Luang Prebang

Spent the entire day on the slow boat down the Mekong. That sounded so romantic to me until a day ago, but the reality is that it wasn't really all that exciting. The ride was pretty, but the scenery remained totally unchanged for 11 hours. There weren't even any villages along the way - just a brown river with rocky shores and jungle hills leading up from the riverbanks. All that aside, it wasn't a bad way to spend the day. I met a couple of Canadians on the boat, Patty and Angel (he's originally from the Dominican Republic), who are both flight attendants for Air Transat. They are close to me in age and are very well-travelled. They have proven to be really good company and are staying next door to me. After we settled into our guesthouse last night we went for dinner together.

The restaurant was one that Patty had chosen from the guide book because it has a large and reasonably priced wine list. It turns out that the food was absolutely out of this world and we also did get to enjoy some really nice wine. So much for my hope that the food here would be horrible - I will definitely not be losing any of that Thailand weight.

I spent much of today wandering around town. Got sidetracked for a couple of hours by some young monks who engaged me in conversation. It was very enlightening - I learned a lot about their way of life and their Buddhism, which is quite different from that of Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan. They shattered all my illusions when they began hitting on me. The novices have 10 rules they have to follow and the ordained monks have 227. You can be sure that getting busy with a westerner twice their age is breaking at least one of them, but they didn't seem to mind. In fact they were quite happy to list all the rules they have broken (killing a mosquito, telling small lies, eating after noon, drinking Beerlao etc.). You'll all be happy to hear that I managed to extricate myself from their company without helping them to break any others.

Luang Prebang itself is a fabulous place. I have truly fallen in love with it and am not sure when I'm going to be able to tear myself free. Every stress has just fallen away and I feel an incredible peace here. It is really special. Perhaps after a few days the novelty will wear off - I'll have to wait and see. In the meantime, I just plan to enjoy this incredible feeling of well-being.

Things that make it wonderful here:
- Laid-back attitude
- No vendors in your face
- Little traffic
- Beautiful architecture
- Massages for $3 per hour
- Awesome food
- Wine. Real wine from other countries priced reasonably
- Cool wats (temples) everywhere
- Beautiful arts and crafts - lots of shopping and markets
- $12 per night for a clean bungalow with hot/cold shower, TV, air-con

It seems like the trend for weather is overcast and cool in the morning and hot and sunny in the afternoon. I'm hoping to go for a run tomorrow morning (who knows - it may lead to a habit). I'm finally in a place where I can run without having to worry about traffic, pedestrians and other interruptions. It will be really nice to have some real exercise again - I've really missed it.

Gotta run - there's a bottle of wine and another great meal waiting for me.