In the morning, we took a two-engine propeller plane from Hanoi to Luang Prabang. When we got off the plane it was pouring and the airport personnel waited for us on the airfield with a bunch of umbrellas. It poured and poured all day and all night.
Luang Prabang is an amazing little town, a former capital of Laos established in the 14th century, it has about 30 temples with hundreds of monks who continue the same ancient traditions. The town also has a lot of lovely colonial buildings. It is set between two rivers and surrounded by mountains.
We walked around in the rain, had some excellent Lao beer and soup, and then went to the night market, which is huge and amazing. Supposedly it’s one of the best crafts markets in southeast Asia. You see women dressed in their ethnic costumes selling crafts from their villages – mostly silk (some hand woven) and cotton. Some stuff is quite beautiful. There is also a lot of silver --- designs that I have not seen anywhere else, hand made bamboo paper products and lots of “Beer Lao” T-shirts which are a real hit among tourists. It’s hard to resist the shopping frenzy, but you have to bargain hard to get a good deal.
This morning, we missed the daily monk procession at 6 am because it was still pouring, but after breakfast the sun came out and we walked along the Mekong and then took a tuk tuk to a day market about 1.5 km out of town. The market was disappointing. The most interesting part was the fruit and vegetable market with all the exotic stuff that we couldn’t even name. Then we visited a local ethnography museum and learned about local minority groups and their costumes, customs and crafts. Al really got into it… We also went to a store/gallery operated by the local weavers’ cooperative and admired their beautiful silk creations.
Luang Prabang is an amazing little town, a former capital of Laos established in the 14th century, it has about 30 temples with hundreds of monks who continue the same ancient traditions. The town also has a lot of lovely colonial buildings. It is set between two rivers and surrounded by mountains.
We walked around in the rain, had some excellent Lao beer and soup, and then went to the night market, which is huge and amazing. Supposedly it’s one of the best crafts markets in southeast Asia. You see women dressed in their ethnic costumes selling crafts from their villages – mostly silk (some hand woven) and cotton. Some stuff is quite beautiful. There is also a lot of silver --- designs that I have not seen anywhere else, hand made bamboo paper products and lots of “Beer Lao” T-shirts which are a real hit among tourists. It’s hard to resist the shopping frenzy, but you have to bargain hard to get a good deal.
This morning, we missed the daily monk procession at 6 am because it was still pouring, but after breakfast the sun came out and we walked along the Mekong and then took a tuk tuk to a day market about 1.5 km out of town. The market was disappointing. The most interesting part was the fruit and vegetable market with all the exotic stuff that we couldn’t even name. Then we visited a local ethnography museum and learned about local minority groups and their costumes, customs and crafts. Al really got into it… We also went to a store/gallery operated by the local weavers’ cooperative and admired their beautiful silk creations.
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