Why I love Luang Prabang

Living in Luang Prabang is like living in an off earth, European / southeast Asian quaint little city. There is no sense of time here, and there is no sign of the outside world (besides the tourists... But even they seem very present and transfixed on the magical atmposhere of Luang Prabang). There are no chain restaurants. No name brands. No TV's with the news on. And it's taken me a month of living here to notice that. But now that it has been a month, the lack of outside media and sign of the outside world is really noticable. It's nice, to really just be here. But things like what month it is and what day it is mean absolutely nothing to me. It could be summer; 4th of July. Or it could be just before thanksgiving. If it wasn't for the date on my iPhone I would have no clue. I wake up every day, go see the noodle soup lady- or go to Books and Tea and curl up there for a couple hours if I have the morning off. I spend some days teaching and lesson planning non stop, and some days relaxing and doing nothing but reading my book. These days fly by but time feels like it's standing still. 

It's incredible to me that this country has been open to visitors for only 15 years. Before that, no one was allowed in. Like North Korea. 15 years ago, when you came to Laos, you were followed by the police and had to have a tour guide with you everywhere you went. The country wide curfew used to be 9pm. This is for a few reasons. One, because lao people are generally farmers. This mean they work on the schedule of the sun. When the sun rises, they get up. When it starts to set, they go home, eat and go to bed. Two, because when the French were here in Laos, many young girls were raped by the French men if they were on the streets at night. The curfew was to ensure that all people were off the streets at dark. Of course, this didn't go over well when Laos opened its doors to western tourists. Now we can obviously walk around without the police and a tour guide, and the curfew has been pushed back to 11:30. It's still very much so in tact though. Luang Prabang has over 1,000 monks. It's not a big city either. These monks, and many locals, wake up at 4:30 every morning to give almes. Right outside my room I hear it, every day. The banging of the drum as they walk down the street in front of our guesthouse. The curfew is to help respect these local traditions. If loads of backpackers are out every night partying till 4 am, locals won't get to sleep well, and it would most definitely disrupt the almes giving. 

Coming from Thailand, the curfew was a big shock to me-so was how separate Luang Prabang is from the rest of the world. Coming from the U.S., Thailand was a shock to me. But Thailand is a good 20 - 30 years ahead of Laos. They have chain food. They have chain stores, big shopping malls, Laos is literally an old traditional culture kept in a box- everything different and modern staying on the outside, not to be let in. And that's amazing really. There are very few places like that left in the world. 

I love everything about living in Luang Prabang. 

I love how in the morning, you can't see the surrounding mountains because it's foggy- and the air is chilly. 

I love going to see the noodle soup lady next door, who's always happy to see me and serve me her delicious 8,000 kip (one dollar) noodle soup. 

I love how the lane I live on has 5 dogs that kind of belong to everybody, and the kids are always playing with them and they're always running up and down the lane, so happy when we get home. 

I love, love, love being accepted by the locals as part of this community, and respected as a teacher- regardless of the fact that I am only 18 and have no education in teaching. 

I love how we have BBQ's once a week and KK , the woman who runs the guesthouse cooks delicious lao food. 

I love going to bed and every night hearing the distant booming of music, meaning undoubtly that someone got married or had a baby. 

I love seeing my students on the street and hearing "teacher teacher!! Where are you going!!"

I love going to the shop next door, where the young man and his wife and their cute little baby are always sitting, waiting for a customer. On my first day in Luang  Prabang they saw me in my sin (traditional Lao skirt) and asked what I was doing here in Laos. When I told them I was about to start my first day teaching, they smiled and said  in broken English, "you're gonna do great. Come tell us how it goes". We've been friends ever since, and their little boy is getting cuter every day! 

I love hearing the roosters, and the monks chanting at 4:30 am, and knowing that it's 4 am and I still have 4 hours to sleep; But feeling some compassion for my novice students, who I know have started their day but will still be in my evening class until 8:45 pm, regardless of how tired and hungry they are. 

It's only been a month and I am ridiculously attached to this little town. Two more months and i don't know if I'll be getting on that plane back west to Sweden...why do that if I could just live here forever?