I completely understand why Luang Prabang is the tourist draw that it is. Gorgous town, beatiful temples, picturesque rivers. I was there in late March, when the area surrounding Luang Prabang is engaging in its slash-and-burn style of farming. This puts a thick layer of smoke in the air, blocking the blue of the sky. Hardly ideal for picture taking and for good reason why this time of year Luang Prabang gets fewer visitors. But, in spite of the smoke, Luang Prabang is still stunning.
During the bus ride from Vang Vieng I met an American from Rhode Island and bumped into a Japanese guy that I had previously met. We decided to save some money and shared a room. The first day, the American and myself rented bicycles and headed off to see one of the waterfalls, which was 27km (18 miles) away. The first half hour was torturous as there was a ton of traffic and nearly all uphill. Once we turned off the main road the traffic diminished and we started enjoying ourselves. It was a tough ride but rewarding, and, all in all, to me, better than the waterfall itself, though just about eveybody will disagree with me there because the fall is great as well. After arriving at our destination, we headed up to the top of the waterfall where you can swim. We were pretty sweaty from the ride and a dip in some cool water was the perfect remedy. We explored the area around the fall as well and eventually found a cool little cave and a water spring (where more swimming happened, of course).
We also were invited to play a local game called petong (I am not sure how to spell the name of the game but it is something like that). Each player has three metal balls, slightly bigger the billard balls and about 1.5 times as heavy. At the opposite end of a narrow rectangle about 20 feet away is a small metalic ball, which is the goal. The objective is to get as many as your balls as close to the small ball as possible. However, other players can hit your already-thrown balls and move them and the small ball can be moved as well if hit (it is not stationary and is thrown from the opposite side at the start of each round so if it ends up in the same place more than once it is just a coincidence). Whoever has a ball closest to the small ball when all players have thrown each of their three balls wins the round is is given one point for each ball that is closer than any of the opponents' balls. So scoring three points in a single round is possible. You play to a given number, usually 5 or 10. This is a kind of game that I am good at. I beat the local guy who invited us to play 5-0.
The following day we simply wandered around the city soaking in its charms. We went to a couple temples and talked with some monks. There is a curfew of 11:30 in Luang Prabang because it is a world-heritage site. As a result, there is not much of a nightlife and the only place open past the curfew is, for reasons that are unknown to me, the bowling alley. I went one night with a group of people I did not know and had a mediocore time. Glad I went but would not do it again.
The American and I decided to head north via the river. We had both heard good things and it was a nicer form of travel than the bus. I wanted to head north a bit and then head east and he had no plans. We managed to sleep through three alarms the day our boat was leaving and had to pay an extra 20,000 kip (about US$2.5) to leave the following day instead. Neither of us were unhappy that we had an extra day in Luang Prabang.
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