Left:Sisavangvong Road in Louangphabang retains its colonial-era architecture and is a hub for casual cafés, tourist services, and French-style pastries.
Right:Easygoing café life adds to the romance of the city. Photograph by Ewen Bell

By Andrew Nelson
10 July 2019

The memory brings a smile as I stand in a line of passengers at Louangphabang airport, in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. I’ve traveled 9,000 miles to Southeast Asia inspired by Van Nolintha, a charismatic 32-year-old Laotian-American restaurateur in Raleigh, North Carolina, whose inventive renditions of his childhood dishes from his native land have earned the acclaim of diners and food critics alike.

"From the 14th to the 16th centuries, it served as the capital of a state that called itself Lan Xang, or Kingdom of a Million Elephants. Princely wars and declining fortunes followed. In 1560 the Laotian capital was moved to Vientiane, though Louangphabang retained its own king. Eventually Laos fell into European possession following the creation of the French protectorate in 1893. The French recognized Louangphabang as the Laotian royal seat once more. Beside the ancient temples, a new Parisian-designed palace and French administrative buildings filled the historic core, now a UNESCO World Heritage site."

"I locate my friend Van at Satri House, a former colonial mansion revived as a boutique hotel. He’s in the courtyard, dangling his legs in the pool. “Do you like it here?” he asks as a bottle of chilled rosé appears. I do."

“Identity is in the very food you eat here,” Van says. “It’s profoundly important to Louangphabang. Our cuisine is central to how we understand ourselves. Our sense of place and relationship to the sacred are found in the ingredients we harvest along the river and the food we cook at home."

"A love for the small, artful moment infuses Louangphabang in unexpected ways. Walking on a side street in the old city, I notice plumeria blossoms set carefully and reverently atop fence posts and doorstops, as offerings to the Buddha, a reminder of the city’s respect for gesture and the fusion of earth and spirit. I spot the creamy white blooms on a hotel-room nightstand and on the steps leading to the temples. Plumerias become, for me, a sign not just of beauty but thoughtfulness."

"As romantic and enigmatic as it is, Louangphabang is also part of the in-your-face 21st century. It is only becoming more intertwined with the wider world. The hammer and sickle still flutter from government buildings, and while citizens joke that the acronym for the People’s Democratic Republic stands for “Please Don’t Rush,” Laos is doing just that."

Full https://www.nationalgeographic.com/trav ... g-prabang/

I'm actually moving back to live in Luang Prabang in precisely 3 weeks from now. I lived there in 2013 when I was the headmaster of the international school. I hated the job (white-face puppet), but I loved the town.

Recently I returned to Thailand from teaching in Myanmar. I loved the scenery and people in Myanmar, but the food mainly sucked and the international internet service was flaky. I teach online now and need fast and reliable internet. Thailand offered that, but Thailand had changed since I moved there in 2002. Where could I live? The answer was Luang Prabang.

I've rented a beautiful hardwood house within metres of the rivers, perfectly placed to sample the food in the many different restaurants.

I can't wait

simon43 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 24, 2019 10:30 am I can't wait

@simon43

Sounds exciting. Best of luck and enjoy your time there!

You can get sufficient internet speeds and reliability to work online in Laos?