Day 13 - We Love Luang Prabang

My alarm went off 3.10am and I sat up in bed to watch the Newcastle v Man United match. It was quite an entertaining game, but it was a disappointing result with Man United losing 2-1 despite playing against 10 men for over half the match.

I got back to sleep straight after and we got up at 8.45am and we were soon down at breakfast. Breakfast was a nicely presented spread, but I must say the coffee was still disappointing.

Jackie seemed to have a bit of everything, whilst I had just an omelette followed by baguette with topped with cheese, marmalade and honey, but not all at the same time. The best bit about breakfast was the peaceful location and view overlooking the pool and gardens beyond.

I was on my 2nd baguette, when Jackie deserted me, heading for reception on a mission to extend our stay here at the hotel. Ultimately, Jackie negotiated with the lovely receptionist to extend our stay for another 6 days. Our room was fully booked beyond our stay, but with the permission of the manager, she was able to shuffle the incoming guests around to allow us to keep our same deluxe room for an additional 3 nights.

They would then have to move us to a 1st floor classic double room for the remaining 3 days of our stay, because our room was then booked as a pair with the adjoining room. Our continued stay was costing us just £41 per night which we both considered to be a bargain AND cheaper than Booking.com.

At 11am, we caught the shuttle bus back into the old town to commence one of my (in)famous walking tours. From the Old Post Office we walked up to TAEC (Traditional Arts & Ethnology Centre).

Their website describes the Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre (TAEC) as an engaging, culturally rich learning centre located in the heart of Luang Prabang, Lao PDR.
Since 2006, TAEC has inspired visitors by exploring, celebrating, and preserving the diverse ethnic cultures and peoples of Laos through professionally curated permanent and special exhibitions, events, and craft workshops. To date, TAEC has welcomed over 200,000 visitors to its exhibitions.

We paid our 35,000 Kip entry fee and entered the small museum mainly displaying traditional costumes made by ethnic Lao tribes and hillside villagers. We entered a side exhibition of traditional clothing and also fashion magazines on display.

The museum curator, Ton, explained to us that in 2019, some Italians visited the museum took photos of the clothing designs and patterns then reproduced them as their own designs for a big fashion company called Max Mara. The Max Mara reproduced clothing was then advertised in numerous fashion magazines.

This plagiarism caused offence to the ethnic Lao groups, particularly because they considered the headwear and designs to be sacred. TAEC on their behalf waged a social media campaign against Max Mara calling out the plagiarism and putting pressure on them to pull their clothing line.

It was an interesting chat with Ton, but probably not unexpectedly he slightly ruined it by trying to convince us to go on a trip to visit some of the hill tribes where tourists don’t usually go. We told him we would think about it, we did and we won’t, but thank you for the offer!

Our next stop was to scale the 100 metre high Mount Phou Si (Phousi Hill), climbing the 355 steps, whilst taking in the numerous significant cultural sites. These included a reclining Buddha, a multi-headed serpent, a few seated Buddha images calling for rain, meditating or holding alms bowls and a footprint of Buddha.

Young Buddhist monks live on the hill and it felt strange to walk past their huts with the orange robes hanging out to dry. At the top sits the 20 metre high Wat Chomsi stupa and Phousi Temple. It also afforded an excellent, albeit hazy 360 degree view of the whole city.

The haze is caused by farmers burning their crop residue after harvesting. Apparently it gets really chokingly bad at the end of March and beginning of April, particularly in northern Laos.

On the way down the hill we stopped at the Temple of Buddha’s Footprint and the Imprint of Buddha’s Foot, before walking along the bank of the Nam Khan. We stopped at a little shack overlooking the river for a pitstop beer.

Suitably refreshed we continued along the river bank until the Nam Khan met the Mekong. The other side of the road was lined with attractive old French colonial style buildings. It was so clean and tranquil. It felt like we had gone back in time. We both unanimously agreed we absolutely love the vibe of Luang Prabang.

We strolled along the Mekong promenade reading the signs advertising a variety of cruises. We have decided we will probably just take a short sunset cruise with a beer and snacks. There is a lot of competition for custom and the advertised sunset cruise prices were as low as 120,000 Kip (£4).

We stopped for another beer and a plate of delicious healthy fresh spring rolls with pork, before walking them off walking back to our hotel via the Old Bridge. It was 4pm when we arrived back in our hotel room with my phone showing that we had walked 5.5 miles. We had a well earned lie down in the air conditioning.

That evening we had dinner in the hotel restaurant. Jackie ordered a dry yellow curry and I ordered a Pad Thai. Both were nice, but not exceptional.

We finished the evening with a nightcap, then I brought a comfy terrace chair into our room and plonked in front of the television to watch the cricket World Cup semi final. Sadly England lost by 7 runs chasing India’s total of 253-7, despite a valiant 105 run innings by Jacob Bethell before being run out.

Song of the Day - The Place I Love by The Jam.Baca lagi