Word: prabang
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Although it lacks royalty, Luang Prabang in peace time would be a quite, restful city. As it is today the only time it seems quiet and restful is if you hold your ears. Planes fly low overhead almost constantly. Every two minutes a plane takes off from Luang Prabang airport--without a doubt the busiest one-strip airport in the world. The noise is often so great that people standing more than two feet apart must shout in order to converse. This goes on 24 hours...
...center of Luang Prabang is a tall hill that rises suddenly and provides an excellent view of the city, its airport, and the surrounding valley which is circled by more abrupt mountains. At night I climbed with several friends to the top of the hill. We watched the airplanes take off and fan out over the mountains. Shortly afterwards the horizon would light up from the explosion of bombs. This was repeated about every ten minutes. When I asked a Lao friend what targets were just over the mountains he said no one lived there any more. Everyone had been...
...afternoon in Luang Prabang I sat drinking the juice of a coconut on the banks of the Mekong. I had just begun a second coconut when a Lao in an air force uniform sat down beside me and told me I should not drink so much coconut juice. I told him that people in India believe coconut juice makes you strong...
...monsoon came while I was in Luang Prabang. One rainy night I went with a young USAID agricultural worker to try out the area's traditional specialty, opium. Laos's opium, which is legal, is reputed to be the best in the world...
...last night in Luang Prabang I ate dinner in the bamboo shack of a Lao translater I had met in the U.S. Information Service office. We ate a typical meal of tasteless "sticky rice," cooked vegetables and soup. We talked about the war, the Americans and the Pathet Lao. "Do you know what Pathet Lao means?" he asked...