“When the buffaloes fight it is the grass that suffers..”
– Laotian Proverb

Luang Prabang literally means “Royal Buddha Image”. It consists of 58 villages and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was listed in 1995 for “unique and remarkably well preserved architectural, religious and cultural heritage, a blend of the rural and urban developments over several centuries, including the French colonial influences during the 19th and 20th centuries.”

Other than that it’s just the best place to relax if you don’t want to lie on the beach every day. I thoroughly enjoyed my week here just eating food at a different restaurant every day, checking out the night marked (and leaving way too much of my money behind, I might add, HERE’S LOOKING AT YOU, KIDS, WHO KEEP GETTING PRESENTS. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!11)

The riverside is gorgeous sunrise, sunset AND middle of the day (like, who am I kidding, I never saw the sunrise)… The people are super friendly, the food is amazing and little, old ladies sell you a plastic bag of fried rice for 1 US Dollar. Dinner sorted if you want to go cheap.

I went to see the royal palace which was really good actually. They had fans. It was 9000 degrees. The fans were awesome.

But apart from the fans and the little framed story of some queen way back when who prayed to the gods that her boobs wouldn’t start sagging after she nursed her babies (I guess beauty standards have always been an issue…), the buildings themselves were quite impressive. Unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to take pictures inside, so I couldn’t document the ever beautiful murials painted on the walls… In true Asian style there was much gold, green, elephants and lush nature, but also the depictions of the king meeting various representatives from around the world was really cool. As were the display cabinets showing off the gifts other nations have bestowed on the Kingdom of Laos.

One of my fondest memories was still the foreign lady I asked to take a photo of me on the steps leading up to the little temple on the royal grounds. She said yes, got stressed, managed to take quite a few then half-sprinted towards me, gave a winded apology that she had to run because her husband “something something have to go Laos goodbye nice sun day”… or something like that… At least she gave me back my camera before she rushed off after her elusive husband *lol*

RIVERSIDE