In Luang Prabang, we are brought back into city life, though amazingly, village life continued even in the city. Rice cakes, chilies, and seaweed dried in the sun on the newly paved sidewalks. Young orange-robed monks serenely crossed the streets, unaware of a few motorbikes whizzing past. Women hand-wrapped spring rolls at street stalls next to trendy tourist cafes. This is the beauty of Luang Prabang, the co-existence of modern and traditional living, serenely nestled together in a lush valley where the Nam Khan River joins the Mekong. We were easily drawn in to the sleepy charm of Luang Prabang. Our homey guesthouse was full of interesting travelers who quickly became our friends, and the place was run by a fun, attentative Lao family who doted on and cooked for all of us. The father would wait up for us travelers to return at midnight after going out for dinner and drinks together. The nights were surprisingly very chilly and we all wore silk knit scarves that we'd bought in the town's Night Market, where the gorgeous handicrafts made us backpackers wish that we had homes to decorate. In the town's 'old city', we were romanced by Luang Prabang's architecture - rows of French-Indochinese shophouses and dazzling, ancient temples - which have earned the city a World Heritage designation. No matter how many beautiful wats (temples) we'd seen, the next was even more magnificent. From the temple on top of Phou Si Hill, we admired the whole town from above, and from the simple riverside cafes, we watched village and river life up close. Aside from an afternoon at Kouang Si waterfall outside of town, we were perfectly content to while away the days in Luang Prabang City.

However, we had one more stop in mind for our two week sample tour of Laos - a tiny village called Muang Ngoi, which can only be reached by boat. We first traveled by road for three hours, north to the town of Nong Khiaw. By chance we ended up having our own private mini-van for the trip, driven by a Laos man named Wan Di, who became our friend and guide for the day. He made a few stops to teach us about local plants, people and customs, and walked us through a village that few foreigners have the chance to visit. A retired algebra teacher and father of three grown children, Wan Di had also been a monk three times in his life. From Nong Khiaw, we piled into a low, wooden longboat for the hour ride to Muang Ngoi, the boat motor just barely able to propel us upstream on the scenic Nam Ou River. Bungalows on stilts signaled our arrival to Muang Ngoi and once off the boat and up the hill, we found ourselves in a village of only one dirt lane, surrounded by dramatic jungle mountain scenery. Word had clearly got around about his place, as wooden shack restaurants catered to backpacker tastes and tourist bungalows lined the river. Yet, it would still be hard for Muang Ngoi to feel touristy. The flimsy, rustic bungalows - smack dab in the middle of all the village action - contained nothing more than a hard bed and mosquito net, electricity was only available from 6-8 pm each night, and we were awoken at 4:30 each morning by screeching roosters just outside our hut. We could walk across the village in about four minutes, so it was the kind of place where you relish doing nothing - laying in hammocks, reading, eating flavourful local dishes cooked in campfire kitchens and sitting on riverside bamboo decks to absorb the heat of the day before the temperature plummeted at night. A lot of the time we just watched the locals, the women giving each other perms in the street, the men making bricks, little boys carrying their catch of the day up from the river. Turkeys and chickens strutted in their bamboo pens, puppies wrestled in the road, and pigs were tied up and carried away on boats.

We've heard people say that Laos is the place where the Thai go to learn to slow down and the Vietnamese go to learn the art of doing nothing. Our short journey in this country certainly reminded us about the simple things in life and gave us a chance to slow down and appreciate everything around us. Of course, it's not hard to appreciate your surrounds in Laos, a beautiful country of beautiful people.

Traveler Tips:
**If you want to take the longboat trip all the way between Luang Prabang and Muang Ngoi, consider going mostly by road on the way up, then taking the boat trip back as the river runs south and will make your ride smoother and shorter - about 6 hours.

**Luang Prabang and destinations further north get quite cold in the winter months (around Dec/Jan), so bring appropriate clothing.