I don't remember whether it was Lonely Planet or National Geographic, but one of them had written about this charming little town as the most romantic place in South East Asia. I had considered visiting it many times, but had put it off due to expensive flight tickets. But once I knew I would be moving from Singapore to Mumbai, and it would only get even more taxing on the wallet to go there, I bit the bullet and booked myself a long weekend trip.
Laos has a strong cultural and economic relationship with neighboring Thailand: the language and food are similar and most products in Laos are imported from Thailand. The majority of internationals flights come in from Bangkok, and my trip included a change of planes at the Thai capital as well.
Visa was on arrival but nationals of South Asian countries had to cough up USD 40 instead of USD 30-35 which applied for other countries. A short cab right took me to the Kounsavan guesthouse, where the young, six month pregnant host introduced herself as "Two". I insisted that there had to be more to her name but she remained firm, making a V sign and repeating that "Two" was her name. She gave me a brief on the sights in town and off I went to explore.
Luang Prabang was founded in the 16th century and was the capital of a small kingdom in Northern Laos. What one sees in it's temples, monasteries and houses is the amalgamation of traditional Lao architecture and French influences. It's surrounded by hills and sits at the confluence of the mighty Mekong and the not-so-mighty Nam Khan. Add to these elements the laidback attitude to life of the locals and you have a fine holiday destination.
My first stop of the afternoon was the Royal Palace Museum. It was the residence of the King of Laos during the late 19th and most of the 20th century and displayed artifacts mainly belonging to this period. As expected, many of them were imported from Laos' colonial master, France. The palace's inner walls were painted red and decorated with glass mosaics, which was a distinctive feature in all the temples in Luang Prabang as well.
Thereafter, I strolled along Sisangvathong Street, the arterial road in LP lined with restaurants, spas, boutique shops, money changers, hotels and temples. Towards one end was Wat Xienthong, the oldest temple in town. The temples were beautiful without being awe-inspiring, but it was the manner in which they seemed to blend in with the rest of the town, with the monks' evening chants reverberating through the streets, that provided the allure to this quaint place.
Towards the evening, I retraced my steps back to the Royal Palace Museum and climbed Phonsi Hill, which afforded a panoramic view of the city, the two rivers and the bridges on them as well as the green hills beyond. The hill was dotted with temples and Buddha statues at various elevations. Unfortunately it was cloudy and there was no sunset to be enjoyed, but that didn't detract much from the experience.
Alighting from the other side of the hill I strolled along the row of restaurants overlooking the Nam Khan river and then settled down to have dinner at Tamarind, highly recommended by Two and going by the reviews posted at its door, probably the best one in LP. For my drink I ordered the recommended special, a mix of the Lao Lao rice whiskey, lime, honey and some local flower extract. To go with it, I asked for the vegetarian sampling platter, which consisting of four dips: a spicy tomato salsa, an eggplant sauce, a coriander sauce and a serving of one local vegetable. It came with sticky rice and khai pene, a crispy, thin wafer made of a local vegetable. The recommended way to eat was to make a ball of rice by mashing the sticky rice in the right palm, and eating it after dipping it in one of the sauces and topping it up with a bite of khai pene. If this was the best food in town, I wasn't too impressed with the local cuisine. The drink was good though.
It was only about 7 pm when I finished dinner: I then headed to Utopia, supposedly the hippest place to hang out in town, advertising itself as "zen by day, groovy by night". It was adjacent to the Nam Khan riverbank, with soft lighting and sitting arrangements varying from bar stools to relaxing beds, the latter inviting me to buy a beer, stretch myself and gaze at the starry night sky. There wasn't much of a crowd when I left at 8 pm, so I felt a bit letdown.
Nevertheless the next morning my first stop again was Utopia, the beer giving was to a Yoga class. There were about 15-20 of us, squeezed onto the small riverside wooden deck. It was an intense 60 minute session, with our Suryanamaskara being a literal one as the river and trees basked in the sun's morning glory.
Back at the guesthouse I had a sumptuous breakfast consisting of a banana pancake and a mango milkshake. Late morning, I joined a group tour to the highly recommended Kuang Si falls. Now most falls around the world, except the top notch ones like Iguazu and Niagara, tend to be overrated. Either the supposedly gushing waterfall is a trickle, or there are so many people you can barely see the water. This one was a beauty though: not breathtaking, but very pretty. Cascade after cascade of milky white water with a tinge of blue, set in the woods, and finally a big fall spraying water far and wide . The best part was that a lot of the cascades were swimmable, and I am not one who needs a push to jump into the water. After spending a few minutes under a cascade to get a nice free back massage, I hiked to the top of the falls. There were very few people on the trail and the source pool was quite secluded.
In the evening I took a stroll by the road along the Mekong, with waterfront restaurants by the riverside and inviting guesthouses on the other side. I got a one hour traditional Laos massage at one of the many spas along a certain stretch of the river. Maybe I got unlucky with the spa or the therapist, but just like Lao food, Lao massage seemed a let-down compared to the offerings in neighbouring Thailand.
For dinner, I felt like having Indian food and was walking towards the only one in town when I came across a narrow lane full of food stalls. For the first time in my life at a non-Indian joint it made sense that I go for a buffet: the system here was that you filled your bowl with your choice of veg. dishes and buy meat separately. This was easily the most sumptuous veggie spread I had ever seen in Asia, with ten types of noodles, five kinds of rice, and a medley of veggies, all for a mere two dollars. Tables were shared and a diverse mix of American, Argentine, Swede, Finn, French and Indian formed at the one I took.
An engaging conversation ensued and we decided to carry it forward at good ol' Utopia. The Swedish girl told me that she had volunteered at an orphanage in Odisha for four months and mentioned how she and a group of Dalit students would be shunned by others at public places such as the railways. I have lived in India for a majority of my 35 year life and have never seen untouchability at work first hand: how little have I experienced my own country! There were some serious abuses going on at the orphanage including child abuse and when she complained about it to the Swedish NGO that had co-ordinated this program, they told her not to bother about it as "such incidents were part of Indian culture".
The American guy was a Ron Paul supporter and one of those who doesn't believe the Government version of the 9/11 event. He grew up in the corn belt of Iowa, got fed up of the narrow vision of people around him and decided to travel the world. The Argentine girl was on the road, alone, for 14 months, with no plans to return home anytime soon. Her favorite band was a Swedish group that the Swedish girl had never heard of. The Swedish girl had a favorite Finn filmmaker the Finn couple hadn't a clue of. The more one travels, the more one is less defined by his or her nationality. In two independent discussions at the table, the same idea that travel could contribute to global peace came up.
On a lighter note, I also got to know quite a bit about the Swedish-Finnish love-hate relationship based on the latter being ruled by the former a few centuries back. The Finn couple mentioned that Finnish people hated to lose to the Swedish in Ice hockey and made jokes about Swedish men being gay. It was quite an enlightening evening, my major contribution being giving an explanation as to why Indians loved Switzerland .
Utopia shut down at 11:30, and the place to go for those who weren't satiated for the day was a bowling alley a ten minute drive away from the town center. The Finn couple and the Argentine girl went home and we were joined by a Canadian geologist, (of all people I met, he was the only one who had a job when he got home) two American girls and a Pakistan born but UK based girl. It wasn't a random hookup, the American guy had met the American girls before and called them Georgia and Colorado: he claimed it was easier to remember people by the countries / states they were from. I tried the same strategy and it worked quite well.
As expected, no one was taking the bowling game too seriously. Canada was bowling with both hands, Colarado was aiming for the gutters, and Iowa was busy trying to impress Georgia. The Indian and the Pakistani, their competitive gene always on alert, won by a margin. At 1 am, it was time to head back to the guesthouse.
The next morning I headed to Big Brother Mouse, a place where tourists could volunteer in speaking with the locals in English in order to help the latter hone their skills. I interacted with a 22 year old who called himself "Nut" and when I asked him what his full name was, he insisted it was just "Nut". He was quite a fluent speaker and understood his name's multiple meanings. He had became a monk after his father's death when he was ten but had moved out of his monastery to pursue his dream of traveling the world and working in marketing. The numbers of tourists and locals swelled as the day progressed and the Pakistani girl showed up as well. I could see a bit how friendships would form on the road: if you traveled long enough you would end up bumping into the same people multiple times. I also ran into the Finn couple again later on in the day during lunch time.
One funny question Nut asked a pretty British girl was if she had plastic surgery done to her nose. He explained that it was becoming a fad for Laos people to get nose jobs and his sister had got one done, leading to some unfortunate complications. A consistent theme among the locals was exploration. A lot of them had never left their village during childhood. Now having discovered Luang Prabang and spoken to people the world over, their thirst for knowledge an travel was palpable. Besides speaking to tourists and the books they read, YouTube seemed to be their biggest ally in their efforts to conquer the English language.
I finally got to fulfill my craving for some Indian food, albeit at a multicuisine restaurant. I couldn't explain how different the Dal Makhani was from how it's supposed to be but it was delicious nevertheless. That good meal ended my trip as I then picked up my luggage and headed to the airport.
If you want a break from the frenetic pace of life and you want to do it away from the beach, and you are based in Asia, look no further.
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