According to our guide book and various other travelers we've spoken to, Laos has a reputation as a laid back place. The book describes a cultural idea that they have called muan(fun). Apparently, if anything they do doesn't contain some amount of muan, it isn't worth doing. They also have something like a national slogan, which is "Baw pen nyang", or "No problem". I try to take most generalizations about a country with a grain of salt and see for my self what a place is like. And after being here for a very short time I feel that Laos has gotten its reputation for a good reason. Obviously I can't stereotype an entire People and say that they're all a certain way, but stepping into Laos really felt like time slowed down. Life moves at a leisurely pace and most people we've come across are all smiles. Laos has one of the lowest population densities in all of Asia and it's very apparent as you travel around. There's very few towns with more than a few thousand people and LuangPrabang is the first big town we came to. To call it a big town, though, is being quite generous. It only has a population of about 20,000 people and you can walk pretty much the whole place in a day. It sits on a peninsula where the Mekong and Khan Rivers converge, so there's plenty of beautiful water front and it's also a World Heritage Site that is famous as a former royal capital and for it's many Wats. It's an incredibly laid back and beautiful place that we just couldn't help getting sucked into. We stayed for a week and didn't do much but walk around and just chill.
These little girls started out really shy but it didn't take long before they were posing like pros.
They were having a great time posing, but one wanted to see what it was like on the other side of the camera. I have to say she might have a career as a photographer ahead of her. (she took these three)
