Our first view of Luang Prabang
We always look forward to the name that will appear on our driver’s “sign” when we arrive in a new city. This was David’s first shout out, but I think my favorite was “Mr. Gretchen” in Casablanca.
The first thing we noticed when we stepped off the airplane onto the quiet tarmac in Luang Prabang was the air. We looked around at the lush green hillsides heaped with jungle foliage surrounding the airport and felt the refreshing chill in the air and it was hard not to smile. It had been a while since the air had felt this clean to us. We made our way through customs, and I was briefly excited by the fact that for the first time we would get to use the extra passport photos I had been toting for 6 months – the thrill was gone by the time we shelled out $216 for the nifty visa stamp in our passport.
That’s right – A MILLION big ones.
Before heading into town, we decided to pull out some kip at the ATM. 8000 Laotian Kip is approximately $1 US. The Vangsavath hotel was a little outside of town, and we tried to take in our surroundings on the drive. Wide roads, some gravel and some neatly paved, wide ditches on either side with “bridges” built across to various businesses, markets, hotels, and homes. People of all ages on bikes, mopeds, motorbikes, and tuk tuks (of a new verity). There was quite a bit of dirt everywhere, chickens, scrappy wire-haired dogs with pointy ears, and skinny cats with bent tails (they are all like this!). A lot of trash lining the roads and rivers. Baskets, clothing, bright scarves, and roadside barbecues beckoned. At the Vangsavath, we got the very enthusiastic and giggly presentation from our 21 year old hotel proprietor, Paul. Imagine Franc, the wedding planner, in Father of the Bride (1991). We immediately called to get into a cooking class and the only opening was Thursday – Maggie’s birthday and the day we were supposed to transfer to our hotel up in the hills outside of town. I booked the class at the Tamarind Cooking School anyhow – we would make it work somehow. After getting settled in our 3 rooms facing the garden, with sat on the little porches outside for a while and bantered about with the internet that was fast when it worked, but it kept dropping frequently. That night we headed into town to check out the night market. At the night market, there was tent after tent of baggy pants, brightly colored skirts, fantastically patterned and handcrafted purses and bags, hand-stitched duvet and pillow covers, hand-made slippers, fake silver jewelry, woven bracelets, and scarves woven of silk, cotton, wool, acrylic and every combination of the fibers in every color. We did a fly-by, taking it all in, and headed for dinner, eventually landing at Salt and Pepper, which we learned was owned by a Laotian woman named Mimi and her husband. We enjoyed a great meal, some dark LaoBeers and then hustled back to the post-office, where our free shuttle back to the hotel was waiting.
A pretty shot from the night market.
Playing in the gardens at Vangsavath Hotel
