Our plan to leave Luang Prabang today was foiled by my own stupidity. As we packed our bags last night, Joylani asked if I had my passport. No, I didn’t. After searching everywhere, we deduced that I had either forgotten it at the bank (where we exchanged money earlier that day) or I had lost it (anywhere). So I woke up really early this morning, in hopes that if I could retrieve my passport then we could still catch the boat to Nong Khiaw. I checked the bank which was closed. I waited around until its opening time and even ate a bowl of soup and checked again in case it was opening late. Still, it was closed and I assumed it was closed for New Years, like the other bank in town. Then I stopped by the Tourism Police Office, where a police officer who probably partied too hard on New Years Eve and was still kind of slow kindly told me nothing had been turned in. Figuring nothing could be done until tomorrow, I trudged back to the room. Joylani had everything packed and ready to go, in case I found my passport. But no luck. I showered and then we went out for the day.
View of LP from Wat Phu Si
As we walked through town, we passed the bank I had just come from, but now it was open! Even better, they had my passport! But it was now too late to catch the boat, so we still had a day to kill. I say kill because I don’t find Luang Prabang all that exciting. I will say its nice and I will say that I’m a bit hypocritical as I’m currently sitting in café, drinking an expresso, and writing. But I recognized Luang Prabang the instant we arrived, even in the late-evening darkness: a tourist town. Not so much a backpacker hub, but a little motif town carefully manicured for tourists, like Carmel or something. Its ultra clean and litter free, the roads are nice, all the architecture matches, and there’s just as many middle age Europeans milling around as Lao. Its one of those places that’s nice to see for a day, but not much longer.
town
some off shoot of the Mekong
One of my favorite parts of our time here was exploring on bicycles yesterday. Its amazing how different things are even just 5 minutes outside of the town center. The roads deteriorated quickly as we rode out and soon we were on the only paved (and heavily potholed) road; only the main highway was paved and all the other streets were rock and dirt. Motorcycles, scooters, and pollution were everywhere too. What happened to the peaceful little town? The buildings changed from French colonial cubes with shutters to crooked bamboo or wooden structures. I say it was my favorite part of our time in LP, because I feel like we saw real LP that day. Its not like I enjoy seeing poverty and underdevelopment, but I am interested in seeing the realities of a place rather than have it tailored to my tastes. Passport in hand, we’ll head north tomorrow, where hopefully we’ll be able to see even more of real Lao.