Sabaidy...

is hello in Lao! Luang Prabang is a small, quaint, laid-back town that's full of Buddhist monks and French baguettes. Even though tourism is growing quickly there, there is still a relaxed atmosphere that is very different from Thailand and Cambodia; no tuk-tuk drivers hassliing you, no bedraggled children tugging on your sleeve pitifully, no vendors constantly calling out "Lady lady, look look!" The two days I spent there were the best part of my trip in every sense.

The town is a UNESCO World Heritage site for its mixed cultural traditions, and the fusion of French and Lao culture produces some amazing things. The National Museum is in the French Beaux Arts style, but is full of Lao motifs. Sandwich carts sell Lao style sandwiches on fresh baguettes. There is such wonderful thing as a banana expresso smoothie. I spent most of my time traveling with Paran, a Sri Lankan Australian guy who was chief navigator (very fortunate for me, I have an atrocious sense for directions) and together we toured the town and had tons of Lao food. I felt like a lot of the food was just like Chinese stir fry, with slightly different flavors, but there are a few unique dishes: laap, which is kinda like cooked ceviche with fresh bean sprouts; Mekong riverweed chips, seasoned with sesame seeds and garlic; fish steamed in a banana leaf with dill; and traditional Lao sticky rice, which is eaten with the hands and magically only sticks to itself but not to you. But seriously, a third of our diet consisted of strong Lao coffee and fresh fruit shakes with condensed milk, both equally addicting.

In the morning we would watch the hundreds of monks walking through the streets collecting alms. After several hours of wat-hopping, we'd take a long, long lunch break and wait the midday heat out at Utopia, a utopic cafe built on a bamboo platform over the Mekong River. At night, after a 10,000 kip ($1.25) all you can eat street food meal, we would go to the night market, which is probably the most laidback market in the world...it seems like vendors really don't care if you buy anything, which makes souvenir shopping actually pleasant. Then back to the hostel to watch the World Cup with an ice cold Beerlao and to chat with the young staff who are trying to improve their English. We also went to see the Kuang Si waterfall park nearby, but most of the time we just relaxed and did nothing...a perfect vacation.

The capital Vientiane is quite boring in comparison, since it's in the awkward stage of not quite a big city, although the international food scene there is amazing. I'm all about eating local food, but I decided to splurge ($5) at a French restaurant and I do not regret it. After an uneventful half day there, I took a 13 hour overnight bus to Bangkok and saw a few more sights, some not worth seeing. Khao San road was awful, full of drunk tourists and annoying vendors. I was too cheap to pay 350 baht for the royal palace, but I really enjoyed Jim Thompson's House Museum. He was an American architect who was in the CIA, fell in love with Thailand while stationed there, revived its silk industry, built an amazing traditional teakwood house, and then one day just disappeared in Malaysia and was never found.

On the bus ride from Luang Prabang to Vientiane, I was reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and I came across the line "Sometimes it's a little better to travel than to arrive". At the time I didn't appreciate the statement; it was an excruciatingly slow 12 hour ride on winding mountain roads with poor AC and broken seats, as well as 30 obnoxious British backpackers. But there really is something addictive about traveling, about following your progress on a map and watching the scenery slowly change outside your window. Already I'm planning my next trip, any suggestions are welcome.