Luang Prabang

Today we slept in, recovering from the previous few days. After breakfast, we went and changed a travelers cheque, and were amused to find ourselves Laotian millionaires. US$100 * 9530 kip/USD = 953, 000 kip.

Luang Prabang is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, renowned for its cultural significance. The town, its temples, palaces, and colonial buildings all contribute to a wonderful ambiance.We spent the day wandering around the city, exploring some of the Wats (Buddhist temples). The majority of Laotian monks are quite young (14-20), and are quite eager to practice speaking English with anyone who even shows a modicum of interest. We were suckered in more than a few times.

This place definitely does have a more relaxing vibe, though it is hard to put into words. Part of it is the Laotians vendors are a bit less aggressive, but one other subtlety is the distinct the lack of cars. Though there are streets here, most of the traffic is pedestrian and motorbike. It is hard to describe what a difference this makes unless you experience it. Missing is the continuous frantic traffic, such as the roads around the moat in Chiang Mai.

This evening we met up with a German couple we met on the boat, Ute and Klaus. They are very nice and I was more than eager to amuse them with my poor German. We wandered around and stopped for dinner at this Indian restaurant (oddly, Laos has more Indian restaurants than Thailand, despite being further away). Our waiter was so rude, it was almost amusing. From the way he took our orders with disdain to rolling the eyes when we asked for the bill, it was like a cliche from a bad sitcom. Following that, the four of us found a pub and downed a few Beerlao.

Beerlao is definitely the proudly touted national brand here, and seems to be more ubiquitous than water. Goodness knows were drinking more beer than water since we crossed the border.
Mekong day 1 was 3 bottles, yesterday was 4, and today was 3. And these are big (640 mL) bottles, by the way.