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This little creature crawled on the walls of one of the temples on Phu Si. These fellas can be seen everywhere, even in your room. |
| This is Café des Arts when we had breakfast a couple of times. They serve a mean banana pancake. Speciality of the house is the Big Sandwich, which will tie you over to dinner. |
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Kids are everywhere. Teenage boys are usually clothed in saffran coloured robes because they are monks. Teenage girls wear white shirts and blue skirts. When you sit by the side of the street you can see them on their bikes going to school or to the temples. The very young are always playing. Whether it's climbing up trees... |
| ...or playing with an old tyre. |
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| The most fun can be had on the banks of the Mekong. |
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