Luang Phabang

Luang Phabang (or Luang Prabang) is the former capital of kingdom of Laos. It's a beautiful place, and peaceful even though it's the second largest city in Laos. It has maybe around 50,000 inhabitats. It's lay out is typical of Laosian cities, with neighborhoods centered around ancient temples. The french influence is also very apparent, specially around the old part of the city. This place is probably the no. 1 tourist destination in Laos. It is also been designated as a world heritage site by the UNESCO. Even today, this is a pretty remote city. I read that in colonial times, it could take longer to reach Luang Prabang from french Vietnam than to reach Vietnam from France. The Mekong is not navigable all year.
Here, I spent a day visiting the old palace, temples, and the market. I also went to a theatre showing traditional Laosian dances which are very similar to Thai dances - not a surprise.

On-my second day, I went to a nearby village where I found hand-made textiles (mostly of cotton and silk). I got there by bicycle after taking a wrong turn and riding 14 Km more than I needed.


Something else I saw a lot of on the streets was gambling. Poeple play cards, or another game that looks like dominoes, but the chips have what looks like chinese characters on them. They have large stacks of kip (laosian currency) in front of them. In a walk through a small market full of chinese goods, I found 3 groups of gamblers.

From Luang Phabang, I took a bus to Vientiane on a good road. The 380 Km took only 11 hours. That's an average of 35 Kph ( = 22 mph). The road is just very windy. It was ok though. I wouldn't want to arrive in Vientiane at 3 am.