Luang Prabang #4
Posted by Stuart at 08:01 PM on October 13, 2005Nursing a Beer Lao on the banks of the Mekong in Luang Prabang, my mind is remarkably blank. This is my fifth time to my favorite little Lao town; my 3rd to stay at the Bougnasuk Guest House on the river.
I feel like I should have something profound to say, but I don't. Five trips in three years and this place almost seems like home. In fact, I have stayed in the same room at the guest house the last three times. Checking in and dropping off my bag felt so familar, it was almost like coming home.
In many ways, this trip is a mirror of my first visit to Luang Prabang. The first time, Rupert and I took the bus up from Vientiane. At the time, I am sure I swore I would never take that 9 hour roller-coaster ride through the mountains again. Three years later, I found myself back on the bus.
Luckily, I enjoyed most of it. The AC worked, the bus driver was quick but not reckless, and the scenery was breathtaking. There must have been 50 times that I thought to myself, "Now, that would have been a great picture." Kids chasing chickens in a dirt yard; a young guy strumming a guitar and singing to himself in his thatched hut doorway; bright red chilis, brown rice, orangish-yellow corn kernels all out by the street to dry; a group of school girls in a Lao silk skirts waving and giggling as we passed. Where as Luang Prabang seems very familiar to me now, the Lao countryside is still facinatingly exotic to me.
Not only does the bus ride remind me of my first trip to Luang Prabang, the time of the year does as well. I didn't realize it on the way up, but I am here on the exact same weekend that Rupert and I visited the first time. The moon will be full in a few days, which means its time for Boat Racing and much merrymaking. Last time though, we left early and headed back to Vientiane to see the festival there. This time I will stay for the Lao version of the Loy Kratong holiday in a few days.
