Luang Prabang is a gorgeous UNESCO city with temples everywhere.  While I was eating breakfast one day, a Laos girl walked up to me and tried to sell me a bracelet.  I’m a pretty hard sell, but she sat down and I started asking questions about her life.  In the end, she got me to buy her a mango shake, and I ended up getting a bracelet… but I did

From Chiang Khong in Thailand, I took a 2-minute boat ride over the Mekong to the Laos border.  Then I took a minivan to Luang Nam Tha, which is a one-road town that has the best Laos coffee ever (coffee to condensed milk ratio was perfect).  Then I took a chicken bus (there was a live chicken in a bag on the top of the ’82 Toyota van) for the

Today I am in Luang Prabang.  I got in last night at about 6 p.m. from Luang Nam Tha.  The journey took about 8 ½ hours.  When I arrived at the bus station, there were a few nice buses, but I was put on an older bus with no air con and standard school bus seats.  Since there weren’t that many people traveling (12 including a baby and the driver), they moved us