My first stop in Laos was Luang Prabang and my first evening was spent in a guesthouse along the Nam Khan river. Despite there being evidence of rats in my room I decided it just must not have been used in a while and decided to go for dinner. I found a small place along the water and had an unbelievably good hot pot of vegetable soup where you cook everything yourself over a barbecue (ie: hole filled with hot coals) built into the center of the table. Afterwards I went for a walk around the town and honestly, I wasn't sure how to feel about Luang Prabang. It's a beautiful, quaint town
nestled inbetween the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers,
featuring several gorgeous temples,
an unbelievable night market,
and filled with great shops, cafes, and bars, but it felt so westernized and not like I imaged authentic Laos to be. Even the ancient procession of the monks at sunrise is being threatened by the overabundance of western influence and tourism. But more about that later.
After bumping into Brinn who invited me to join her trip to the Kuang Si waterfall the next day, I proceeded to get lost for about three hours. And then I found Utopia. Before you get excited, it's the name of a bar in Luang Prabang. There I found pretentious poser hippies being pretentious and poser-y together in the best possible way: laying on pillow covered floors surrounded by trees, playing guitar, talking about meditation, referring to Buddha as "Siddartha", and staring at you in that magical way that is somehow simultaneously blank and yet filled with just enough judgement and condescension to create within you a single minded desire to be accepted by them and made privy to their bullshit secrets so that some day you can, in turn, stare at other spiritual newbs that way. It's the kind of place where words like "transcendental" are frequently heard. Where music opinions are moot unless you can incorporate the phrase "their early stuff" into your explanation. I couldn't help but love it. It made me feel like reverting to my state of being in college where all I wanted to do was dread my hair and move to a co-op where I could exist on nothing but brown rice flavored with communal energy and make a living selling organic bracelets and aura cleansing hugs. A sense of extreme longing bordering on teary panic filled me when I looked at the bulletin board advertising local jobs for travelers, and I felt suddenly as if I wasn't nearly as free on this trip as I really wanted. Oh, to move to Laos for a few months and hang out in a self-indulgent bubble of pseudo-enlightened Western ridiculousness! Once I left I realized I've just been struggling with this whole "traveling without a purpose" thing and acknowledged my need to feel as if I'm doing something useful with my time, so hopefully I will find a volunteer opportunity I can participate in soon (instead of those I've been finding that require time and money I don't have).
I returned to my room to find more evidence that I wasn't alone and the next morning awoke to discover at least one of my new rat friends had been in bed with me. It was time to move. It turned out there was a religious festival happening that day (the moving of a specific Buddha statue to a special place in the city) and after watching the street processional
I checked out of the guesthouse and moved way over to the other side of town to a youth hostel that was much cleaner and included breakfast. Score another one for hostels!
I then met up with Brinn and Vong (her guide) and went to the Kuang Si waterfalls. It was stunning.
The minerals in the limestone turn the water an unreal pale turquoise and despite the weather being relatively cool, Brinn and I joined the masses and went for a swim/jump/swing.
Then Vong led us on a quick trek up to the top of the main fall
for fantastic views.
The waterfall area is also home to a bear conservatory so we got to go check out these guys!
On the way back we stopped at a local village where many of the handcrafts sold at the Luang Prabang night market are made.
Back in town Brinn and I decided to find somewhere to do yoga and payed a visit to a local studio. Unfortunately, the owner/instructor wasn't feeling well so class was cancelled. Fortunately, his better half was there and she let us use the space for a self practice free of charge! I choose gratitude as my intention for the session. Then Brinn and I went out for dinner (where I found Italian wine for cheap - hooray!) and headed back to the hostel for bed.
The following day I met up with Brinn and Vong again, this time to visit the Pak Ou, or Buddha, Caves. We took a beautiful slow boat (just like this one!)
down the Mekong to the cave, and along the way, it started to rain. And it kept raining. Welcome back to my trip. The main cave is filled with over 4,000 Buddha statues, brought there over the centuries by worshippers as praise and as offerings for luck, health, good fortune, etc.
I left one of the beads from my Vietnamese prayer necklace there, more to honor and contribute than anything else.
Vong then led us up to a second cave which holds fewer Buddhas but features cave paintings (picture is sideways)
and carvings instead.
Both caves were wonderful to have seen.
Back on the slow boat (in the rain) we visited the Ban Xang Hai whiskey making village for some samples which warmed us up a bit and then headed back to the main town. Everyone was talking about the rain and how unusual it was to get any rain this time of year, much less a full day of it. Lucky me. But most people were saying it was an auspicious sign from the Buddha moving ceremony the previous day. Brinn and I made our way back to the yoga studio where we got to take a private Ashtanga class from the owner. It was amazing and ended up being the last ever class he was teaching in Luang Prabang! The studio is now closed. For dinner Brinn and I shared some cook-at-the-table-yourself barbecue
and she revealed her cat whispering skills.
We then had some outstanding desserts at a French restaurant where the pastries were half price after 9pm (I, for one, think this is a policy that should be adopted globally).
The next day was a planning day for me and Brinn. We decided to team up and go north to the Nam Ha National Protected Area for jungle trekking together, and selected a three day, two night adventure that featured one night spent in the jungle and one in a local village (like a bathing in the river village) with full days of hiking inbetween. After booking bus tickets I grabbed some classic mystery-meat-on-a-stick street food for dinner and we went to a super cool bookstore/tea house for their nightly movie screening. The following morning we got up early to catch our bus to Luang Nam Tha, a small town located just outside the protected area and only about 50 kilometers from the Chinese border!
