In Luang Prabang March 3rd-6th 2010

The entire flight from Siem Reap to Luang Prabang was one which offered no view of the green and verdant jungle which is supposed to lay below us. My last flight into Laos three years ago was one which was stunning because of the greenery. This day and all of the succeeding ones are destined to be remembered by the color gray, the result of burning in the forests. They use fire both clearing for farming, swidden farming, and clearing the forest floor. It isn't like we aren't used to that, having lived in the Okanogan for 30+ years and having had too many forest fires blow smoke in our direction, but I was expecting to show Peggy just how beautiful SE Asia is. Strike one; evidently March is the traditional month for this burning to go on. Put that in your book of travel "Do not......."

Our Guest House was a beautiful bungalow style stay with each of us having our own little house overlooking the Kong River which flows into the Mekong about a mile away. I had looked at the location on the map, but had placed it in my mind near the old bridge rather than the new bridge. Big mistake, it was a significant ways from the older part of LP. Phillipe, a Swiss, and his Lao wife ran the place and are both helpful and accommodating and the grounds were a tropical garden with even a pond and fish. I know a large part of it was my expectations and wanting all of the others to see the beauty here and to really enjoy the place, but I was pretty let down between the smoke, the horrible visibility and being a little isolated from town.

That night we had dinner overlooking the Mekong; too bad we could barely see over to the other side. Then it was on to enjoy the night market in the main street, where the local Lao and other indigenous groups come into town to sell their goods. So much of it is the same from stall to stall, silk scarves and runners, small blank books of homemade papers, cotton wall hangings, pillow covers, shirts, T-shirts, wood carvings, deer tusks (barking deer have large curled eye-teeth), etc. A female tourist's dream, though it doesn't get me too excited and I know Dan and Jerry felt the same way. Oh well, gotta keep the ladies happy.

The next day we all went our own ways. Peggy and I walked in to town and went up over Mt. Phousi, which overlooks the old town and has a Buddhist temple up there. Along the way Peggy spotted a sun visor on a post which she said was just like Margy's and so she picked it up. Later on we ran across J&M and sure enough, it was Margy's! We had a big laugh over that.

We went down to a shop called Ock Pop Tok, where they sell silk products made by the local women. We found out we could go out to where they do the spinning, dyeing and weaving, so the four of us jumped in the tuk-tuk and headed out to the edge of town. It was a beautiful spot overlooking the Mekong. We started talking to Emmy, who was at an adjoining table, and who turned out to be a sort of business manager here. An Aussie, she found the job on the internet and came with her boyfriend who is trying to set up an adventure travel enterprise here. She took us on a tour of the process of silk weaving, from the silkworms to the finished product. Fascinating. We had a great lunch and then headed back into LP.

We split up again and after wandering around town, we headed back to our GH. On the way we stopped at Northern Travel, which is owned and operated by my friend, Toon, with whom I'd spent time with the last time I was here. We had spoken when we had first arrived and planned to get together for a dinner. He wasn't there and we told he was home sick, however the secretary called and we talked and he said the dinner was still on and that we would meet that evening at 7:00pm.

I was excited for Peggy and the others to meet Toon; he had really been a help and a comfort to me three years ago. We arrived and shared hugs and backslaps and he introduced his wife, Noi, the same person who had called him at home when we had stopped by his office. Noi speaks quite good English, a little better than Toon in fact. Toon led us down to another one of the numerous restaurants that line the street above the Mekong. The eight of us enjoyed the evening and conversation together, and we drank a toast to Toon and Noi, their two year old, Thaksin, and baby number two which is due in five more months. After dinner we dropped the Cenis' and Fey's at the night market and we went back to the office with Toon and Noi who then drove us back to the market. The best part of traveling is really about the people you meet and stay connected with.

The following day we took a van out to some waterfalls south of LP. We drove through the mountainous countryside, viewing where a fraction of the burning was going on, winding our way up and down and trying to avoid the on-coming traffic, which is speeding, crossing the center lines and passing on the curves... ugh. We got to the park, and what a lovely change; it was green, with lush jungle all around us. All of this greenery was close enough to where we didn't notice the smoke. At the waterfalls, probably 80 feet in height, it was beautiful and we decided to hike to the top over a rough trail. It was steep and breath-taking (in that "I'm getting older" kind of way). The top overlooked the steep escarpment, but I think what I will always remember will be the sheer cacophony of millions of cicadas "singing" to us; it was just overwhelmingly wonderful.

The next day we packed up our gear and then went out for our last hours in LP. We toured the Royal Palace and went into a couple of Wats and had something to eat. Then it was out to the airport, up through the smoke of Laos and on to Hanoi. I think we will have to come back at a different time of year if I ever want to show Peggy how beautiful it really is here.