Is This France?

We are staying in Luang Prabang for five nights, so this morning we have the chance to sleep in. After so many early mornings and so much bus (and boat) travel, we are grateful. We then head off for food, ordering an American breakfast. It consists of half a baguette, a slice of ham, two slices of bacon, two eggs, two sausages, orange juice and tea. I swap my tea for Rachelle's orange juice, because I don't drink it. We put all the ingredients into the baguette and it's amazing. I wouldn't write about it if it wasn't.

Luang Prabang is where you really see the french influence from when it was colonised. The architecture is undoubtedly french. Buildings all have shuttered windows, there are baguette and crepe stalls everywhere, cake shops and children playing badminton in the street. It's almost like France, if french people were Asian. The good thing about it is that the religion, language and general culture remain unchanged. France just taught them a thing or two and left the rest as it was. 

In the afternoon we relax in a very french cafe eating cakes and drinking hot chocolate. It's been raining all morning and into the afternoon, so we don't do very much, and we don't have to.

As the evening descends, we go to the top of the hill which sits in the middle of Luang Prabang. We go up lots of steps to get to the top where there is a temple and spectacular views of the city. Beyond are the green mountains that make up Lao. We watch the sun set before making our way back down where we plan to hit the night market.

Every single night, at about 5PM, stalls begin to set up on the middle street of the main three streets. The street is long and the stalls go on forever. Strangely they all sell the same things and it's clearly aimed at tourists; you get a stall for silk scarves, one for Lao tea, clothes, notebooks, slippers, jewelry, ornaments, lanterns, paintings and so on. They repeat themselves all the way to the end. It's a place to haggle - essentially, the rule in Asia is that if it has a price tag, you pay that price, but if it hasn't got one, you haggle. I buy a notebook made from recycled paper, a t-shirt that says, "SAME SAME" on the front and, "BUT DIFFERENT" on the back, and lastly, I buy some thin, baggy, harem- type pants. Rachelle buys two pairs of the pants for herself. Neither of us had to spend much, but I think Rachelle did a better job of haggling.

To end the night we meet up with Charlotte (one of the girls traveling on the Stray bus) for a drink at the bar from last night. After a beer for me and Rachelle's cocktail, we try a hibiscus flower drink that supposedly lowers your blood pressure. It didn't, but it did taste like weak Ribena.