Simplicity along the Mekong

When we arrived, women all over the village were sitting on the ground working on producing the snack, which involves pulverizing the seaweed -- or river moss, as it is more accurately called -- with a straw broom. Then they added water and pressed it against a rectangular screen to form sheets. Chopped garlic, chilies, tomatoes and sesame seeds are added, then the sheets are dried in the sun.

The energy of the village contrasted starkly with the Pak Ou caves, which have an eerie, grave-like quality. The craggy caverns, on a cliff overhanging the river, are a repository for hundreds of Buddha figurines that have been discarded as unfit for worship because they have developed a defect -- a chip here or a missing arm there.

The lower of the two caves is especially ghostly. Many of the Buddhas are positioned so they seem to stare out at the Mekong.

We hired the same boatman at the same price to take us on another excursion the next morning to the Kouang Si waterfall. This involved a one-hour boat trip, followed by a 20-minute ride by tuk-tuk -- we hired a driver at the river landing -- along a dusty, mostly unpaved road that led through villages of Laotian-style thatched-roof houses on stilts, constructed of wood and bamboo.

The Kouang Si waterfalls were unimpressive, perhaps because we visited in the dry season. But we enjoyed a brisk dip in a natural watering hole at the base of the lower falls before heading back to Louangphrabang.

During the heat of the day, from late morning until midafternoon, it is impossible to do anything outdoors, so we found shade along the Mekong or retreated for lunch at one of the city's informal but outstanding restaurants.

Laotian cuisine, infused with the flavors of chiles, kaffir lime leaves, galangal and lemon grass, draws heavily on the influences of its Thai, Vietnamese and Cambodian neighbors. We've made six trips to Asia, including such culinary hot spots as Bangkok, Singapore and Penang, Malaysia, but the food in Louangphrabang was the best we've tasted.

The green papaya salad, purple sticky rice, spicy fish soup and green curries we ate in Louangphrabang were consistently good. My favorite specialty was the Louangphrabang salad, served almost everywhere and made of a delicate watercress grown along the Mekong, sliced egg, cucumbers and tomato, covered with an egg-lime dressing.