Living it up in Luang Prabang

After 4 really long days of travel, we finally made it to Luang Prabang - a town often described as the jewel of Laos. One thing was obvious as soon as we arrived, tourists have certainly discovered this place as every second person seemed to be either an Aussie, Brit or French.

Luang Prabang is located at the intersection of the Khan River and the Mekong River and subsequently has a large selection of riverside cafes that we enjoyed hanging out in and watching the afternoons disappear. The town itself is a little difficult to describe - to me it was a bit of an oxymoron. On one hand you have a sleepy riverside town with monks walking around, countless temples and a curfew that sees everything shut down by 11:30pm. On the other hand, tourism has hit this place big time and it seems that 95% of the town exists and operates for tourists - either to feed them generic western food, flog them a tour or crap they don't need or drive them somewhere. Despite the slightly sold out feeling, I have to admit that I really did succumb to the charm of this place.

We found a great night market here where we were introduced to the wanders of the Laos bbq. Pretty much any meat you could imagine can be found on these bbq - the best by far was the chicken breast (KFC and Red Rooster could learn a lot from these guys on the art of cooking chicken). It really was to die for! Combine the chicken with some sticky rice and massaman sauce and you have a killer meal for about $2 a head. What, I hear you ask, is sticky rice?? Well, it is something that you end up eating pretty much every meal in Laos (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glutinous_rice) - check it out for further info. We also have to make a special mention of the baguette woman we visited pretty much every morning - for $2 you got a baguette the size of your arm with half a chicken breast and a tonne of salad topped with mayonnaise and sweet chili sauce. It was a bit sad that by the time we left town she knew our names and waved to us every time we walked by.

Another first we experienced in Luang Prabang was the infamous Lao Lao which is a rice whisky brewed and consumed in very large quantities in Laos. My verdict - it was absolutely hands down the most disgusting alcohol I have ever had. At first it makes your mouth really cold and then suddenly - bang - your mouth explodes in this intense heat and you can feel it burning all the way down your throat. Oh, did I mention that this stuff is about 40% alcohol? Lao Lao is extremely popular over here because it can be produced for next to nothing (a 750ml bottle cost about $12 with mixers in a swanky pub) and is strong enough to knock your socks off. A guy we met on one of our bus trips who has been living here for a while reckons that it has pretty much replaced opium as the choice toxin among locals. I question which one is worse for their bodies???

After 4 days wondering around town we decided that it was time to head south to Vang Vieng. I think the drive was only about 150kms, but it took close to 8 hours as we weaved through the incredible mountain ranges of Laos. Despite being terrified most of the drive (the condition of the roads here are shocking and the buses take narrow corners next to cliff faces way to quickly) the scenery really was amazing. Laos certainly has my vote for the most beautiful country that we have visited so far.

Enough from me...Brendan will update you soon on our adventures in Vang Vieng. Stay tuned.

//Kate