Landing in Luang Prabang

Kerry and I have commented about a lot of things, but I think it's worth making note of how warm it is here in Laos. In the evening, with a breeze, while on the water, the temperature is 95 degrees, (about 35 for your Celsius peeps), but we have pretty much adjusted and now, when we do a trip at altitude where it drops to a bracing 85 degrees, we need a jacket... SF is going to feel frosty!

OK, enough about that. Since my GI distress was all shifty, we flew rather than bussed it out of Vientiane to to Luang Prabang. The flight was SUPER short, 45 minutes, rather than a 10+ hour bus ride! Score. My belly was feeling pretty stable and kosher by the time we arrived in town. And wow, what a cool town. Definitely the cleanest place we've seen in Laos, and oozing with... well... lots and lots of charm.



Our pho lunch was right on the Mekong. The views of the surroundings kept us pretty distracted for a good chunk of time.

That night, we stayed in a super cute B+B style guesthouse on a charming narrow brick side street called Pakam Guesthouse. It has dark wood details, is very clean, and run by a friendly family that keeps the place tidy and quite. They have a small veranda with a couple of teak chairs that was great for the three of us to chill and have a few glasses of lao lao at night.



Luang Prabang is known, among other things, for its night market so we had to dive in a check it out. One of the side streets is nothing but finger lickin' delicious food, (though here, of course, you can't lick said fingers without a heavy bout of colon cleanse the following night, lol). The rest of the market is filled with handicrafts made in the surrounding villages consisting of carving, textiles, snacks, lao lao concoctions, and lots of other bobs and bits. It is really beautiful just to stroll around, which is exactly what we did as long as our legs would allow it.