My jaw was dropping from the moment I stepped off the plane. Flying in, all I could see were green mountains, rivers, and the occasional dirt road and small village. It felt like flying into the middle of nowhere, a small town surrounded by mountains and rivers. The town is on a peninsula formed by the confluence of the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers, and there are rolling green hills and mountains in all directions. It was nearly sunset as I drove into town and I was overwhelmed by the beauty in all directions -- big, puffy pink and magenta clouds, glimpses of a golden temple perched on a hill, swiftly running rivers all around, children bathing at the river banks, and graceful colonial buildings.
I arrived at my guesthouse and immediately went out to see what I could in the dying light, wandering down the street that runs parallel to the Mekong (and eventually finding a new guesthouse – a birthday/Christmas splurge for me at $25/night, with a comfortable bed and a balcony facing the river). For dinner, I ate delicious steamed fish from the river at a restaurant on the banks of the Mekong.
I was the last customer, and alone, so a pair of eighteen year old waiters sat down to chat with me to practice their English as their co-workers folded up all the tables and chairs around us. They go to English class every morning for 4 hours and then work two 6 hour shifts – everyday. They were very sweet, and even invited me to the disco with them, telling me I was very beautiful. They seemed shocked (as most Lao and Thai people have been) that I was traveling alone, no boyfriend, no husband, no friend. I declined their invitation to the disco, saying I was too old (and too tired) and they kindly told me I was not at all. They told me they did not have girlfriends and when I asked why one said “I am too ugly!”, which of course was far from the truth.
The town is so lovely. Words and photos can not properly describe the feel of it. It is a place that has only been gently touched by the outside world, which makes it feel timeless, although it has certainly been touched by outside influences over many centuries. It reminds me of Granada in Nicaragua when I first visited it in early 2000, before it became a tourist destination. Luang Prabang is definitely a tourist destination, but even at the high season of the Christmas holidays, it feels peaceful and elegant, graceful and beautiful. It draws both upscale visitors and backpackers, and surprisingly it seems, many Americans. The town is a UNESCO World Heritage site for its history and French colonial architecture, which explains how and why it has been preserved.
It’s also Laos, or more properly, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. In town some shops hang USSR flags next to the flag of Laos, though I wonder if this is done for the touristic effect. I believe that “Laos” is properly pronounced as “LOUSE,” but I read that President Kennedy decided to pronounce it as “LAY-os” because he didn’t think Americans would support a war involving a country called “Louse.” Or maybe it was his Boston accent. Laos has the sad distinction of being the most bombed country in the entire world. Between 1964 and February 1973, US planes dropped 2,093,100 tons of bombs on Laos, which works out to be one planeload of bombs every 8 minutes around the clock for 9 years.
Can you imagine? All of those bombs were to fight the Viet Minh, cut off their supply lines, and to prevent the Pathet Lao from taking power in Laos and swinging the country to communism, like a domino in the giant and deadly geopolitical gameboard of the Cold War. All those bombs, destruction and loss of life and in the end it was a total failure: Laos is still one of the few communist countries left around. It’s also one of the poorest countries, and the countryside is riddled with unexploded ordinances from the bombings. There’s so much more to say on this topic – like the CIA’s illegal army of Hmong fighters, which numbered close to 20,000 men in the 1960s and had a reported 25% casualty rate. They’ve since been abandoned by the US government (not unlike the poor farmers in Northern Nicaragua who were Contra fighters in the 1980s), and this was the topic of a recent article in the International Herald Tribune (click here to read it).
For now, I’ll just share some signs that Laos is different which I’ve encountered since I arrived:
From the list of rules and regulations on the back of the door to my guesthouse room:
5. Do not allow any drugs, crambling [gambling], or bring both woman or man who is not your own husband or wife into the room for making love.
6. Do not allow domestic or international tourist bringing prostitute and others into your accommodation make sex movies in our room, it is restriction.
From a menu:
Lao style intestines salad with lemongrass and carrot
Fried dried sweet buffalo
Luang Prabang hot dog salad
French hot dog salad
I haven’t been brave enough to try any of these dishes yet. Maybe for Christmas dinner?
