Laos: A Travel Diary

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03.01.2012 Pakbeng (LAOS)

[Stefy]: “Having crossed the border by canoe, they stamp our passport and we begin our navigation on the legendary Mekong. It was exciting to see Laotian daily life unfolding along the river. Some women were washing clothes, children were bathing, cows were relaxing in the sun along the sandy banks, and the lush landscape every so often gave way to small villages built on stilts. In the middle of the river there often rose gigantic stones eroded by wind and water that gave an even more naturalistic touch to it all. We arrive in Pakbeng at around 18.00, after seven hours of navigation, but we are only halfway… tomorrow morning we will have to take another boat to reach Luang Prabang”.

Pakbeng. A village in the middle of nowhere. Those who have a little house have turned it into a very basic guest house, those with a little free space have turned it into a little restaurant… the others? They sell coca cola, nutella, Oreo, Pringles or make sandwiches for the journey! This is Pakbeng!

04.01.2012 Luang Prabang (LAOS)

The big day for Stefy has arrived! This morning Ilaria and Rosy arrived. It was moving to hug them again after so long!

[Stefy]: “It will be lovely to share a little piece of our journey with them!”

05.01.2012 Luang Prabang (LAOS)

[Stefy]: “We wake up at 5.30 to go and see the monks passing in single file along the main street of the city for the offering of rice”. The edges of the streets were packed with people who, with terracotta bowls full of rice in their hands, patiently waited for these little men in red robes.

06.01.2012 Luang Prabang (LAOS)

We spend the whole day discovering the many temples of the city. Sitting in the shade of a big tree, in the courtyard of one of the many temples, for a moment I closed my eyes and tried to imagine what life was like in that remote place even just a hundred years earlier.. Suddenly images of princes and kings, elephants, servants, courtiers, heroic warriors, wise monks, tigers etc. appeared before my dreaming eyes…

At Wat Sop we stop to chat with a young Buddhist monk who invites us to attend their daily prayer at 17.00 No sooner said than done. At that hour, in religious silence, we were sitting at the back of the pagoda, absorbed in admiring but above all in listening to their hypnotic litany. What a lovely experience!

On the hill overlooking the city we find ourselves waiting for the sunset over the Mekong river, happy and satisfied, after this moving day!

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