Luang Prabang & the Night Market

Feb 21 – Jake – Luang Prabang, Laos

Well, I am not sure what happened, but my appetite completely disappeared in Vang Vieng. I took a day of rest after feeling nauseous and eventually throwing up one morning and did feel a little better, but my recovery has been very slow. I skipped countless meals over three days and only nibbled on small pieces of French bread to force something into my stomach. If you know me at all, then you realize that this is highly unusual as I am often the one finishing Kendall’s food for her. It is truly a strange sensation because you feel like you will never be hungry again.

The 7-hour bus ride to Luang Prabang was a mixture of miserable and fantastic. I guess it was more ridiculous than anything. Our bus looked like a normal tourist bus (for Asia) with broken seats and no A/C, but what made this one unusual is that after the tourists filled all the seats, they started pouring locals into the aisle with their babies and large bags of clothes and food. We would move about a mile and the guy pictured below would spot someone and the seemingly full bus would pick them up. You can see in the picture the woman in the right corner is sitting in the aisle, nice and cozy. We did this repeatedly, packing everyone tighter and tighter. So it was slow going with little airflow, but the views were amazing. I nibbled my French bread and sipped my water while listening to an audio book and soaking up all the green hills.

In Luang Prabang, you quickly feel that the city has gotten many things right that Vang Vieng is getting wrong. The older portion is a protected Unesco World Heritage site with peaceful streets lined with unobtrusive shops and hotels full of beautiful plants. They are trying to keep the area authentic. We took a local tour upon arrival and it is definitely a great city for a stroll. My favorite spot during the walk was the local food market. We are getting pretty versed in the local markets of Southeast Asia, but this one was special due to the quantity of little critters they sell for you to cook up and eat. Lots of rodents, tadpoles, fish heads, frogs, chicken legs, etc. If you are feeling sorry for the animals, you can also buy some baby fish and let them go in the river, a tradition to help people boost their Buddhist merit.

After our guided walk through the market and along the river, I realized something fantastic; my appetite had returned. Luang Prabang has the perfect place to start eating again, Joma Bakery. They have fabulous pastries and bagels, but my craving was very specific. I wanted one of their fresh sandwiches. I had not had a good sandwich since the United States. The kiwis and aussies just don’t understand a legit sandwich with their strange meat mixtures and subpar vegetable additions, and I really don’t need to go into the problem in Southeast Asia. Kendall’s brother made the mistake of ordering a club sandwich in Bali. But alas, in this historic town there is this wonderful bakery serving gourmet sandwiches. I was so excited that I took a few bites before capturing a photo. It was marvelous.

In the center of Luang Prabang, there is a small day market where you can buy souvenirs. There is nothing really amazing except the inexpensive mixed fruit shakes. You select your favorite cup full of one of the many delicious fruit combinations and they blend it up for you. Also, you don’t have to worry because the ice is from purified water. We had at least one of these per day.

The Mekong River was extremely low during our stay due to damming way up river in China. The Chinese kept giving dates when they would release more water, but these have turned out to be false promises. Navigating the ultra-shallow river on the long slow-boats is quite challenging and we heard several stories of crashes and trip cancelations. Next up on our itinerary is two days of boating up to the Thailand border, so it is not great to hear about these troubles. We are hopeful that the water will come so that we can complete our boat ride.

On a random side note, Luang Prabang has a small public library that I had to check out. Although not very thorough, it is a good start. One of the things that made me smile was a small, framed Milton Friedman quote in the American room. I guess they get some funding from Americans for the library. In Communist Laos it reads, “No country that has relied primarily on detailed central planning has been able to achieve a high level of prosperity for the masses of its people. On the other hand, every country that has achieved a high level of prosperity for the masses of its people has relied primarily on free private markets to coordinate economic activities.” How about that?

Luang Prabang has a number of sites of historical interest like Wat Xiang Thong and the 328 steps up Mount Phu Si, but we kept it simple and just visited the Royal Palace Museum. As you can probably piece together, it was the old Royal Palace and you do a walk-through tour of all the ground-floor rooms. It was mildly interesting but would have been better with a guide. The main thing I remember was a strange display at the end showing all the gifts foreign leaders had presented to the last king. In the display there was a gift from President Nixon related to the NASA lunar missions and explaining that the United States put the flag of Laos on the moon as an expression of global unity. It also included some dust from the moon. Now that is a pretty unique gift.

We also went to the small Culture Museum where they discuss the various ethnolinguistic groups of Laos. Basically, there are four major groups: Austroasiatic, Hmong-Yao, Tai-Kadai, Sing-Tibetan. The museum features clothing and handmade items from many of the different villages across Laos. It was really an impressive and detailed display. Some of the craftwork is truly remarkable and it was fun to learn more about the different outfits that you see people wear while selling in the markets in Luang Prabang.

The best place to see the most intricate outfits of women who travel from afar is the night market. The streets at the heart of Luang Prabang come alive with softly lit booths selling everything from detailed artwork and lamps to colorful fabrics and tee shirts. Plus, there is a food section where you can get a very tasty dinner for cheap. The market goes on seemingly forever with a large variety of tempting things to buy. However, on our tight budget we happened upon a new form of shopping: photo shopping. Instead of buying different souvenirs, you take pictures of them. With the vibrant colors and plethora of goodies, I cannot help but post at least a few of the photos.

Kendall really loves artistic lamps and they had so many different styles.

The sellers really offer the full gamut of products and here you see keepsake slippers from the Land of a Million Elephants.

These umbrellas glowed beautifully.

There was a vast array of clothing and fabrics to suit any need.

The last of the many amazing features of Luang Prabang was the precession of the monks in the morning. The locals have a great respect for the monks and to show their gratitude for lives dedicated to such a peaceful endeavor, they present offerings of food (mostly rice) and flowers each morning. It is quite a special thing to witness. Unfortunately, it has been affected by the increased tourism to Laos in the last decade and become a bit of a spectacle. Tourists looking to give offerings started to buy from some of the locals at high prices and have now caused many people to stop giving and start selling to tourists. It cheapens the beauty of the whole thing and is not really sustainable. Also, we saw a lot of tourists who don’t really understand the concepts of respect and subtleness. Of course we all want to take photos of something so foreign to us and special. However, sticking a camera in a monks face while he is receiving his daily offerings is completely obnoxious and demeaning. Anyway, what to do?

Luang Prabang had such a warm feeling about it, and I hold it in a special place in my heart. I definitely recommend a visit if you have the chance.

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