From the moment the plane came out of the clouds and I got my first look at the Mekong River and the surrounding mountains, I knew that I was going to like Luang Prabang. And I love it. If the rest of Laos is anything like this, just in terms of landscape and people, I suspect I’ll be making use of the full 30 days on my Lao visa.

I found the place where the kids drink, a small cluster of bars pushed to the river’s edge. There is a strict curfew that begins at midnight and, as a result, the drinking starts early, at around 6pm. This is because Laung Prabang is an early riser, with the many temples or wats performing their morning ceremonies. No amount of obnoxious backpackers and $1 drinks is going to change the fact that Laung Prabang is a World Heritage Site, primarily because of the Buddhists (the architecture ain’t bad either). I too am an early riser (a recent development), so finding my way back to the guesthouse before 10 pm is not difficult. I can have my Beer Lao and drink it, too. Speaking of Buddhist monks, a couple of them made fun of me today. To say hello in Lao, you say “sa • ba • DEE” - bring the DEE up at the end. I tend to forget that last part when I’m put on the spot and the two monks sort of mocked me – well, not sort of, they did mock me. I too am guilty of this same thing - I mock the French all the time, but I just thought it was funny, mostly because they were monks, and they were wearing robes, and I thought they’d be all straight-faced and serene and stuff. Not so.

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