Exploring a different city - Luang Prabang

Monday 5 November 2007

Today Jim and I flew to Luang Prabang. We took the opportunity to travel to the airport with those of the family who were flying to Bangkok on their way back to Australia. They had spent nearly seven weeks away in Europe and Laos. Our flight leaves just an hour later than theirs so that was good.

The old Royal City of Luang Prabang is a heritage listed city and rightly deserves to be.

After fare-welling them, we took ourselves the short distance to the Domestic Terminal, checked in, passed through security and waited to board our MC60 aircraft for the 40 minute flight north to Luang Prabang. We were lucky to have mostly clear skies and the scenery was great. We flew past the hydro dam and lake we visited a few days ago and it felt felt good to be able to some recognize places below.

There were no jumbos or tuk tuks at the airport so we decided to walk the 4 km into town. We got about a kilometre along the way before a tuk tuk came along so we jumped aboard to complete our ride. Jim knew where we were going as he had been to our hotel, Villa Philaylack, 10 days before with Chanla. The hotel is down a brick paved road just off the main drag through the centre of town so everything is within walking distance - a very convenient location. We have single rooms without air con, double bed for USD8 per night. Air con is $2 per night extra but as it is very pleasant at night we declined the offer.

By now lunch beckoned so we set off to find some pho. Although this is a national dish, every cook has his or her own particular way of preparing it. A little bit more or less of this or that makes each occasion a little different from the last. Add to this the fact that a bowl of fresh vegies accompanies the dish, what and how much you select to add, makes for another set of variations. We had a Lao coffee too, which is made from coffee grown in the south of the country. The grounds are put in a sieve through which hot water is poured.

Luang Prabang is a Heritage listed city and rightly deserves to be. Many buildings survive from the 1930’s so the city has a wonderfully French/Asian feel about it. As we set off down the street to begin our exploration of the city, who should sidle up beside us but P., who had flown to Vientiane for the weekend family reunion but who had returned to Luang Prabang for work yesterday afternoon. She joined us for another drink. As she hadn’t eaten lunch, she downed a plate of fried rice before she went off to start work at 3 p.m. and we set off to climb a nearby hill, Phousie Hill, pronounced in the local dialect as Pussy Hill.

Somewhere around 200 steep brick steps lead up to a Buddhist Temple at the top of the hill , a temple which has a Buddha for each day of the week. These are scattered around the hilltop and whilst walking between them, there are good views down over the town and the Mekong River. It was fairly clear, so the distant hills were visible. There seemed to be a lot of novice monks around and we took time out to talk to some of them. On the way back down, we stooped to talk to a Hungarian girl who was enjoying her time in Laos. She had come from Myanmar, leaving only a couple of days before the trouble with the monks. From her point of view, she says there was nothing to worry about. That is probably true from a tourist’s viewpoint although I don’t think the monks involved would agree with her..

Back at street level we headed for a riverside beer garden which had only just opened. It is located on a piece of high ground that turns into an island in the wet season. This semi-high ground is linked to the ‘mainland’ by a bamboo bridge with plaited bamboo decking. We had just started our beer when a couple nearby identified themselves as Aussies, so a conversation ensued. They came from near Horsham in Victoria but now live in Melbourne. They had visited Laos about this time last year and ’just had to come back’. Time vanished as we chatted to them; the sun had set and it was well and truly getting dark. During our conversation, I mentioned that I’d grown up in the Dandenongs. That brought the guy at the next table into the conversation! He lived in the foothills of the Dandenongs. You can’t get away, no matter where you go! But meeting up with others is really one of the joys of travel.

After our late lunchtime pho, we decided a baguette filled with BBQ chicken, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, mayonnaise and sweet chili sauce would be enough for dinner. A street-side stall served up the goods, all for $1.60 each. We wandered on chewing on the baguettes through a night market that sold material, tee shirts, trinkets and other ‘what did I buy that for’ stuff. We checked with a tour company that we hope will take us on a trek tomorrow. Two more people need to come out of the woodwork as four are needed to make the trip viable. Nobody had signed up by 7 pm, but there is still hope, as they don’t close until 11 pm. Tomorrow will tell.

A strong coffee was needed so we called in to Jomo’s, a franchised establishment - we had been to one in Vientiane. It’s a bit like ‘Gloria Jeans’ and serves muggaccinos, good muggaccinos. We’d bought a couple of cakes a stall or two away, so the coffee washed these down as we sat on the pavement on an absolutely balmy Luang Prabang night.

It had been a pretty big day after a pretty big night so we sauntered back to the hotel. There, I had a real treat - I had a hot shower! It was the first since Xiamen a week ago. It was beautiful. I look forward to a shave with at least lukewarm water in the morning. And now it’s time to try out the hotel’s bed.

I wonder if there are any roosters nearby - or an ice crusher - or both. I sincerely hope not!