Touring Around

We finally found a guesthouse by hopping into the back of a songtaew whose driver had been standing by patiently outside the restaurant we were eating at, hoping he could assist us in some way.

We told him that we wanted a guesthouse someplace close to where we were currently were sitting, but he proceeded to drive us off the peninsula to see if any of the outlying guesthouses interested us which of course they didn't. He turned around and drove us back to within 50 feet of where we had been sitting at the restaurant and suggested another guesthouse, which we accepted as it was nice and inexpensive. We didn't have to pay the driver as the guesthouse gave him money for bringing us in.

We unloaded our bags in our room, and then immediately went out to the street and hired 2 samlors to drive us around for an hour. It was a good idea to hire this kind of vehicle as opposed to a baht bus type songtaew because you really have a 360-degree view. (Oh... in case you are thinking of renting motorcycles in Luang Prabhang, it is not allowed. Period. Even the girls couldn't get one.) It took us about 5 minutes (at jogging speed) to get to the head of the peninsula, to see the convergence of the 2 rivers. Then, we drove about 10 minutes back to the stem of the peninsula. After that, we drove out towards the mountains where I saw a temple in the distance and figured to just head for that. We visited the temple, and after that, our agreed time was just about up... exceeded a little even. We were dropped back off at the guesthouse.

We walked down to a bar called The Chang Bar, which was on one side of the road, but intelligently had set up an outdoor cafe on the other side of the road, which was the river side. The view we had over the Kharn River was exceptional. They seemed to specialize in fresh blended fruit drinks, so I had a vodka lemonade to start off while Rick discovered the joys of lumyai juice mixed with Jack Daniels. I had a sip, and immediately ordered one for myself as well.

We went back to the hotel room and took a break, and then walked back down Saccharin Road and found a restaurant to eat at.

When the sun goes down in Luang Prabhang, the city becomes even quieter. The street lights are low to the ground, in a gas-lamp style, and with most buildings being the low two-story type, the night sky is ceiling-like above you. The shops, which earlier in the day seemed like dark caves in the bright light, were now brightly-lit holes in the night showing off teak, silk, and bamboo. Only one bar on the entire street had any noise coming from it, and that seemed to be almost by design, as if this were the one place in the entire city where talking louder than normal was acceptable. There was even music playing quietly at this place.

Walking back the other direction along Saccharin road, we found the street closed off, and a night market had sprung up. Compared to the gaudy, garish, abusive atmosphere of Thai markets, this was other-worldly: People beckoned to me in quiet voices, palms down in Asian style. Small lanterns lit everything for the entire mile-long length of this market. There was nothing made of plastic sold here. No cheap T-shirts or factory-ready products. No music CDs or bootleg DVDs. No hoochie-momma slutwear stalls or $2 sunglasses or knock-off Orlando Magic jerseys. The only thing you could find here were village crafts. (If these things were made in nearby factories, as opposed to villages, I of course couldn't say, but I'm just going by my own visual impressions... kind of like in Disney World.) The overall effect was tranquil beyond description.
All four of us found things to buy. Hell: All four of us wanted to buy one of just about everything we saw. If you are on a southeast Asian trip, and Luang Prabhang is on your itinerary, you would be hard pressed to find a better place to do your souvenir and gift shopping.