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Stupid Falangs in a Beautiful Town
Luang Prabang, 26th April 2002
I met up with Sophie & Tilen for an early breakfast before starting
our exploration of Luang Prabang.
Luang Prabang is a wonderful little town. It's full of character and
has a colourful history. The importance of the French colonial stlye
buildings & the whole atmosphere of the city has been recognised.
The whole town is A UNESCO World Heritage site and it is protected
by a collection of laws. All new buildings are carwfully controlled,
building work is regulated and no buildings can be over 3 stories
high. These rules will hopefully keep the unique character of the
town alive for centuries to come.
We spent the morning strolling around looking at the various sights
and checking out a few of the Wats. The view or the Mekong is really
quite amazing, so we spent a while taking photos.
In the afternoon we visited the markt and went to a few of the
shops. At one of them, I pointed to a scoop shaped wicker rice
steamer, remarking how some silly falangs have probably mistaken the
for hats. Sophie laughed, then suggested we should buy one each and
wear them round town for a laugh. I laughed back at her, no chance!
But after 10 minutes of harassing & cajooling they managed to
convince me that wearing these rice bowls on our heads would be
great fun. I don't know why, but I gave in.
The lady gave us the rice steamers, still in fits of laughter
because she'd figure out what we were going to do. We spent the next
couple walking around town using these wicker things as hats. Most
of the Lao people found it incredibly funny. Some just gave us looks
saying `stupid falangs'. I guess it's the same as walking around
with a tuppleware box on your head in England. Of course you're
going to get funny looks. Oh well, at least we're bringing some
cheer to the locals. It'd be funny if we started a trend & next year
we came back & everyone was doing it!
The rest of the evening passed quickly with a fantastic indian meal
at a lovely restaurant (Tillen said that even with 3 months in
India, this was the best Indian meal he'd had) followed by some card
games. We taught each other a few of the games played in our own
countries, finding that many of them were the same, just with
different names.
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To know the road ahead, ask those coming back
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