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Written by: Richie Carbonara
Date: Dec. 8, 2004.
“This is the BEST place in Southeast Asia,” the smiling face beamed at us after she assured us she had been traveling in
the region for eons to bolster her credentials. Though an Asian by ancestry, she was neither local nor even Laotian. She
sounded American but was nonetheless a complete stranger and in no way approached for any such outburst. No, she
just felt she had to say it. Though it seemed odd, we somehow understood as we found ourselves pinching ourselves to
see if, in fact, we had landed in paradise.
Luang Prabang is such a place, one that makes you feel its perfection despite its trappings of the ordinary. On face
value, it seems just a picturesque river town beseeched with beautiful if unspectacular temples and a legion of orange
robe clad monks on a mission to practice their already quite skilled use of foreign languages. But beneath all that lays
the core to its true charm; it is just such a damn pleasant place to wander around. Even though it is the number one
tourist destination in the country, no one tries to sell you anything. In fact, sometimes, it can be hard to buy what you
are looking for unless you are persistent. Add to this, just a smattering of tourists from all walks of life, and you feel you
have chanced upon some secret place that is remarkably civilized considering its relative isolation.
And then, there are the people. Though, on a whole, Laos is a poverty stricken country, Luang Prabang, in particular,
seems to suffer little from this oppression. Everyone seems to have enough to eat and the children are a complete joy,
a relief from many poor countries, where they have become accustomed to tourists as a meal ticket. Photo opportunities
abound, but having someone put out their hand for money in return non-existent. Most are very well attired and many
get around on their own small motorbikes. Overall, it seemed like a wonderful place to live, simple perhaps but full of
such pleasures with little of the chaos that many more complex societies are besieged by.
Was Luang Prabang one of the great cities of the world, full of cannot miss sights? Unless the beaming smile of a friendly
child fits that bill, I guess not. Will it take its place among the top must see cities of Southeast Asia? I hope not. We have
enough such places already. Let us hope that this little gem remains as it is for a long, long time.
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We had read how friendly the monks were in Luang Prabang but I guess you never quite
know to what degree until you actually meet some. The enchanting city stole our hearts
the very first day. We wandered the banana palm-clad town from end to end, enjoying
brief glimpses of river life as well as the many elegant temples that have started to
make it a popular stop on the Southeast Asia circuit. One like-minded passerby offered
up without our even saying as much as hello, that Luang Prabang was indeed the
greatest place in the whole region. That very afternoon, what seemed like an ill-timed
lunch visit to the oldest temple in town turned out to be a most interesting one. What
struck us as soon as we entered was the droning hum of the monks performing a
mantra, a sound that brought about a real sense of peace in the room. This contrasted
sharply with the monks sitting in a row, with not only their traditional lunch in front of
them, but also a green-glassed bottle of 7-Up with a white straw each. It was a photo I
was too shy to take but that is etched in my mind perhaps more acutely now because of
it.
After their meal, we were asked to join in to learn a bit of their culture and try some of
the foods typical of Laos. The tastes were varied and new to us especially the Lapp, a
raw meat salad made with chilies and eaten with sticky rice to help stem the tide of the
fiercely spicy dish. I enjoyed it immensely and was glad to finally find it as I had been
looking for it for days. Later that night with a fever and profuse diarrhea, I would regret
my adventurous culinary nature.
On leaving, we spotted some monks in particularly photogenic situations and lingered to
try and capture some of their essence on film but soon realized they seemed to have a
six sense for people sneakily taking pictures of them. Two such subjects soon made their
way up to us and surprisingly initiated a conversation, wanting to practice their language
skills. Not only were they very open in explaining their lifestyle, they were very curious
to ours, especially seeing how we were not married and from different countries. Their
English skills were excellent but one of them even spoke quite a bit of German. Doreen
enjoyed this, as we had not met any Germans on the trip up to this point. The linguistic
show-off asked if I spoke German. It seemed an innocent enough question and I replied,
just a little. So, he continued to talk to Doreen as I fended with the mere
English-speaking monk. After quite a lengthy conversation with them, we explained we
had to get on our way. We bid them farewell, and the cheeky one slyly offered up a
parting in German that Doreen smiled about as we walked away. Once outside of the
compound, she explained that he had told her she was very beautiful. It appeared that
his question about my knowledge of German was not so innocent after all. I guess boys
will be boys, even if they are monks.
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