The town of Luang Prabang, or at least the bits of the old town that we walked around, came as a pleasant surprise in Asia. There were real pavements, which made it easier to walk around and look at things, other than your feet. Constantly avoiding mud, puddles, lumps of concrete, drain holes, bits of metal and just looking for a spot to place each step, can be quite irritating after a while. There were always motorbikes, cars, or people cooking up food blocking lots of bits of pavements, but at last it was nice to be able to gaze about you as you strolled. The climb up That Phu Si, a small mound of a hill in the centre of the old town, was however a challenge in the oppressive, humid heat. There were 300 steps to get to the top and I was still quite breathless from my awful cold and cough. Thankfully there were several stages with rest stops to ease the hot blood pumping round our heads. The small temple at the top wasn’t worthy of a photo, but the views over the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers were lovely to see.
The night markets in Luang Prabang were really good, and we strolled around them on all of the three nights that we stayed in town; our small travel bags became quite a bit fatter from this point on. On day two, we popped into Pha Bang and the Royal Palace Museum; both so opulent and gaudy that you wondered how the poorer local people cope with it. We had to stifle sniggers and laughter at some of the stories inside and also some of the unintentionally hilarious signs, I wished we could take photos of some of them, but photography was banned inside ……I can see why!
That afternoon we strolled down to Wat Xieng Thong, a far more attractive temple with some beautiful decoration and art work. Then all ‘templed’ out, we walked down the peninsula to the junction of the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers to view some natural beauty provided by Mother Nature. At this time of year, everything is so green and lush and the occasional rain showers keep it shiny. A cold drink, or two, in a lovely bar set right above the Nam Khan river, could have turned into three or four drinks, but I was keen to get another brilliant massage before dinner, so we wandered back to the hotel for refreshing showers before another night out on the town, another purchase in the markets and a good night’s sleep before the 7 ½ hour bus ride from hell, to Vang Vieng the next day.
