{"id":1504,"date":"2012-02-11T03:07:09","date_gmt":"2012-02-11T13:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/?p=1504"},"modified":"2012-02-11T03:34:12","modified_gmt":"2012-02-11T13:34:12","slug":"oh-snap-i-got-a-head-rush","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/2012\/02\/11\/oh-snap-i-got-a-head-rush\/","title":{"rendered":"Oh, Snap! I Got A Head-Rush"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Written Friday, February The 10th, Night]<\/h4>\n

This city is\u2026some kind of a something.<\/p>\n

Had intended, to-day, to do some relaxation; stereo on and cooking bacon (AKA the dangling of one\u2019s feet in the Mekong whilst catching up on some reading), yeah yeah. Can you guess what I ended up doing instead?<\/p>\n

Yes\u2026that one was too easy: Temples! I\u2019ve got it bad, my Droogs. It\u2019s interesting about Luang Prabang. There aren\u2019t nearly so many temples per block as in Chiang Mai, they\u2019re not nearly as well maintained (though many are currently undergoing restoration), many of the temples are closed even while the grounds are open, many of them charge admission. But somehow, the temples here are possibly more awesomer even that their Chiang Mai cousins.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll again point in the direction<\/a> of my Luang Prabang Temples Flickr set for all the serious damage. Here are the most fascinating goings-on at one particular temple, which actually was closed, but which had some great mural action on the outside<\/em> walls. Including panels that seem to suggest that the Buddha was hatched out of a egg. Possibly egg of chicken\u2026<\/p>\n

\"egg1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2026possibly egg of turtle, naga, or buffalo\u2026<\/p>\n

\"egg2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2026or possibly egg of some sort of griffin.<\/p>\n

\"egg3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Me, I vote for the chicken! Natch<\/em>!<\/p>\n

But around the corner from this whimsy is where it gets shockingly grisly. Don\u2019t know exactly what\u2019s going on in these scenes\u2026but that it ain\u2019t good is all too clear.<\/p>\n

\"hellacious1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"hellacious2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

At a different temple, the first Standing Buddha I\u2019ve seen. (Well factually, I\u2019d thought that such was against the protocol.)<\/p>\n

\"standing\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In addition to visiting temples, also checked out quite a few galleries. Yep, wicked-good artists may be added to the ever-growing list of this town\u2019s charms.<\/p>\n

\"artgallery\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Got into a conversation with a local name of \u201cPheng\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"pheng\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When he met me, he was headed down to water the garden \u2013 hence the pail. The banks of both rivers are lined, far as the eye could see, with veggie gardens. I think it\u2019s probably like a P-Patch kinda deal, where whosoever helps to take care of an area gets to reap the bounty.<\/p>\n

\"garden\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Pheng is twenty-two, arrived two years ago from Nam Bak. In addition to studying English, he also works in a nearby restaurant. He\u2019s an intensity to him suggesting a world-weariness; and he chooses his words with some deliberation. I liked him quite a lot.<\/p>\n

His father was killed eleven years ago, I think<\/em> from some sort of head injury, but not quite sure. Very interesting and genuine fellow. But soon the mosquitoes came calling for pints and pints of blood, so I had to let him go. He requested my e-mail address, which was happily given; so perhaps I shall hear from him again.<\/p>\n

Walking down the street, I done passed his restaurant.<\/p>\n

\"sala\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019m planning to head to the Plain Of Jars, east of here, after leaving Luang Prabang. Found a little bit of back-story along a street.<\/p>\n

\"plainofjars\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Love the bit about \u201cthe evil chieftain, Chao Angka\u201d. As long as we\u2019re into informative signage, here\u2019s a general Luang Prabang Q&A, posted outside the Lao Lao Beer Garden.<\/p>\n

\"qa\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBike! Bike! Rent a bike; it\u2019s the perfect way to explore the city.\u201d So says everyone. They\u2019re out they minds. Walking is the only way to go; and my pace is measured in blocks per hour.<\/p>\n

Other sights from another fantastic day walking about the Old Quarter included this set-up, reminiscent of Bangkok\u2019s \u201cBrain Power Center\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"chicken\"<\/a><\/p>\n

These kids are totally righteous, I think you\u2019ll agree.<\/p>\n

\"kids\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Passed some other kids in the schoolyard, just as they were moving the goalposts into place for some down-home barefoot soccer.<\/p>\n

\"goalposts\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"soccer\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Santa Claus made an unexpected riverside appearance. (The walk down the Nam Khan river at dusk is pretty special, as all the riverside restaurants, galleries, bookstores, cinemas, and whatnot are all lit up to kill \u2013 and in the perfect natural setting.)<\/p>\n

\"santa\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Still on the Xmas tip, been seeing this hairdo around town; I call it the \u201cHeat Miser\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"heatmiser\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The bit of blurriness seems only to make better this outrageously great wheelie-pop.<\/p>\n

\"wheelie\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And\u2026to say again: I just love, love, love, love, love<\/em> my camera. This is maybe my favourite photograph that I\u2019ve ever taken, but ever:<\/p>\n

\"camera\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This city\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[Written Saturday, February The 11th, Evening]<\/h4>\n

A day of relaxation, by dint of circumstance: woke up and began poring over the map to see what to do on this fine morning; but then gradually began to fall under the weather. Low-grade fever, slightly upset stomach, a general bu-larhgh.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think<\/em> it\u2019s anything I et, as yesterday I dined only on one quite-tasty Watermelon, and two kilos\u2019 worth of quite-tasty mandarins. If I were to guess the cause, I might name out an over-abundance of sunshine this past week; or I might select the country\u2019s poor air-quality finally catching up with me. As I say, by my reckoning, Luang Prabang\u2019s is about on par with L.A.’s. A stay in the latter will certainly give me a scratchy throat \u2013 maybe LPB\u2019s air is a little worse, or maybe I never really got a chance to flush out my system from Luang Namtha\u2019s and Udomxai\u2019s disastrous breathing experiences.<\/p>\n

So, I retired to bed for a bout of fasting\/resting\/hydrating. Hopefully the morrow will have me once again prowling the streets and alley-ways of this insanely wonderful city.<\/p>\n

On the bright side, ’twas not an entirely<\/em> an unproductive day; as I did manage to upload more than four hundred photos to the Flickr account; and I did score a nice little 4-0 sweep in the day\u2019s hockey wagers. This last was keyed by the Sabres having netted an equalising goal with fewer that thirty seconds remaining on the clock \u2013 which event almost<\/em> completely making up for Ottawa having yesterday surrendered, with ten<\/em> seconds\u2019 time remaining, a to-them meaningless goal, eighty-sixing a big, fat puckline chicken which was that close<\/em> to hatching.<\/p>\n

Best of all, I think<\/em> I\u2019ve solved a riddle which\u2019s been wracking my innards for now near-to a week\u2019s time. Viz.:<\/p>\n

\"bugle\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Know that on the bus from Udomxai to Nong Khiaw, I did make witness to three or four of its opposite (i.e., an all-blue background with a white bugle pasted in, and without the red slash). What could it possibly mean?<\/p>\n

Something to do with one\u2019s radio. Something literally<\/em> to do with bugling or marching bands? With ungulates? What<\/em>???<\/p>\n

I think I\u2019ve got it! (If you desire to puzzle it out for you own self, do not read on\u2026)<\/p>\n

That Is To Say: Spoiler-Alert<\/h3>\n

No blowing-of the horns on city blocks (or at least this <\/em>particular city block) \u2013 perhaps because of a nearby schoolyard? Meanwhile, do<\/em> sound the call when driving \u2018round and \u2018round narrow, windy mountain roads \u2013 so as to alert oncoming traffic (including there\u2019s a lot of foot-traffic on the mountain roads) of your approach.<\/p>\n

I guess all y’alls figured out immediament<\/em> what took my little pea-brain for near-on to a week’s time. But I’m pretty happy with myself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Written Friday, February The 10th, Night] This city is\u2026some kind of a something. Had intended, to-day, to do some relaxation; stereo on and cooking bacon (AKA the dangling of one\u2019s feet in the Mekong whilst catching up on some reading), … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1504\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}