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It's nearly time to leave this very likeable UNESCO World Heritage town and the Mekong, but it's one of those places that you really become attached to - so pretty, so atmospheric and such fun to be in. It seems like a mini-UN, with visitors from all over the world, and guesthouses (of very varying standard - some are as good as hotels: our German friends recommend a new one called "LOTUS", near the "Les 3 Nagas" hotel and run by 2 Australians) or hotels in every second house. Cafes and restaurants abound, some rather simple but many with fabulous food - both European (predominantly French) and Lao - and sweet, attentive waiters (probably earning as little as US$ 20/month and usually doing a second job and perhaps a course of study in addition), as well as typical Lao furnishings, a great deal of timber and often black and white photos of local people by a resident photographer. Geckos spring out of the cracks on the pavement, the night market takes over the main street every evening, and foreigners on rented bikes and mopeds career around the streets, in competition with the local tuktuks and motorized population. Cars are less common though, as most Lao people can't afford them.
UPDATE (9.1.11): See www.shintamani.com for the SHINTA MANI hotel at Luang Prabang opened on 24.12.10. SHINTA MANI is an exceptional type of place - by staying there, you can not only enjoy yourself but also contribute to development in Laos!
Down on the waterfront, overlooking the Nam Khan (river), are countless little restaurants - both day and night - as well as signs indicating that your laundry can be done for 5000 Kip (about US$ 6) and men who offer you boat trips and tuktuk rides. The nice thing about the Lao people is that they are not at all aggressive, nor do they bother you if you've said NO. And monks are EVERYWHERE in their saffron robes - making mobile phone calls, taking digital pictures, showering in the grounds of their wat, often right beside the footpath, sitting round in the evenings in the wat grounds and chatting, and at 6 in the morning, asking for alms on the streets in the surroundings of their particular monastery. At 5.45 in the morning, I have to collect a basket of "sticky rice for the monks" that I ordered for $5 at the "3 Elephants" restaurant, and wear a "sin" or typical long Lao skirt for women which the hotel receptionist (a man) is going to borrow for me, as he reckons that it is not done to sit on the pavement (below the level of the monk procession) in trousers. What an effort! But it's not everywhere that you can have an experience like this.....
So, what have we done in Luang Prabang apart from take in the atmosphere, enjoy the food and drink vast quantities of excellent Lao beer or mango shakes? Shopping is a non-stop pastime here, as there are so many beautiful shops and interesting markets. Meeting people is another - last night an Englishman (former teacher) who runs an NGO to enable talented young Lao people to go on studying, today 2 delightful Japanese girls who've been on the road in Australia and Asia for the past 7/12, and again our German friends from Pakse in the south. With them, we went for a marvellously refreshing boat trip along the Mekong to Pak Ou, about 25 km away, to climb up some very steep steps to caves full of Buddha statues, a place of pilgrimage for centuries. In the town, we've visited the Royal Palace (including photos of the "vanished" royals - have also managed to find a couple of fascinating books by Aussie journalist, Christopher Kremmer, about their fates: the guides in the palace were to be heard yesterday telling tourists that they didn't know where the royal family had got to - "they just died natural deaths"...) and the theatre at the palace, where an elderly Lao gentleman told the audience in both English and French (hardly heard here today) about the troupe of traditional dancers and singers (Kremmer explains that the husband of a grand-daughter of the last king's - from Villa Santi - was the one who asked the Lao government for permission to start this kind of entertainment up again) who performed for the tourists last night.
One unique experience I've had here has been to discover (by accident) the beautiful shop know as BAAN KHILY, in the old Alliance Francaise building, now owned by Oliver Bandmann (Sakarine Rd, Tel 856 (0)71 212611, [email protected]). It's slightly out of the way but en route to WAT XIENG THONG. My brief encounter with Oliver B. revealed a man who spoke English like a native but who had probably learnt it abroad, as well as German and Lao and presumably other languages. He appeared, despite his age (definitely over 60), to be bubbling with energy and enthusiasm and told me that he had a workshop where about 30 people, including women with babies, produced gorgeous paper lampshades, especially star-shaped, as well as other products such as paintings, stationery and cards made from mulberry bark. What I missed in this brief but memorable encounter was that he uses specially treated elephant dung to make some of his products and runs an "elephant farm" where a number of Lao people have found employment for this purpose. A Google search has revealed more about this fascinating man, who, it seems, grew up in Bangkok as the son of German parents and who, today, is not only saving elephants but also rebuilding traditional old Lao houses so they will not be turned into concrete hotel monsters. If you ever visit Luang Prabang, do call in, have a cup of tea and let his charming sales staff convince you to purchase beautiful paper objects whose production has enabled quite a few people to find employment in this ultra-poor country run by apparent incompetents.
For info. re Oliver Bandmann, see:
http://lncci.free.fr/ele/Introduction.htm
http://lncci.free.fr/ele/Fathai_magazine.htm
www.chiangmaitouristguide.com/02-2007/feature2.html
http://reisen.iley.de/index.php?Tagebuch&LuangPrabang.txt
http://voyage-bons-plans.aufeminin.com/blog/see_33775_9/Village-de-Hongsa-au-Laos
Wats are here in all directions but the most beautiful of all is the 16th century Wat Xieng Thong with its many mosaics depicting the life of those times. It has sweeping steps leading down to the Mekong, so that the royals or their guests could make their way directly from there to the wat. So, altogether, this is a really dreamy town for the tourists. For those Lao people who are lucky enough to work in tourism, it is probably a good place to live, but, despite its undoubted attractions, there are ghosts of the past lurking here and many, many people for whom life is a struggle. I believe that 2 out of 3 Lao women, even today, cannot read, so it's good to know that there are people working in organizations like "Big Brother Mouse", which produces books that are half in Lao and half in English and does its best to distribute them to schools which will enable their pupils to OWN THEIR OWN BOOKS!
Talking of books, there are some very nice shops in this town where it is possible - oddly enough - to find books dealing with the mysteries of the unfortunate Laotian royal family, as well as another about local wars but involving foreigners. The following are good reads:
BAMBOO PALACE - DISCOVERING THE LOST DYNASTY OF LAOS by Christopher Kremmer
(see his website: www.christopherkremmer.com )
WAR IN SHANGRI-LA - A MEMOIR OF CIVIL WAR IN LAOS by Mervyn Brown (deputy to the British Ambassador in Vientianein the early 1960s)
Other useful publications if you want to know a bit more about Cambodia and Laos are:
THE LANDS OF CHARM AND CRUELTY - TRAVELS IN S-E ASIA by Stan Sesser (chapters on each country)
ANGKOR - HEART OF AN ASIAN EMPIRE translated from Bruno Dagens' original French
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC from May 1982 (interesting articles on Cambodia and Angkor post-Khmer rouge - if someone in your family still has it on the shelf)
AND IN GERMAN:
KAMBODSCHA - REISEN IN EINEM TRAUMATISIERTEN LAND by Alexander Goeb
GEO SPEZIAL - VIETNAM, LAOS, KAMBODSCHA - Oct/Nov 2007
WEBSITES
www.shintamani.com
www.stayanotherday.org
www.madeinlaos.com
www.leot.org.uk (a registered British charity providing further education for young people)
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