Laos, Fondly Remembered

By Charlie

Greetings from the sweltering tourist ghetto of Siem Reap, Cambodia. Everybody who visits the amazing Angkor Wat must spend the night here. It is, perhaps, the opposite of the fabulous Luang Prabang, Laos.

Yesterday, against the urgings of my soul, we departed Luang Prabang. Three hours later, we were negotiating the heat and unscrupulous taxi drivers of Siem Reap.

And here’s Rachel in the local internet cafe, where we can get our web fix for $1 per hour.

So before our memories fade, here are a few farewell pictures from the place in Asia that we love the most.

Rachel took this picture of a Luang Prabang wat in the late afternoon.

Here are some monks the very next morning during their daily alms procession.

Rachel saw some beautiful paper getting made. Yes, we bought some.

10,000 Lao Kips equal $1. The largest Lao banknotes are 10,000 and 20,000, though we lucked out and got a fist full of 10,000. It reminded Rachel of her days as a high rollin’ gangsta back in East Tennessee.

And here is Rachel on the street, in front of the lovely Apsara Hotel, where we stayed…

..and inside our luxurious room.

We’ve stayed in just a few really nice hotels around the world and The Apsara is definitely one of them. The Apsara Restaurant is perhaps my favorite restaurant in the world.

On our last full day in Laos, we visited these amazing cascading waterfalls in the mountains.

On the way back to town, I tried to talk my way into the studios of the local state radio station. It didn’t work. The door was wide open and music was blaring from the studio, but the guys out front said that the station was “closed.” On further questioning from our driver, the guys also said that we needed to get permission from “the boss in town.”

This encounter – and a circle hammer and sickle flying outside the station – reminded me that Laos is still, in fact, a communist country.

Next stop was the Party Office where we realized that there is an “election” coming up. #11 has my vote, based strictly on the hair.

We enjoyed our last evening in Luang Prabang on the east bank of the Mekong. Our companion was our dear friend, Beerlao.

Everybody should visit Luang Prabang. Forget the rest of Asia, Luang Prabang is The Place.