Sunday, October 29. After a brief stop at Bangkok’s Flower Market (huge, but repetitive), we flew to Luang Prebang, Laos. Though the airport was Bangkok’s secondary one, there was a lounge I could use. We had a long wait, so it was nice.

Laos from the air is green wilderness. At the airport we took a short big bus ride to connect with “jumbos”, three wheelers, moderately larger than tuk-tuks. The city doesn’t allow buses. It’s not very advanced, looking very much like a third-world community. Small hotels, few buildings above two stories. Many, many, many kiosks along the roads. I found the local post office and sent a post card to Japan. The card cost 20 cents, postage cost $1.

We took jumbos to the river and walked through the historical sector to dinner. French style mansions, pretty run-down. Temples everywhere. Tomorrow there is a BIG annual celebration and the city is clearly preparing for it. Huge crowds everywhere. The temples are all lit up with colorful paper lanterns. Tomorrow the river will be full of floating lanterns. Should be a sight to see. After dinner I walked back to the hotel through the night market. Very slow going. Really nice merchandise. Must. Not. Buy.