Just folks and boats on the Mekong. It was very cool to stride around in the soft dirt along the river taking these pics. Sort of felt like being a behind the scenes crime reporter.
Very cool BBQ set up. Not sure this would fly in the legally contentious US. I was too tired to make it to this place at night, though I'd made a mental note to do so. Actually, after my torturous road trip to LP I pretty much was content to eat their delicious French bread. Of the quality of good LI, NY Italian bread. Unfortunately the quality of the French bread in other parts of Laos was not near as high as in LP. Just like in the US.
Boats and folks on the banks of the Mekong.
A well worn rickshaw on the road by the river.
This is a "typical" restaurant along the Mekong River in L.P. Typical in that it is very small scale, obviously family run, but with its own unique style.
I had a welcome visitor to this lunch. These guys are amazingly graceful. They have little pupils in big clear green eyes that follow you. I had him on my arm and did some shadow boxing with him - he could cover himself front and back at the same time. Pound for pound, the greatest boxer alive.
One of the many commercial transport boats docking in L.P.
Back view.
Front view - my chef/hostess and her sisters and brother.
More school kids.
Locals hanging out.
Back alley markets.
Tourists biking down the main drag.
One of many cool old buildgings.
School kids.
Typical South East Asian menu. Just give me the chicken with fried noodle or the chicken noodle soup. It's all good, but you go crazy deciding.
Above - A peek inside a house off a street in Luang Prabang.
Up on the steps of the temple. Luang Prabang
Steps to a temple. Luang Prabang.
The street in front of my guesthouse.
My place in Luang Prabang, just two nights, with only time for one day of walking around site seeing - too bad, beautiful little city.
Driver's stopped to pick up a deer head and deer forelegs.
Nowheresville town about the middle of the trip to Luang Prabang.
These seem to be storage shacks, but they could be houses.
Typical road view from the minibus heading to Luang Prabang. This was the easy part.
Foreshadowing with respecto to my stomach in the not too distant future. This mini bus trip was pure misery. 10 hours of non-stop turns - and bumps... though not brutal bumps, just constant, and dusty.
The guy in the white shirt foreground was the ring leader on the "tour", to Luang Prabang. Here he has just convinced me and several others to take the mini bus for 7 hours, rather than two even longer days on a potentially uncomfortable boat. Turns out the mini bus was 10 hellish hours, while folks said the river boat was 2 long days, as advertised, but it was apparently very comfortalble, and beautiful. But I was pressed for time, so I really needed to do the mini bus. Next time though...
ATMs in the "middle of nowhere". This one didn't work for me. My 5/3rd bank card didn't work in Laos, but did in Bangkok. My Chase Visa card worked, good thing I remember/had set a code for it. But they charged a $10 transaction fee - I just found out, for taking out $88. Plus they are probably hitting me with 20% APR on it as I type. But I got me money....
Taking boat across the river to Laos in the morning.
The entrance way to my flat in Huay Xai.
My bedroom at the guest house on the river border in Huay Xai. I didn't even leave this room for dinner or a beer, just slept from 8pm till 7am.
Typical pic of downtown Chiang Mai. I was just here to get a mini bus to Huay Xai, the Thai/Laos border. Folks all said they had a great time trekking around Chiang Mai, so it's worth a longer stay than my 2 hours.
Foreshadowing? Lots of yellow, but surprisingly up in Chiang Mai, the base of the government, the Red guys, the enemy of the yellow PAD. But that's not PAD yellow, anyway.
Closing in on Chiang Mai, Thailand from Bangkok.
