Luang Prabang--Epcot East?

The quiet lovely city I first visited some dozen years ago has grown up and in all the wrong directions.  Don't get me wrong, it's still a lovely, charming town, but it's just that you have to look a little harder to find what was once all around.  My first tip would be to avoid the night market, an appalling collection of Chinese junk consisting mostly of Beer Lao T-Shirts and factory made fabrics intended to rival the beautiful weavings that are one of Lao's great art forms.  Even a textile know nothing like myself could see the obvious differences between stuff sold in nice galleries (try Ock Pop Tok, several locations) and the synthetic garbage from the night gallery.  Once I got over the initial shocks of how much the marketplaces have grown and the hotel scene expanded, I was able to dodge the commercial areas and still find quiet back streets more reflective of the relaxed Lao I'd been visiting these past weeks.  There are also some great restaurants in town, with my highest recommendation going to Tamarind, especially the marinated water buffalo.  That said, you can also eat huge buffet plates near the night market for just a little over $1 if that's your thing (I found the food cold and bland).  Been hanging out with Dan from London and he's just started a new job here today, so we'll try to get together for a final beer before I head to Bangkok tomorrow.  We had one wild evening that involved closing two bars and staggering back to the hotel after 3AM.  It's a bitch trying to keep up with the 20 somethings, but someone has to try and one girl told me she wished she had an uncle like me (gad, how was I supposed to take that comment?  I guess it was somewhat better than wishing she had a grandfather like me!).  I'm hoping to dry out sometime before arriving home on the 15th.

This will be my final post, since Bangkok is just going to involve a little shopping and a medical appointment.  This trip has been a real fun time, with trekking, cycling, long bus trips (47 hours in all), riverboat rides and the company of many great other travelers trying to stay off the beaten path by investigating the far North of Laos.  I don't know that I'll ever make it back, but the warmth of the Lao people will stay with me forever.