Leaving Luang...

Every day here has been like a small gift, wrapped in a multitude of textures and colors.  We don't want to leave.  It is breaking my heart to have to come in and close the wooden shutters for the night, our last.  This small precious town has been such a fun experience, shared happily with my sister and brother-in-law.  We've enjoyed our long leisurely breakfast, walking around town exploring.  Ron and Drew patient with us as Nitza and I are constantly shopping and considering the textiles that are so abundant and beautiful.  Bicycles and boats our other form of transport.  Sunsets on the Mekong, lunch along the Nam Khan beneath the shade of the tamarind trees.  Always the morning ritual of the monks walking before sunrise, lining up in their orange robes, barefoot and silent, to collect their alms for the day.  Sometimes I can hear the gongs at 4 a.m. that awaken the monks for morning prayer.  The sunsets of reds and golden light reflected on the river and the temples golden roofs.  Peaceful serene energy.  Dogs sitting in the temples scratching while the monks chant.  Tourist snapping photos, children playing outside, shoes left out on the steps.  No one seems to mind the intrusions, least of all the monks who go about town quietly and under the protection of umbrellas from the hot sun.  Every evening there is the night market, under plastic blue awnings covering street after street with  hundreds of people selling textiles in a crowded claustrophobic maze, dangling bare light bulbs casting shadows and unnatural light.  Tourist wander slowly in the narrow space shopping and bargaining.  Everywhere you go there are new and beautiful guest houses and small elegant hotels.  Gardens with lotus ponds and candles, antique wooden statues in amongst green flowering tropical bushes, and the lush sounds of water and insects, birds and geckos.  Not a big town, but a very elegant space, protected by Unesco, with no buildings over two stories and no roofline higher than the temple roofs.  The French were here and left a legacy of great ambiance, fabulous baguettes and rich coffee, and architecture of soft pastels and curving staircases.  The incredible light changes throughout the day illuminating and intensifying all around you.  The evenings soft and golden, turning to hues of reds and purple, darkening the sky.  Such an enchanting and friendly town.  I will miss Luang Prabang.