I Left My Heart In Luang Prabang

so, I'm in love. it happens rarely, but when it does, I get pretty overwhelmed. and while, this time, my infatuation is with a place and not a boy, I find there's only one thing I can do with this overflow of emotion. I have written a poem about my true love:

hello town I love
your name is luang prabang
I will miss you tomorrow
when I fly to bangkok
that shithole

I think it's pretty good. anyway, yeah, this is my fourth and final day in l.p. I could stay here a year, it's that great. everyone's so amazingly friendly, the main street is lined with these cute shops and good restaurants (many of which have pizza!), and I've met a bunch of other travellers who are a blast to hang out with. plus, they have monks here. and they're everywhere. you'll see them in the temples (obviously), on tuk tuks and motorbikes, and walking down the street in their vibrant saphron robes. most of them are in their early twenties, and I don't know if it's the shaved head or the well-toned arms (how does that happen? do they lift? where? no bally's in town)or their warm, inviting smiles, but...uh...they're kinda hot. I know it's probably bad form to be attracted to a monk, but I can't help it. what's under that robe, you know?

the last couple nights I've been burning the midnight oil, or actually, I should say burning the 11 o'clock oil as luang prabang has a curphew. no bars or restaurants are allowed to be open past 11:30pm (it's a way to keep the town from becoming another bangkok or vang vieng, where much of the charm is trampled on by tourists looking to party.)luckily, me and my fellow travellers are very charming, so we've found ways to have the bar owners bend the rules and let us stay until 12:30am. the problem with that, though, is that my guesthouse locks their gate at midnight. and it's a pretty big gate. so the last two nights I've had to, in my slightly drunken state, pull some diehard shit and climb up and over the gate. it's not a pretty sight. I'm not a good climber and the gate has spikes on the top. and once I clear that obstacle, I have to knock on the door and wake up the kid who sleeps in the lobby, and bashfully ask for my room key. last night he didn't even look at me, he just opened the door rubbed his eyes, handed me my key, and said (in a very judgmental tone) "room 202, right?" yikes. perhaps it's for the best that I'm leaving tomorrow. I wouldn't want my true love to think poorly of me.