We are now in Chiang Mai, Thailand and have been for a few days. Let me fill you in on our time in Luang Prabang, Laos...
Luang Prabang is a very charming French colonial town nestled between mountains and two rivers. It sits on a peninsula where the Mekong and Khan rivers meet; this makes for very accessible river dining - so that's what we did. A lot. We spent many an afternoon at one of the riverside restaurants drinking french press coffee and playing rummy. I have really enjoyed the scenery and atmosphere of this small town. The streets are lined with cozy buildings and cottages that barely rise off the street as there is a height limit to buildings. The dark wood shutters peek out over the sinking brick sidewalks and intricate red and gold wats break up the almost-European feel of the streets.
To break up the slow pace of our visit to Luang Prabang, we signed up for a day of elephant riding and a trip out to the famous waterfalls (I can't remember the name of the waterfalls). The elephant ride was very exciting and we shared the experience with a friendly German couple - the boyfriend had quite an affinity for Elvis. Joey and I shared an elephant and took turns riding on its neck. The waterfalls were beautiful, but we had the misfortune of going on a very rainy afternoon. We got there in time to take a quick dip in one of the chilly swimming holes right before the downpour began. We hiked up the very muddy, very steep, and very slippery hillside to the top of the main waterfall. It was so wet that we weren't able to get any pictures of the big waterfall, but I can tell you it was very lovely.
We flew in to Chiang Mai two days ago and were a little overwhelmed with city-life after staying in two small towns. It has been our experience so far that we don't like a place the first day. We have to get used to the people, culture and pace of life in each city before we come to appreciate it. We now love Chiang Mai. It is a city, but it is small and the locals are very proud of their city. None of them have anything good to say about Bangkok, but all the people that stop us on the street wanting to chat have advice to give on what we cannot miss in Chiang Mai. On our walk to one of the main wats in town, we were stopped by two different men asking about our travels and what we have seen so far. We asked them about good places to have a suit made and both recommended the same place. The second man encouraged us to go right away before it got busy in the evening as school started the next day and this shop makes all the uniforms for the students. He even hailed us a taxi and negotiated the price from 50 baht to 30 baht. As we arrived at the shop we were greeted outside and taken in to look at patterns and fabrics. We spent quite awhile deciding on all the small details of our future suits and what kinds of fabrics and patterns we wanted. Part of their service is to provide us free transportation to and from our guesthouse for all of our fittings and even provided us with a free taxi this morning to take us anywhere we wanted to go in Chiang Mai. We decided to go out to the outskirts of town to the silk, lacquerware and jewelry factories. At each place we were greeted outside and then taken on a personal tour of how each handycraft is made (we even saw live silk worms producing silk thread) and then were taken into the showrooms to spend all of our money. Prices were higher here than at the markets, but we've been warned about fake silver and silk being passed off as authentic. It wasn't Joey's highlight of the trip, but he was very patient with me. I enjoy seeing how the local craftswomen (I saw very few men) produce the goods that their country is famous for.
Tonight, we return to the suit shop for our first fitting and then we head off to the famous Sunday market for cheap t-shirts and knock-off jewelry. I'm spending a bit more than I had planned, but hey, when in Chiang Mai, right?
Thanks for all the comments, we miss you all and enjoy hearing from you!
~ Meg
