Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Wide Eyed and Dreaming

Hello from the airport of Luang Prabang. We're through immigration after paying a departure tax of $10. When we arrived, we payed an arrival tax of $35. They had a sliding scale of what to pay for visitors from each country of the world. The vast majority were at the $35 dollar mark, the exception being the Swedes, who are only $31 dollars to enter Laos. Not sure what the $4 differential is between Swedes and the rest of the world, perhaps some of their diplomatic work entitles some discount.

The airport here is a bit awkward. We approached the counter and asked to check into our flight. They crew of three looked at us as if we had asked them if they might have had any good recipies using human brains. All check in procedures were done by the collective group, each pointing and muttering instructions at the computer screen simultaniously. Their working computer was a laptop that looked like it belonged to somebody's cousin. Our bags were whisked off an open loading dock into the back of a truch, which we hope is headed to the same airplane we are. To my left in the waiting area is a woman standing by the trash can whose job it seems is to stand by the trash can. Admittedly, one good things about asian airports and their airlines is that they always leave the emergency exit rows for the long-legged foreigners like myself. Sometimes being a wide-eye has its' privledges. We just heard an announcement over the single-speaker loudspeaker which sounded like Charlie Brown's teacher with a bad comical Chinese accent. No idea what it was meant to convey, but nobody seems too concerned.

Nonetheless, our stay in Luang Prabang was an overwhelmingly positive one. The Thong Bay Guest House was as hospitible and welcoming as anyone could ask for. We'd certianly stay there again. The town itself was a very unique and spiritual place, I can see why it is being preserved. The bugs and mozzies haven't been too bad, a few bites here and there, but we're winning the battle. Peggy has been touched by a slight case of Mekong River revenge, but has managed to soldier through it.

We've also found a scattered few who've either been on the same flight or seen walking around town. We're committed to meet up with a retired dentist and his eccentric Manhattanite wife in Hue next week. They were in the same hotel as us in Bangkok and we saw them in Siem Reap as well. I was lucky enough to run into a former co-worker from about six years ago at a cafe in Luang Prabang. Small world.

posted by ncawthon at 5:20 PM