Luang Prabang has definately got to be my favourite place of the whole trip so far. UNESCO designated the city a World Heritage Site in 1995, and its not surprising to see why when you arrive. Its an absolutely beautiful, laid back town on the banks of the Mekong River in central Laos. There is a real colonial feel to the place, having been previously ruled by the French. The old buildings in the city (though they're starting to fall apart) look like they're out of a film set with their balconies, trailing vines and wooden window shutters. I took so many photos of just the buildings! The food here is great too. The coffee is super strong, and they make a brilliant effort at baking bread and other cakes and pastries. It was almost like you were in a French countryside village that had been plonked in the tropics. Even the older Laos women would start babbling in French to us!
The Lao BBQ was a very fun and tasty affair. They bring out all the raw ingredients and convert the middle of your table into a bbq. On one grill, you can cook your whole meal from the noodle soup to the grilled buffalo. Reena, a vegetarian, looked horrified when they start placing her tofu on our pork fat smeared grill - we got her her own bbq :) Steve and I shared one. Steve, being the typical man wanted to be Lord of the Fire... so I let him have the chopsticks. He did a good job of it too!
We hired bikes to take a tour of the many temples around the city. Poor Reena managed to get a flat tyre! The people of Luang Prabang are so chilled out too. You dont get hassled at market stalls or hounded by touts. There doesn't even appear to be any road rage. While cycling we managed to cut a few people up on the road (no one seems to obey any sort of highway code in south east asia), and all they did was let us go by and laugh at us. They found it highly amusing! Why cant everywhere be like this?!
We heard that the monks get up early every morning and walk the streets for almsgiving. So after a late night at the bowling alley (its the only place open after 11pm), we got up at 05:30 to watch the monks walk by in the rain. The locals line up along the road and place food, e.g. morsels of sticky rice, in their baskets. Its a massive tourist attraction too with many foreigners snapping away on their cameras. Me included!
Another nearby attraction are the waterfalls. We spent an afternoon at the Kouang Si waterfalls, hiking up to the different tiers and jumping in the blue plunge pools. It didn't even matter that it was raining!
We were very sad to leave Luang Prabang. I could easily have spent another week here just wandering around the streets and sitting at coffee shops watching the world go lazily by.
4 comments:
Just beautiful writings and photos. Luang Prabang is my mum's native town. She is very proud of her heritage. Many thanks for sharing.
I live in Laos. I have been to Luang prabang 3 times. Your pictures look great.
Great Pix! Hope to visit Laos one day very soon! Lao BBQ and Beer Lao is great!
Great pictures. Lao BBQ and Beer Lao is Great!
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