Word: luang
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...Luang Prabang marches to the beat of an indifferent drummer. Nothing is rushed in this sleepy Lao hamlet where the somnolence is contagious and you can spot the new arrivals by the briskness of their gaits. On the streets, teenagers conduct confabulations on motorbikes?two or three abreast?scarcely going fast enough to remain vertical. Rheumy-eyed old timers lean on fences in the grip of some nameless torpor. Silent saffron parades of monks glide by, footsteps raising little puffs of dust, stooping now and then to solicit alms. Time creeps by. You imagine some indolent imp has fallen asleep...
...mellifluous name hints at hidden wonders, and Luang Prabang has certainly achieved cult status among travelers since UNESCO pronounced it the best-preserved city in Southeast Asia six years ago and put it on the World Heritage list. "What a delightful paradise of idleness this country protects, by the fierce barrier of the stream, against progress and ambition for which it has no need," wrote Marthe Bassene, a resident French doctor's wife, in 1909. Her words have since been immortalized in the august pages of the Lonely Planet. "Will Luang Prabang be ... the refuge of the last dreamers...
...Luang Prabang has no McDonald's, no 7-Eleven, no ATMS. It doesn't have a single place to get a cash advance on MasterCard?as I discovered to my embarrassment?which resulted in a last day spent in penury hiding in my hotel. The town is refreshingly free of things to do, apart from wander around, drink coffee and beer in caf?s, and soak up the ambiance. A dust-choked side trip to the gorgeous Kuangsi waterfalls or a jaunt down the river to the Pak Ou caves, which are crammed with ancient Buddha images, make up the extent...
...devotees wait in line at the temple bearing offerings of orchids, cigarettes, bottles of M-150. At the head of the queue, sitting in the lotus position, is Luang Phi Pao, a young monk whose arms and legs are covered with tattooed mantras and serpents. He dips a pointed, 60-cm silver rod into blue black ink infused with Chinese herbs and snake venom. With a steady rhythm, he delicately jabs Niwet Paopunsri, an auto mechanic, inscribing the words The Heart of Lord Buddha in ancient Khmer on the small of his back. (That's Pao's specialty; other monks...
...majority of the more than 300,000 tourists per year come to cruise the scenic Mekong, visit World Heritage Site Luang Prabang or explore the mysterious Plain of Jars. But increasingly they are drawn because they have heard, from other kids on the Asian travel circuit, that drugs in Laos are plentiful and cheap, and as long as you don't do anything too stupid, the cops leave you alone to get loaded in peace. Towns such as Vang Viang and Muang Sing, in the north, have developed expat communities of late teens and twentysomethings who come intending to stay...