Sabaidee
Today, Casey and Madison went kayaking with the boys we met and I hung back in favor of exploring the city a bit more. Let’s be honest, these arms are not made for paddling. I left our hostel this morning with no aim and no goal, and it turned out to be one of the most wonderful days. The weather is hot but not overbearing, and by the river it is perfect, the kind of warm I daydream about when I’m bundled in sweaters and blankets in Boston.
Luang Prabang, like Pai, is an easy place to fall in love with. Small enough to understand and make your own, lovely local people positively glowing with the sun stored in their skin. Very unlike Pai, you are able to feel its history. An interesting mix of crisp, French Colonial architecture and intricate, brightly colored Buddhist temples, it feels foreign and familiar all at once. I walked around for five hours and I know there is so much more to see. This place, it reminds me of falling in love, elegant in its simplicity.
I went down the main road to the end of town, crossed a bridge into a smaller village, and then back along the river. I returned to the lookout we went to yesterday, visited the Luang Prabang Museum, walked around a couple temple complexes and met some very friendly monks, a two kittens and a puppy. I also got a chance to talk to some of the locals and learn about the surrounding villages where they are from.
There is something so different about experiencing beauty by yourself. With no one to make the mundane observation to: “wow, this is really beautiful,” you have to internalize it, like a kept secret, it is so much stronger when you have to hold it all inside of yourself. Your response to it just culminates in your fingertips, or pours out of your eyes.
