So, I’m absolutely still not feeling 100%, but I am somehow sticking more or less to my itinerary and feeling fine when it matters most. (AKA – when it’s time to eat!)

I flew from Chiang Rai via Bangkok into Luang Prabang, Laos, today. Both of those flights were quite short, so I was able to depart Chiang Rai in the late morning and land in Luang Prabang by 4 this afternoon. Landing at Luang Prabang’s airport featured views of green, rolling mountains stretching out in every direction, and was one of the most beautiful landings I’ve ever experienced.

After I’d gotten my visa, I took a shared taxi with a French family to my hotel. (This is clearly a very popular tourist destination for the French, which makes sense considering its colonial past.)

My hotel is in the market area of town – the morning food market takes place on the street just north of me, and the night market happens just south of me – so I’ll have all sorts of shopping to do every time I enter or leave the building.

After I’d checked in at the hotel, received a million and one recommendations of what to do during my three days in town, and settled into my room, I left to do a little wandering. I headed toward the Mekong River, where the street is high above water-level and steep staircases lead from the river to the street to allow access to the passengers on the many boats making their way down the river. Seeing that many people were finding spots along this stretch to sit to watch the sunset, I joined in for a beautiful view.

I then followed one of the suggestions I had received at the hotel when I asked where to go for dinner tonight. Walking to the Nam Khan River side of town, I found a restaurant called Tamarind and was seated at a table on the balcony under a fan. (My timing was just right, as other people without reservations who arrived after me were turned away.)

This restaurant is very clever and knows that tourists are unlikely to know much about Lao food, so they offer a few tasting platter options that act as an introduction. After snacking on a starter of bamboo chips, my tasting platter arrived. It consisted of khai pene (dried river vegetables), jeow bong (spicy sweet chili paste with buffalo skin), orlam (“thick soup” with chicken, eggplant, chili wood, and vegetables), sai oua (pork sausage), and soop pak (steamed veggies with sesame seeds and herbs). This was served with a bamboo basket of sticky rice, which I was told to roll into a ball in my hand and use that as my method of eating all the other elements.

This was all absolutely delicious and featured flavors I’d never had before in my life. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to eat all that much of it because of the echos of an upset stomach, and I think I may have offended the staff because of how much was left on my plate! Fortunately, this feast only cost 70,000 kip – or 8 US dollars.