Luang Prabang, Laos – February 13th – 17th, 2017

Departing Vientiane was a hurry-up and wait scenario – an anxious tuk tuk driver picked us up (along with ~16 other travelers) and we crammed in the back of the truck bed, which was lined with benches. We were so packed that two people were transported on the tailgate and the luggage, which was piled high at our feet, was constantly in threat of ejection. Arriving at the bus station, we expected to be hurriedly ushered onto our bus, but no… we were directed towards our sleeper bus by yet a different wound up guy, only to find out that we needed to wait about 2 hours before the bus left. The sleeper buses in Laos consist of about 40 “double” beds stacked on top of one another with a padded isle in the middle which can accommodate more people. If you don’t have a travel buddy for your “double” bed, one (or possibly more) will be assigned to you. Luckily, we had each other so all was good right?! No! Our bunk was situated in the back (where the cool kids sit, how did they know?!) underneath the a/c blower which extended from the ceiling, preventing us from sitting up. Additionally, the beds are sized for Asian-sized people to be uncomfortable, therefore the laying down position was a no-go too. Lastly, the driver was a crazed maniac, throwing the bus around curves, thereby creating nightmarish sleeping conditions. Lastly lastly, his pee stops along the 12 hours journey were timed for him alone, not allowing anybody else time to get off the bus, pee, and get back on without being left. This was especially true because in order for us to get off the bus we had to climb off our bunk and tip-toe over about 12 sleeping people in the isle. My single failed escape from the bus led to me chasing after the bus which was getting ready to pull away while Andy screamed from the inside not to leave (turns out I wasn’t even the last one on the bus). I didn’t even get to get a chance to go the bathroom (which would have been in the middle of a flat field since the driver stopped along the side of the road) and was forced to cram myself in a toilet closet with a hole in the floor while the bus slammed me into the urine covered walls (still better than wetting myself). So… yes the night was hellish, but we did manage a couple hours of pharmaceutical induced sleep and arrived safely in Luang Prabang before the sun came up.

Some pictures of our bus experience and walking around Luang Prabang on our first day. Some merchandise from the night market is shown in the bottom-right: elephant slippers and trinkets made from the metal of uncovered US bombs.

Luang Prabang is an adorable tourist town at the confluence of two rivers which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site due to its well-preserved French colonial architecture and religious/cultural tradition. It surprisingly reminded us of a cutesy mountain tourist town where all of the buildings along the main street are pristinely decorated in the same way. The main difference to a western mountain town was the Asian influence, of which there was minimal, since the main occupants of the city center appeared to be tourists. Since our guesthouse was on the outskirts of the tourist area, we walked into town each day to get our fix of western conveniences (and delish Laos omelets filled with bean sprouts, greens, and herbs). We frequented coffee shops where we got caught up on planning and even found sharp cheddar cheese!!!

Although gorging ourselves round the clock seemed a viable option, we pulled ourselves away from the food just long enough to do a couple of things around Luang Prabang. On Valentine’s Day, we rounded up other tourists (which was not difficult) to share a tuk tuk to Kuang Si Waterfall. Besides the car sickness which resulted from sitting in a truck bed on a windy road, the waterfall and bear rescue (which occupied the same park) was really nice. We spent most of our time watching the bears play with each other and nap in the most hilarious positions. Although it was the dry season, the waterfall was still impressive. It had several stages cascading into small aquamarine colored poles throughout the long descent. Although many people were swimming, the weather was dreary and the water was cold, so we refrained from getting in. Back in Luang Prabang, and fully recovered from wanting to vomit out the back of the tuk tuk truck, we went to a nice restaurant (which served fondue) for our first Valentine’s Day as a married couple (aww)!

A few of our pictures of the adorable and cuddle-tempting bears at the Bear Rescue Center along with some morning sights in town.

The beautiful waters of Kuang Si waterfalls, our Valentine's day dinner (wearing our best clothes), and Andy after performing his favorite travel ritual (bathroom sink laundry)

On our last day, we took a full day cooking class. The class started with a market tour where we bought some of the necessary produce. While at the market, I noticed an enormous stack of eggs. Curious about where so many eggs came from, the following conversation commenced with our chef guide:

          Me: Where do all of the eggs come from?
          Guide: There are three chicken farms on the outskirts of town.
          Me: Are the chickens in individual cages or do they get to run free?
          Guide: They are in cages.

I literally had to stop myself from asking, “Are the chickens happy?” because I realized that my dialog was an exact replica of a scene from the show Portlandia (which makes fun of contemporary hippies). If you haven’t seen the show, check out the skit here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErRHJlE4PGI. I think it’s time for us to admit, that with the recent purchase of a VW camper van, becoming vegetarians, wearing the same grungy clothes everyday (to be fair, this is entirely out of necessity), and now my chicken rights dialog, we have undeniably transitioned into full-blown hippies. Regardless of the origin of the eggs, the cooking class turned out to be a lot of fun. We made fancy vegetable decorations, fried spring rolls, sticky rice, stuffed lemongrass, ginger tofu, veggie curry, and pumpkin dessert soup.

Our cooking class and market tour with Bamboo Tree Cooking School - the hats were awesome!!

After the class, we wandered around the city, visiting several Buddhist temples and monasteries along the way. Typical of Laos, each place we visited had a steep entrance fee so we didn’t actual go into many of the temples, but viewed them from the outside instead. We did pay the fee to climb Phousi hill, where we enjoyed the view of the surrounding area and visited yet another temple. After our quick tour of the city, we stopped in at Big Brother Mouse, a program which helps Laos students learn English. Twice a day, the program hosts free drop-in sessions for students to interact and practice their English with tourists. Over the two-hour session, we met about a dozen outgoing kids who were eager to tell us all about their lives in Laos. The teenager I spoke with was from a small village and was the first of his family to go to college. He has five sisters, one of which was married this summer (she is only 15 years old!). He was aspiring to study computer science and had a lot of questions about how he could do a foreign exchange semester in the US. Andy spoke with a group of girls who were mostly interested in knowing when we were going to have babies. The concept that we are so “old,” don’t have any kids, and don’t have plans to have kids anytime soon, seemed absolutely baffling to them. Not wanting to intrude on his conversation, I let him work out how to try to explain it to them. Regardless of the topic of conversation, it was an incredible experience to spend some time with such enthusiastic and driven teenagers!

Some more sights in picturesque Luang Prabang along with a few cute pups (the human pup included 😊)

Even though it was undeniably touristy, we enjoyed our time in Luang Prabang. We met some amazing people (both foreign and local), ate far too much delicious food, and thoroughly appreciated our clean room and the super-friendly family that ran our guesthouse. Did we really have to get on another bus?