Luanprabang, Laos

A short flight from Hanoi, Vietnam, a smaller jet plane turned tightly between the mountains to land at Luanprabang International Airport. Having learned somewhere that this was as far as the Vietcons penetrated into the Lao territory during the Vietnam War, I looked at those mountains as if I were a war-time pilot. There were paths on the shoulders of most mountains, but it was not possible to confirm any traffic or people on these paths.
The small town I visited for the first time had a very friendly and laid back atomosphere. I threw both my luggage and myself into the back of a mini-truck taxi (used import from Japan, I could tell) to get to my hotel. From a bridge over a small tributary of the Mekong, I saw local children innocently play in the river.
The purpose of the trip here was to attend a conference on the Mekong River Basin cooperation. The second day was my vacation day before the start of the conference, and I visited all of the attractions in the central part of this small city--note that there are not many. Just walking around in this cute little town among many European tourists was quite a treat. Street vendors selling French-Lao style sandwitches, along with those selling noodle soup, reminded me of the country's colonial heritage.
As I arrived back at the hotel, where were other participants? Nobody showed up that night, and I went to the conference site--Souphanovong University--directly next morning. I was worried that the conference might have been cancelled in the last minutes after I left Hawaii. Luckily, the only last-minutes change I missed was the hotel--everyone else stayed at a different hotel. I learned many new things about this region, and could share some of my thoughts about regional cooperation with the newly developed network of scholars.
On the way back, a Japanese man on his family vacation sat next to me, and he shared his story about a smaller town he and his family visited. While global tourism is reaching every tiny corner of the globe, people in the tiny corner he visited had clearly left a strong mark on his life. Maybe some day, I too will explore further...