Foggy, chilly, damp, inadequately clothed. Luang Prabang has both changed and not. The Night Market has another incarnation that runs right in front of our guesthouse. It meanders all around the old Royal Palace now and last night we discovered the food market down a dank alley. Yummmm! We moved from the cramped, noisy Sayo Riverside to the old Sayo and the lavishly roomy upstairs corner "family room". I am deposited up the scary staircase to the loft bed. That way I can snore to my heart's content and listen to the slightly ominous whistle of the electric water heater housed up here with me. The bathroom is big enough to swing a cat in, as my grandmother would say, that is, if you are inclined to swinging cats. This is a luxurious thing in Laos....large bathrooms, not swinging cats.
Luang Prabang retains all of its charm, though you must pay more for it now. The beers are ridiculously cheap, perhaps to offset the sting of the price of a room. Building and rebuilding is everywhere. Prosperity abounds, as do French, German and Thai tourists. The silk is still beautiful, the food even better, if you work to find traditional Lao food. The views of the Mekong are still stunning at sunset and mysterious at sunrise. I am grateful to be here. I am happy in this place.
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