The first thing I learnt about Laos is that the currency is the Kip. Obviously people are pretty ashamed of that or they would not quote you exclusively in dollars. Initially I thought the equivalence was 1000 Kip to the dollar but eventually even I lost all respect when I realised that the value is actually ten times lower. It did make buying drinks a lot less painful. I am also sure it makes buying hash and opium a lot easier or people would not be offering it to me at every corner.
After a two day boat journey on the Mekong drugs could have been an option. Instead, with my new found travelling companion and fellow meditation loony, Nicaragua’s and Miami Beach’s friendliest 5- star hotel concierge and yoga obsessed head-stand expert, we ended up going around Luang Prapang on bikes. The two days I was going to spend here are morphing into four. It’s a gem. Laid back, a miniature and an imperial and religious capital rolled into one. Pure Indochina - the movie version.
On the way here, we stopped in a little town along the river for the night. It was something out of Gauguin. I saw women in Batik pareos bathing at the village well bursting into laughter when they saw me. I felt like a conquistador visiting the natives, even if this is the wrong continent.
As I write the more sophisticated natives have set up a screen in the street and it looks like cinema night. It’s the last James Bond and I just missed the swimsuit scene. Life could have been perfect. Of course, when I walked past it I realised it was actually a wake. It was right next to the funeral parlour and was very busy. People had to stay there all night and I guess they needed something to keep them awake. Oops!
It’s a beautiful town and I could stay here weeks. Temple after temple amid little colonial style villas, surrounded by green hills on on side and the Mekong river on the other. Very young monks walking all around town, I suspect it’s the boys’ school uniform. More than in Thailand, all boys have a period where they learn and practise it seems. Quite a progression for a country that banned anything Buddhist related until recently. So far it seems that there is prosperity, a certain type of boom and a certain type of confidence. It is very easy to spend time here. Also, it seems that I have never been busier. The days are not enough to fit everything in, so I am now off for a swim in the waterfalls. Happy Saturday! J
