Monks collect morning alms in Luang Prabang.
One hour after landing in Luang Prabang, Allana and I were walking along the bank of the Nam Khan, looking for a fruit-shake and green papaya salad.
Laos is hot in August, and kids jumped from the roofs of riverboats, cannonballing into the brown current. Everything felt soft and slow and easy. “Laos has got to be the most chill country in the world,” said Allana.
It’s strange, how easily I find myself easing back into Luang Prabang. A few flights, a few airports, a night in Bangkok, one last flight up the Mekong and all of sudden I’m squeezing fresh limes into my noodle soup and stopping by Joma for coffee and air-con.
The rivers are higher than I’ve ever seen them before, and there aren’t many tourists this time of year.
Tourists, water – everything flows past Luang Prabang. Sometimes there’s more water, sometimes more falang, but the old woman still fans her cooking fire in the alleyway, and the monks will wake up early to collect their alms.
This town has never lost its calm.
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11 Comments... join the discussion!
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Allen, thanks for the note. I’ll check out Library for Laos, as we’re looking for service projects the Mekong Students can contribute to.
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sweet Tim. fan the fire.
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Jealous too. It’s great to know a foreign place so well. Love that feeling.
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OK, this settles it. You will one day see me for the Mekong semester. Someday, probably when I take a gap year between high school and college. Of course, that’s about four years away, but still.
I’ll be there.
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What a beautiful and evocative post, Tim. I enjoyed reading it — it made me feel connected to you and Allana all the way on the other side of the world. I had coffee at Joma my first morning in Luang Prabang after exploring the morning food market. And, by the way, that staircase with the silver nagas is one of the things I remember most vividly from Luang Prabang… that and accidentally eating buffalo skin paste on seaweed. Oh my.
Best wishes for your travels. Please send all my love to Allana (and to Mara when you see him).
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Thanks for the comment, Luisa! Allana says hello
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Tim,
Looks like I just missed you. I was in LP in mid August for a few days.
Great post.
Anyway, I’m back in action and will be submitting some more stuff soon…
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Hey Chris, shame I missed you – it would have been fun to meet up.
I’ll look forward to more of your writing.
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i doubt there is anyone in the world that has been in Louang Prabang and does not want to get back…
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I have not heard a place like this, only when i have read this post. Thanks for sharing it with us, and i hope to have the chance to visit such place like Luang Prabang and enjoy the same thing that you have experienced during your stay.
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