The best part of traveling in Luang Prabang is walking the streets, up and down staircases, and finding yourself in the middle of an alley way lined with bookstores and cafes. There are beautiful villas, French restaurants lit by the natural sunlight peaking through the doorway and candles on every table. I was only able to enjoy a few adventures until I was instructed to "stay in bed and not move," of course; I'm very bad at following rules. I danced around the room a little bit, but by dancing I mean shuffling my feet back and forth with my new slippers and jewelry on. You see, there's an enchanting night market where you can buy beautiful quilt coverings, bags, t-shirts, lanterns, and my greatest weakness, silver jewelry for cheap cheap.
We shopped and walked for three days: eating, talking, and playing cards. On the fourth day of our vacation, Michael and I took a boat trip to visit a cave, which took about ten minutes, and the freezing boat trip where your nose and fingers are about to be severed from your hands, was about four hours long. I think this is what caused my back injury, or maybe it's my age. I'm not sure, but when I woke up the next day I couldn't move and could barely breathe. Laughing and sneezing were the worst feelings in the world rather than the quasi-orgasmic experiences they're supposed to be. As a result, I remained in bed listening to four podcasts of This American Life and reading The Gunslinger. I've never read a Stephen King book before because embarrassingly, I've been one of those people in the, "Oh, I would never read Stephen King" camp even though I have read Dan Brown on a plane trip before. For Shame! The Gunslinger: thrilling, thoughtful, great for teenage readers (I wanted my students to read it right away), and you can tell that Stephen King loves his story as much as you, the reader, do. My back was in intense pain, but at least my mind was happy.
I have much more to say about the beautiful land of Luang Prabang: the people, the food, the sights, the sounds...and many pictures to share. This really was, oddly enough, one of my favorite trips for many reasons but the one thing that I'm miss the most right now is the candy cane mocha from Jo Ma's. I love this bakery/eatery, and I'm sure anyone who has visited Luang Prabang has praise to shower on Jo Ma's. If I could only remove the cranky, waddling, gray-bouffant-haired westerner who manages the place (more on her later), Jo Ma's would be a slice of paradise.
Michael's parents arrive tomorrow night, so we're on a polish and organize mission in between nap and Wii breaks. Enjoy your break, if you are lucky enough to have one, and if not, make sure you waste a great deal of time on Facebook at the office. You deserve it.
-Karinna
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