Word: lao
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Luang Prabang marches to the beat of an indifferent drummer. Nothing is rushed in this sleepy Lao hamlet where the somnolence is contagious and you can spot the new arrivals by the briskness of their gaits. On the streets, teenagers conduct confabulations on motorbikes?two or three abreast?scarcely going fast enough to remain vertical. Rheumy-eyed old timers lean on fences in the grip of some nameless torpor. Silent saffron parades of monks glide by, footsteps raising little puffs of dust, stooping now and then to solicit alms. Time creeps by. You imagine some indolent imp has fallen asleep...
...flyer proclaiming the birth of the Full Mekong Party into my hand. "I'm the Great Disco Dane," he explained, assuring me the party would be "wicked." Around 9 p.m., I ventured down to the sandy strip where the ferries land?to find about 20 people sipping Beer Lao around a fire, a decided lack of music and a disconsolate Disco Dane. "I can't believe it, man," he moaned. "We got shut down." His disappointment was Luang Prabang's gain...
Knowing that I was sleeping in the prince's old bedroom, where he spent his twilight years reliving old glories and plotting who knows what intrigues under the watchful eye of the government, added to the Souvannaphoum's mildewy colonial charm. As did the chilled bottles of Beer Lao served up by the smiling bellboy...
...Vietnam's overnight train from Hanoi to the northern town of Sapa, they've found it. The express, launched two years ago by the Paris-based Victoria hotel chain, is really three specially outfitted carriages added to the regular night train from Hanoi to the northern border town of Lao Cai. The journey is such a pleasure that, contrary to most train rides, passengers complain that the 10-hour trip is too short. The experience is mashed potatoes, fried rice and your mother's chicken noodle soup all rolled into one. With its combination of opulence?uniformed waiters, linen tablecloths...
...Fitz explains that he's trying to taper off. And he plans to smuggle into Thailand a few opium pellets that he can boil in a pot of tea and drink. He'll be getting out, he swears. He's not going to stay in some Lao backwater, the Asian equivalent of Appalachia, just because the dope is cheap and plentiful. You want to believe him, you really do, but you just know he's not going anywhere...