Luang Probang, Laos

After going back to Bangkok to see Lisa off I immediately headed to Luang Probang in the north of Laos. My first impression was, and still is, that Laos is the quietest country I've ever visited in my life. . . . everything moves slowly. Traffic, horns, etc, are nonexistant. I really like it here. Laos is worlds away from Thailand. . . . I've been told that in terms of development, Laos is where Thailand was 40 years ago. Its not hard to believe. I arrived on a Sunday to find that all the banks were closed and the only ATM machines in the country were an eight hour bus ride away in the capitol. Fortunately, people here don't mind accepting Thai currency.
Luang Probang is a small town wedged between two rivers, one of which is the Mekong the other I can't remember, and surrounded by very green mountains. Everything is old. . . . lots of well preserved French colonial buildings. The town kind of reminded me of Harpers Ferry WVA in an Asian way. . . touristy, but tasteful not overdone. My time was spent exploring some old temples (of course,) traveling up the river to yet another Hmong village and yet another cave, and hiking to an awesome waterfall, the best yet.

Across the river:

Several very old monasterys:

Drying chili peppers in the sun:

The view from the top of one of the many hills around town with, of course, yet another monastery on top: (For every Jesus in the states their are at least one hundred Buddahs in South East Asia. . . . really, probably more! back in Cambodia, Lisa and I visited a monasterey with hundreds of Buddah statues, big ones, small ones, fat ones, thin ones, gold ones, jade ones, standing Buddahs, sitting Buddahs, Sleeping Buddahs, Reclining Buddahs, etc. . . . and of course they were seeking donations foryet another Buddah statue. . . . they didn't have flush toiletts, but who cares when you have five thousand Buddah statues. This seems to be the case everywhere I go.)

Laos has the distinction of being the most bombed place on earth, courtesy of a "secret war" waged by the United States in the late sixties and early seventies. . . . many villages and small towns were wiped off the map. Continuos and indiscriminate saturation bombing forced allmost the entire population of Luang Probang provence to live in caves. Unexploded ordinance is still a huge problem in the area. The past ten years have seen an average of 45 casualties per year, half of which are children. (In all fairness, the North Vietnamese were no kinder, doing quite a bit of damage as well.) Luang Probang has made a remarkable come back since the war. The remnants of bombs dropped by the states are now used for all sorts of other things:

Hmong Village:
Snake Wine for sale. . . . it is said to cure impotence. I was offered a taste but declined.



Going up the Mekong:
Pack Ou Cave. . . . Crammed with, of course, thousands of Buddahs, some very old, others new. I inquired as to why they were all left here to retire, but no one could tell me:


Tat Kuang Si. . . . just outside of town, this place was awesome. I got here right after a very hard fifteen minute monsoon rain followed by instant sunlight. . . . a great place for a swim
Hiking to the falls, little ones all along the way:

The big one:





My daily breakfast: spicy noodle soup and iced coffee