Exploring the Ancient Capital of Laos: Luang Prabang
Luang Prabang was the perfect introduction to Laos. Picturesque streets lined with beautifully preserved buildings, the river down in the valley with a backdrop of distant giant mountains, and the magnificent Kuang Si Waterfall - this city has it all.
We arrived in Luang Prabang following our two day trip down the Mekong River on a slow boat. It was exciting to be in a place with a fair bit of activity going on, and we were looking forward to exploring this city, and some surrounding areas over the coming days.
We checked into our hotel and headed out for the evening. We were impressed by the style of the buildings here, as it was so different to anywhere else in Asia we’d seen so far. The shop-fronts were mostly white; some pale yellow, and had decorative wood/wood-style beams across the tops of the door frames with their names on, etc. Within the rows of shops sat many cafes, bars and restaurants where you could enjoy a bite to eat, or something to drink, as you sat facing outwards onto the street. The street I’m referring to is Sisavangvong Road; the main road in Luang Prabang, and is one of the places you can catch the daily Alms Giving Ceremony (a Buddhist ceremony that happens at sunrise every morning where many monks walk the streets and collect food donations) - we were never awake on time, so we can’t comment on how this is as far as activities go. Luang Prabang is a very walkable city, though, with plenty of temples to see, and interesting little activities to do.
One activity I did was jewellery making at Garden of Eden Craft Shop. Tora wasn’t feeling too well one day, so I ventured out on my own and found an interesting little jewellery shop that offered to teach you how to make your own. I made Tora a ring. It was an interesting setup, not really what I was expecting from a jewellery making class, but very peaceful and relaxing all the same.
Coming away, I can’t say I learnt how to make a ring; I just more or less watched the teacher make it and I joined in with the more tedious bits. The good thing, though, was that the “class” was free, and all I paid for were the materials.
Once Tora was feeling better, we went to Kuang Si Waterfall. We went here with little expectations, because we understand that Instagram/TikTok videos tend to be hyped up and don’t give you a true representation of what the place is like. After seeing so many posts of people swimming in the fairytale-like turquoise waters, we decided to grab a TukTuk early in the morning to avoid as many tourists as possible. I say early, we got one around 9:30 am, and arrived at 10. This was perfect timing because the rush of tourists arrived at 11 and the place was almost completely packed out just as we were leaving around 12.
In this case, the posts were no lie. The water was an incredible shade of blue that I’d never seen before, and this is due to the water flowing over many limestone rocks to get down to the pools in which you can swim. The water felt absolutely freezing when we got in, but it was so refreshing in contrast to the heat we were experiencing outside of the pools as the midday sun quickly approached.
The road to get there is filled with potholes, as are many in Laos. A TukTuk is recommended if you’re not confident on a scooter; we spoke to a couple of people who went there on a scooter and they said it was very sketchy and super uncomfortable.
One surprise when we got there was a bear sanctuary! This was totally unexpected, but a welcome sight to see some rescued bears finally enjoying their lives swinging in hammocks, eating anything they liked and climbing on the apparatus provided. Unfortunately, their lives haven’t always been this way - hence the reason they’re here in the first place - sun bears and moon bears are often captured and put into captivity from a young age, and kept in tiny cages where their bile is taken directly from their gallbladder via catheter and sold as Chinese medicine. Thankfully, there are charities out there such as Free the Bears, which has a base at Kuang Si Waterfall, that work with government organisations to rehabilitate bears that have been saved from captivity. A statement on their website says “We never pay for bears (paying for bears would contribute to a market for wildlife). We work with government authorities who confiscate bears (and other illegally held wildlife), handing them over to Free the Bears for rescue and rehabilitation.“
I wish we’d known about the bears sooner, as we’d have given more time to look into the project and perhaps volunteer/be able to donate some money towards this worthy cause.
All in all, I would definitely recommend a visit to Kuang Si Waterfall if you’re going to Luang Prabang.
The final activity we did in Luang Prabang was a climb up Phousi Hill. This was one of those good time-filling exercises, but not one I’d go out of my way to do. Many of the statues were being repaired, so there was a lot of scaffolding and cement around the place, and more annoying than that - people taking selfies by every point of interest. The view from the top was quite nice, and there’s some bench-seats dotted around so you can appreciate the view, cool down and drink some water before you make the trek back down.
Apart from the activities mentioned, we spent our time in Luang Prabang just walking around the streets, enjoying looking up at all the different buildings and exploring the cafes, bars and restaurants. It seems that 80% of the rest of the people who’d been on the Slow Boat from Thailand with us, were also doing the same thing as we kept bumping into them.
Thankfully, two of the 80% were Michael and Caroline. We bumped into them a couple of times, and we decided to meet up each night they were there for a cocktail or two. Although I’ve talked about others as “the bars” to visit in Luang Prabang, there are also a few bars dotted along the main street. These bars are perfect people-watching spots, as many of them have seating on the terrace, or even an upstairs balcony for you to peer over the top of and watch people pass on the street below. Maolin Tavern is where we first met up with C & M. This was the first bar that felt a bit like a ‘proper pub’ inside, and best of all, it had IPA on the menu! We enjoyed catching up with the pair about their day, what they’d seen, what we’d been up to and we shared a lot of laughs that evening - mainly about how middle (sorry, Sir Michael, I mean UPPER) class they were.
Another decent bar on the same road is Tangor Restaurant Bar & Lounge. We met up with C & M there for a goodbye cocktail, or two. The cocktails were delicious, and very strong! We sat upstairs on the balcony and chatted about their future travels, and plans back home. It was sad to say goodbye, but we know we’ll see each other when we’re back in the UK.
Our final evening came around and we were on our way to dinner, when we stopped by the hotel to pick something up. The hotel owner was a Chinese man who spoke no English, and not much Lao either. Tora learnt how to say “hello” in Mandarin and exclaimed “Nǐ hǎo” as we entered the lobby, much to the owner’s delight. With that, he hollered us over to sit at the table with him and all of his friends… and a confused-looking Irish girl who’d been sitting there for hours. They were playing a game with two dice, and a lot of beer on the table.
Knowing we were going out for dinner, we didn’t really want to join in for long, but thought it’d be a good way to get to know them and learn this new game. It turned out to be very simple… Player 1 rolls the dice and whatever number they get, the next person has to have that many sips of their beer UNLESS they roll a higher number. In this case, the next person has to have as many sips as that new number UNLESS they roll a higher number… and so on.
It soon became clear why the owner was so sociable that evening, as opposed to every other time we’d seen him when he’d just shoot us a small smile and let us pass through the lobby. He was wasted. We made our excuses, left them to it, and proceeded with our original plan of having another delicious dinner at Taste of Ceylon, and befriending the local cat.
