Laos

For the majority of Laos, we were traveling by longboat. We first took a car early in the morning to the Thailand-Laos border crossing. It was a very foggy, yet beautiful sunrise. I yawned. I was so tired. We made it to the border crossing and crossed. We met up with the rest of our boat crew and piled into vans. We drove out to the Mekong River. We, and our group, went onto the longboat. The longboat’s width was about the size of my twin bed turned sideways and the length was about the same as a bus. The interior of the boat was quite nice. The floor was made out of smooth orange-ish wood. Tassels hung at the top of the open air windows, and colorful blankets and cushions were laying on the benches. The captain’s steering wheel was at the front; next, there were cubbies to put your shoes in. After that, there were four daybeds and probably ten or so tables with comfy benches around them to sit at. Behind the rows of tables and booths was a large table where the food was served. And behind that, was the boat crew’s cabin area. We and the other passengers slept at hotels. As we piled into the boat, everyone swarmed to the tables and booths. We were last to board and, at first, we were kind of sad we didn’t get a table. There were only the daybeds left. We put our stuff under the bed and laid down. I might of been sad first but in two minutes I was so glad we got the beds. I liked the beds so much I got mad later on when someone else took the beds. On the beds, you could turn your head and stick it out the window and feel the wind sweep across your cheeks. If you turned your head down you could see the water rush out from below. It was so nice. Occasionally, you would look out and see a herd of buffalo or cows drinking at the river. Animals and people deeply depended on the river. Fishermen came in very skinny, small wood boats with usually only a net or a fishing pole. It looked like a scary job, keeping the boats from tipping while fishing. The river also brought out women, sometimes with babies on their backs, and kids to pan for gold. The sun scorched their back as they leaned, hunched over, looking down. After a beautiful day on the river, we got off at a small village and took vans up to our hotel. In this village, the best job you can get is probably working at a hotel. Our hotel was called Le Grand, kind of a cheesy name. Despite its cheesy name the Le Grand hotel was awesome. There was a giant infinity pool, too. An infinity pool is usually high up and you can’t see the edge of the pool, so it looks like the pool is never-ending. My dad and I hopped in. We swam around and came to the edge. There, we watched the sunset. Our view looked like this: below us was the little village that sat at the bottom of the mountain. A whole mountain range surrounded us. The Mekong River weaved around the mountains. The mountains were not jagged and grey, but lush green. The mountains seemed comforting. As the mountains and earth ate the sun, a magnificent sunset shone through the valley. Pink, purple, orange and yellow streaked the sky. The Mekong River glittered gold. It was stunning. The next day we awoke refreshed. We drove down to the long boat and had another beautiful day on the river. In the late afternoon, we arrived at Luang Prabang a small, yet popular city. The other travelers on the boat really seemed to like Luang Prabang. They said it was “so amazingly amazing.” We checked in at our hotel.

Next door to our hotel there were puppies that were always playing in the vacant lot. I named them Toffee and Peanut. Toffee had long and fuzzy fur. Her coat was brown with some black. Peanut had short and smooth fur. And, well, his coat was, peanut colored. I loved the puppies; they had black shining eyes, and ears that bounced up and down when they ran. Every day I played with the puppies. It killed me to look into their eyes and know I would have to leave them. Peanut was mischievous. Toffee was more obedient, and I taught her how to shake or paw. I loved them so much!

Luang Prabang was full of delicious places to eat. Each night food vendors would park down at a corner of the street or in a market and sell delicious food. We noticed one night that many vendors were selling coconut aebleskivers. They looked delicious so we bought three. And let me tell you, they definitely lived up to our expectation and more. As you bit into the crunchy crust, a coconut-y goo poured out accompanied by some cubes of coconut flesh. It was deliciously coconut-y and creamy. This was not the only great food we had in Luang Prabang; we also had another great experience. It was at Ock Pok Tok (OPT). OPT was a very popular store. OPT sold handmade scarves, clothes, toys and handbags. Everyone loved their handmade stuff, but they also had a cafe called The Silkworm Road. This is where I had the other delicious morsel of Luang Prabang. My dad ordered silkworm poo tea, which is exactly what it sounds like. I ordered river weed (like seaweed but found in the river) with purple sticky rice. It also came with some delicious spicy reddish brown sauce. I put the purple sticky rice on a sheet of river weed with a dollop of sauce. The saltiness of the river weed, the milky-ness of the rice the smoky-ness of the sauce. It all mixed together to form my new favorite snack.