Luang Prabang, Laos - February 5-6, 2018

Dang! We were not expecting this! It was cold here, about 50 degrees and windy when we landed at Luang Prabang Airport! Yikes, we had to pile on layers just to be warm enough to go to dinner, but boy did we sleep well.

Our hotel is built around the former home of the last prince. The home still stands on the grounds and is used as a special hotel suite. The entire city of Luang Prabang was named a UNESCO world heritage site in 1995 because of its distinct blending of traditional Lao and charming European architecture, primarily French, over several centuries. It is remarkable well preserved in spite of invasions, burnings and destructions that took place in war time. No building within the scope of the city can be modified from its current design, color, size or purpose without the approval of UNESCO.

Our hotel continued the French colonial design of the Princes home and created a collection of standalone buildings connected by picturesque walkways, lush greenery a water lily pool and a beautifyl, secluded swimming pool that seems to whwisper, "come to me". Inside the rooms have high ceilings, dark wooden floors, tall, shuttered windows and antique furnishings. Colors of the deocr are beautiful and obsiously artfully selected. Terra cotta tile floors in one room border glossy green tiles with red mortar in the bath areas. Walls are flat but rich yellow and woodwork is taupe. Wooden doors and bathroom tables are polished wood with a red hue. The comfy high bed is surrounded by a thin silk canopy and side curtains. The room flows together magnificently. The owner, said to be a wealthy Lao woman, lived many years in France but has recently moved home to Vientiane. She visits once a month to ensure her place and the service is impeccable. It is.

We had a nice breakfast - I had traditional Luang Prabang soup; Stan had toast, bacon and eggs. Then we stepped out into the cold. Our driver and guide waiting to take us out of town to visit a community of Hmong people who traditionally live in the mountains but folk in this visit have moved to lower lands to farm, raise families and sell trinkets in their small village of 200 or at the night market held each evening in Luang Prabang. These people stick to tradition and burn fires for heat and for cooking in homes without chimneys. Fascinatingly, young girls wear beautiful traditional dress with brightly colored caps starting at age 8 until they are grown. For the most part, however, the Hmongs are extremely poor and overall uneducated. We were told there are three groups in Laos, the lowlanders who ways predominantly live along the Mekong and other waterways ; the midlands with 22% of the population who live in hills and higher elevations and hill tribes, and 9 % of the populations are Hmong's, who traditionally live at elevations of over 3,000 feet. Overall population of Laos is 6.7 million but only 10% live in urban areas. Laos is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia - which explains why the country has been invaded so many times.

They are a peaceful people. Around 67% are Buddhists. There is very little crime. If a Buddhist man steals, cheats or commits any crime he will lose good fortune and receive bad karma. Harm will surely come to him or his family.

We drove through hills and past terraced rice fields and organic farms growing peanuts. There were plats of electric greet lettuces ready for harvest, water cress, purple beans, corn and herbs. It's still early spring here and the land has not yet exploded with flowers that we could see were preparing to pop. We saw goats and water buffalo grazing freely along the roads - two fold purpose . . . the beasts get fed and the roadside growth is kept under control. Driving here is a vastly different prospect than anywhere else we have visited. While the streets and roads are narrow, the number of vehicles is significantly smaller. Driving is actually peaceful here. We could stop freely to take photos here and there.

Our next stop was the Tat Kuang Si-Bear Rescue Center, otherwise called the Asian Black Bear or Moon Bear Sanctuary. Moon bears are distinctive; they have a shiny ruff of longer fur on their neck and shoulders and they have a white moon-mark on their chests. Here rescued Moon bears, are housed, and prepared to re-enter the wild. Some come to the sanctuary as injured animals; some orphans whose mother was killed by poachers seeking only one thing - the bile gland for use in Chinese medicine. The bears were fun and interesting to watch. Instead of merely feeding the bears, the caretakers hid food in contraptions or bamboo poles so that the bear must hunt and forage for his food as he might in nature. One bear came here with a front leg missing. He will never return to the wild but other males playfully sparred with him none the less. It was as if they instinctively did not want him to be left out.

The trail led us out of the expansive bear sanctuary and into the woods where we began to see small waterfalls and inviting clear, torquise and aqua pools. On a summer day, many people swim and enjoy the icy, cascading waters. As we continued on, the view of the running waters and falls became more and more breath-taking. This is the Kuang Si Waterfalls and it is one the prettiest tropical settings I have ever seen. Keep in mind, this is dry season, I can only imagine what these falls must be like when the volume of water almost doubles! Do see the pictures!

After lunch at an outdoor cafe overlooking the Mekong, we boarded a long boat to travel up the river, north to visit the Pak Ou Cave.

Before reaching the cave, we stopped at a local village to taste their home distilled whisky and rice wine. We saw it being made. I never knew it was so simple to construct a still!!! As usual, I shopped the local market for a bit and took pictures of their wares, the residents and kids minding the stalls and the freely roaming animals. Many of the items being sold in the market were from China, but some were true painstakingly, handmade local crafts.

A few minutes later, we arrived in very chilly, windy air, I might add, to Pak Ou Caves. It is said the first king of Laos discovered this cave system and because the interior of the first cave resembles a temple, he decided to make it one. He placed the golden Prabang Buddha at one of the highest points in the temple-like cavern and renamed the city formerly known as Muang Sua to Luang Prabang (meaning Royal Buddha image).

The Royal families worshipped here in this cave on special occasions for centuries. There are thousands and thousands and thousands of Buddha's in this cave. Some have been here for hundreds of years. They are covered in dust as it fell naturally and many wooden statues are termite eaten and damaged. Local people and others still come to this temple by boat to pray and leave their personal Buddha and offerings. Very few Buddha's are ever stolen and it they are it is probably done by uncaring tourists.

The open-air boat ride was scenic but frigid! Thank goodness the boat operator provided blankets and hot tea. We past vegetable garden after vegetable garden, each neat as a pin! In dry season, they carry water from the river in buckets to water the garden patches. When the monsoon season arrives, these garden plots will be under water but when the water recedes in a few months they will be left with fresh soil and silt providing a fertile spot for the next planting.

People who live along the river have no running water; they carry buckets of water suspended on the ends of poles across their shoulders up the long bank to the house. This seems to be a chore assigned to most young girls. We saw people washing clothes in the river , women washing their long hair in the river and men, women, and kids bathing in the river. We saw many fishermen and several groups of young man shoveling the abundant river sand onto boats to take to market to sell for construction. Hard work with low pay, indeed. Again, it is a simple way of life.

We arrived back at the hotel with only 45 minutes to get ready for dinner at a fancy 5-star restaurant. We asked if we could delay the reservation just a little bit so we'd have time to shower but that seemed to be just simply too much complication. So we went to the restaurant slightly miffed. I, by the way, finally caught Stan's cold so I felt sick as a dog. I simply ate one tiny piece of steamed fish which I have to admit was quite tasty, but I just could eat no more. I needed my bed. We took my dinner home and stored it in the fridge - it will make a nice snack tomorrow.