Mount Phousi and Midnight Noodles

Having again slept until noon I spend the day finishing what I had started the day before. I return to Dala Market to do my shopping and I had my afternoon reading time at JoMa Café, slurping on passion fruit juice. I then decide to do the climb up Mount Phousi. The way up to the top is actually a little challenging, 350 steps i definitely more than it sounds. The reward however makes the climb absolutely worth it. The view is stunning with Luang Prabang down below, surrounded by green soft mountains with their peaks hidden in the clouds and Mekong River making its way down south. After standing on the peak of the mountain for a while absorbing the view I make my way down on the opposite side of the mountain from which I came. Here the path is steeper and it is less crowded. It is also surrounded by statues of Buddha and I pass some Laotier praying while I secretly vomit on the tourist taking a picture of their sacred moment. When I’m almost at the end of the climb down, I meet a group of tourists going up exhausted by their climb so far, I want to tell them that they still have a long long long way to go.

The rest of the evening took a rather unexpected turn. My relative and host gives me a call earlier in the day and tells me that the boys at the hotel is going out clubbing tonight and that I am welcome to join. Of course I can’t say no and at 10.00 pm that night I find myself at a local bar, Star Pub, where I and another Swedish newcomer are the only westerners and they only play Lao or Thai music, first on the stereo but later live. The alcohol for sale is BeerLao and Carlsberg, which just recently just bought Beerlao. We hang out for a while and then move on to a nightclub which actually plays music I recognize. We go by car with a sober driver, but the rest of Luang Prabang go by vespas or motorbikes and when we exit the nightclub we have a sea of auto-bikes in front of us. I do not need to tell you that most accidents on the road happen on a Friday or Saturday night.

We end the evening by introducing “fyllekäk”, or drunk-food, to our new Laotian friends but since there is no McDonalds in Luang Prabang (Thank God) we end up a the night open noodle place wolfing down Yellow Chicken Noodle Soup. Everything closes early in Luang Prabang and by 1 o'clock in the morning I am back home after a surprisingly fun night.