Luang Prabang, Laos – Hanoi, Vietnam: Last day in Laos and will miss this beautiful country. I got up very early (for me) at 6:00 am to see the morning offerings made to the monks. Well, damn if those monks didn’t get up earlier (5:30am) so I missed them. Basically they pass down the street and everyone that wants a prayer or just to support the monks, gives them food for the day. There are literally hundreds of monks. Oh well.
I didn’t have to return the motorcycle until 10:00am so I took a ride around Luang Prabang and rode across the “motorcycle / bicycle” only bridge. A bit tricky but I made it safe and sound. When the bikes were coming over ahead of motorcycles, they caused mini traffic jams since they couldn’t cross as quickly. After touring, I regretfully turned in the bike.
One thing I didn’t mention, Luang Prabang has a huge French influence and it is obviously the French left their recipe for bread, baguettes, croissants and a variety of pastries. I fell in love with the bread…it was definitely the BEST bread I have ever had in my life!
After breakfast, I went to the Wat (temple) to talk to the monks. There is a strong emphasis on education and most monks learn English and love practicing it. Unfortunately most of the monks were resting (I guess since they got up before me at 4:30am). I did get a chance to talk with Noy (see photo), an eleven year old novice that had been studying there for 2 years. Eventually 2 more monks joined us and we had a good chat for about 2 hours.
Then the sad part…packing the bags and heading to the airport. There are only 5 flights in/out of the airport all day and I got there just before “rush hour”. Checking in and getting through customs /security only took 3 minutes. The flight to Hanoi was uneventful and only took one hour. The taxi ride downtown cost me 380,000 VND! (pulling out the calculator…punching in the numbers…oh...only $18 for a one hour taxi ride). I don’t think I will ever get used to the currency here. I took $100 out of the ATM and it was 21,000,000 VND. Nice being a millionaire here!
Well…Mr. Sandman is calling me (damn monks getting up at the crack of dawn!). I am looking forward to exploring this new city tomorrow.
