Sabaidee (meaning greetings to your heart) from Laos!
Luang Prabang wasn’t exactly at the top of my travel list – until I started planning this trip, I had never heard of it. But I figured since I’d be so close to Laos in Vietnam and Cambodia, I might as well work it into the itinerary. While Luang Prabang may not have the name recognition of other cities in the region, it is definitely worth a visit. Here are my favorite things about it:
European cafes and bakeries line the streets, and the architecture is a wonderful combination of French and Laotian, making it easy to see why the entire town is a UNESCO world heritage site. Dotted throughout are gorgeous Buddhist temples, gilded in gold with intricate artistic details. My hotel room keychain was even a local coin dated 1900 – about the size of a silver dollar. The entire town feels like you’ve gone back in time to colonial French Indochina (if you ignore the multitude of hammer and sickle flags flying on the main street. Fun fact: did you know that Laos is one of 5 remaining socialist countries?). The town sits nestled in a curve of the Mekong River, and is surrounded by the river on both sides so that it almost feels like a peninsula. The river views are unsurprisingly gorgeous and undeveloped.
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| River views of the Mekong |
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| Vintage present day main street |
The Kuang Si waterfalls
Outside of town – about a 45 minute tuk tuk ride away – are the Kuang Si waterfalls, which are without a doubt the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. The water is naturally an icy blue, and the sunlight coming through the jungle makes it sparkle. There is one main waterfall, but the real treat are a series of smaller waterfalls that empty into large pools in which you can swim. The area is clearly marked with where is safe to swim and where should be avoided. Despite the muggy weather, the water was pretty cold – to the point where a Polish woman upon entering just started screaming expletives until her body settled into the temperature (much to the amusement of the rest of us who were already in the pool and had shared a similar reaction). I would come back to Laos just to see these waterfalls again.
Outside of town – about a 45 minute tuk tuk ride away – are the Kuang Si waterfalls, which are without a doubt the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. The water is naturally an icy blue, and the sunlight coming through the jungle makes it sparkle. There is one main waterfall, but the real treat are a series of smaller waterfalls that empty into large pools in which you can swim. The area is clearly marked with where is safe to swim and where should be avoided. Despite the muggy weather, the water was pretty cold – to the point where a Polish woman upon entering just started screaming expletives until her body settled into the temperature (much to the amusement of the rest of us who were already in the pool and had shared a similar reaction). I would come back to Laos just to see these waterfalls again.
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| No swimming in this pool, unfortunately |
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| Jungle paradise |
The moon bears
Adjacent to the waterfalls is a moon bear conservancy facility, which you can visit and see the bears. Moon bears are small (for bears) – the second smallest bear species in the world (larger only than sun bears, and no, koalas aren’t actually bears). On the extinction scale, they’re listed as vulnerable, since they are poached for various body parts, or trapped and kept in horrible conditions at a farm that harvests their bile for use in traditional medicine. These particular bears have all been rescued and don’t have the skills to live in the wild – one of them even has only 3 legs. They seem to have a pretty nice life here though – with plenty of companionship, treats, and toys. What made this such a cool experience to see is how active the bears were! Normally if you’re observing an animal in captivity, you’re lucky if they move around at all – usually they just sit there. But these bears were downright feisty – climbing all over the trees and the structures in their enclosures, looking for food, playing with each other, sniffing, eating, drinking, scratching. I stood there and watched them for close to an hour.
Adjacent to the waterfalls is a moon bear conservancy facility, which you can visit and see the bears. Moon bears are small (for bears) – the second smallest bear species in the world (larger only than sun bears, and no, koalas aren’t actually bears). On the extinction scale, they’re listed as vulnerable, since they are poached for various body parts, or trapped and kept in horrible conditions at a farm that harvests their bile for use in traditional medicine. These particular bears have all been rescued and don’t have the skills to live in the wild – one of them even has only 3 legs. They seem to have a pretty nice life here though – with plenty of companionship, treats, and toys. What made this such a cool experience to see is how active the bears were! Normally if you’re observing an animal in captivity, you’re lucky if they move around at all – usually they just sit there. But these bears were downright feisty – climbing all over the trees and the structures in their enclosures, looking for food, playing with each other, sniffing, eating, drinking, scratching. I stood there and watched them for close to an hour.
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| Unsurprising that the three legged one was my favorite |
The temples
I love how different architectures for Buddhist temples have evolved around the world and over time, so each country has its own twist on what a temple should look like. Luang Prabang has one temple in particular that was stunning – Vat Xieng Thong, which apparently translates to Temple of the Golden City and served as the place for the coronation of Laotian kings back in the day. It’s a temple complex, with multiple buildings and stupas in the same area, with many of them are decorated with cut colored glass or semi-precious stones that makes everything sparkle, arranged in mosiacs depicting scenes from the sixteenth century. One of the buildings – the royal funerary carriage house - houses the most badass boat I think I’ve ever seen, which was the funeral barge for the monarchs of Laos, replete with multiple dragons with bared fangs at the bow.
I love how different architectures for Buddhist temples have evolved around the world and over time, so each country has its own twist on what a temple should look like. Luang Prabang has one temple in particular that was stunning – Vat Xieng Thong, which apparently translates to Temple of the Golden City and served as the place for the coronation of Laotian kings back in the day. It’s a temple complex, with multiple buildings and stupas in the same area, with many of them are decorated with cut colored glass or semi-precious stones that makes everything sparkle, arranged in mosiacs depicting scenes from the sixteenth century. One of the buildings – the royal funerary carriage house - houses the most badass boat I think I’ve ever seen, which was the funeral barge for the monarchs of Laos, replete with multiple dragons with bared fangs at the bow.
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| Funerary barge bow |
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| Royal funerary carriage house |
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| Bejeweled temple mosiacs |
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| Interior buddhas |
The night market
Every night, the main street in town is closed off, and vendors set up tents with various local street food, handicrafts and souvenirs. I loved that so many of the goods being sold were clearly locally made rather than mass manufactured in China (though there were some of those things too). It’s also great how they do this every night of the year – not just on weekends. I spent all three of my nights in town wandering around the market, having a different fresh fruit smoothie (pineapple, ginger, lemon & mint was my favorite) and buying Christmas gifts for family and friends. As for street food, the coconut “pancakes” (more like dough balls) are a favorite.
The massages
This isn’t specific to Luang Prabang – you can get cheap massages in any city throughout the region. In fact, I’ve treated myself to a massage almost every day of this trip. What I liked about the massages here, though, was that I didn’t see the evidence of the sex tourism industry that permeates the massage spas in Vietnam and Cambodia. A massage appeared to just be a massage. I’m not naïve enough to think that sex tourism doesn’t exist here, but it’s certainly less “in your face” than in those other places, where massages are advertised as $1 (where do the profits come from exactly?), and the women stand on the street whispering “I love you” and offering happy endings to any foreign-looking man who walks by. I did my best to avoid these establishments and find (relatively) pricier, nicer places to patronize – it’s not that I’m concerned about being solicited, but I’d rather give my money to people who don’t offer those services rather than take advantage of the dirt cheap prices that their side line of work enables. Still, one of my massages in Cambodia ended with the woman kneeling between my legs, facing me and massaging my uppermost thighs for a good 3-5 minutes. I can only imagine that she doesn’t vary the sequence of her massage based on the gender of the recipient.
The butterflies
Next to the waterfalls is a butterfly park with thousands of local butterflies housed in an enclosure filled with flowers. Founded by some transplants from the Netherlands, they use the profits from tourist visits to fund programs for local schoolchildren – bring them to the park and teach them about biology, environmental conservation, and how to care for nature. In one corner of the butterfly enclosure, they have a shallow pond with chairs placed in the middle. The fish in the pond are very fond of eating indiscriminate organic matter, so if you sit on the chair and put your feet in the pond, the fish will nibble on the dead skin on your feet! I stayed in there for probably 10 minutes and couldn’t stop giggling – the nibbles tickled!
Every night, the main street in town is closed off, and vendors set up tents with various local street food, handicrafts and souvenirs. I loved that so many of the goods being sold were clearly locally made rather than mass manufactured in China (though there were some of those things too). It’s also great how they do this every night of the year – not just on weekends. I spent all three of my nights in town wandering around the market, having a different fresh fruit smoothie (pineapple, ginger, lemon & mint was my favorite) and buying Christmas gifts for family and friends. As for street food, the coconut “pancakes” (more like dough balls) are a favorite.
The massages
This isn’t specific to Luang Prabang – you can get cheap massages in any city throughout the region. In fact, I’ve treated myself to a massage almost every day of this trip. What I liked about the massages here, though, was that I didn’t see the evidence of the sex tourism industry that permeates the massage spas in Vietnam and Cambodia. A massage appeared to just be a massage. I’m not naïve enough to think that sex tourism doesn’t exist here, but it’s certainly less “in your face” than in those other places, where massages are advertised as $1 (where do the profits come from exactly?), and the women stand on the street whispering “I love you” and offering happy endings to any foreign-looking man who walks by. I did my best to avoid these establishments and find (relatively) pricier, nicer places to patronize – it’s not that I’m concerned about being solicited, but I’d rather give my money to people who don’t offer those services rather than take advantage of the dirt cheap prices that their side line of work enables. Still, one of my massages in Cambodia ended with the woman kneeling between my legs, facing me and massaging my uppermost thighs for a good 3-5 minutes. I can only imagine that she doesn’t vary the sequence of her massage based on the gender of the recipient.
The butterflies
Next to the waterfalls is a butterfly park with thousands of local butterflies housed in an enclosure filled with flowers. Founded by some transplants from the Netherlands, they use the profits from tourist visits to fund programs for local schoolchildren – bring them to the park and teach them about biology, environmental conservation, and how to care for nature. In one corner of the butterfly enclosure, they have a shallow pond with chairs placed in the middle. The fish in the pond are very fond of eating indiscriminate organic matter, so if you sit on the chair and put your feet in the pond, the fish will nibble on the dead skin on your feet! I stayed in there for probably 10 minutes and couldn’t stop giggling – the nibbles tickled!
The foodThe French influence on food is very present here – even more so than in Vietnam. Croissants are everywhere. For lunch on my day in LP, I had a great local twist on French cuisine – buffalo fondue. They brought over a red hot bucket of coals, placed a circular metal plate on top that was raised in the center and depressed around the rim, and poured soup broth into the dip in the rim. They gave me a piece of fat to place on top of the hump in the middle, which ran down and lubricated the metal below it. They also gave me a basket of ingredients for soup – glass noodles, carrots, mushrooms, leafy green herbs, green onions, cauliflower, tomatoes, and fresh garlic and chilis to season it. The idea for the fondue was that I would grill the meat on the metal hub in the middle, then put the soup ingredients on the side to cook and enjoy at my leisure. Combine that with a great view of the Mekong River, and it was one of my favorite meals of the trip so far.
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| Buffalo fondue |
The hotel
This is the only city on my trip that doesn’t have an SPG property, so I was forced to look elsewhere for lodging. I stayed at a wonderful boutique hotel called Villa Maly and would recommend it for anyone who’s traveling to the region. The staff was incredibly friendly and helpful – upon arrival, a very nice French woman (possibly the owner?) walked me through a map of the town and explained my options for common activities or day trips. The building is old – I’m guessing it’s from the colonial era, but has been well cared for. It’s within walking distance from the main shopping area and night market, though far enough away to be quiet (except for the occasionally ambitious rooster who needs his voice to be heard). The beds were European style, but included mosquito nets, which I very much appreciated. I will admit I had a vivid dream my second night that I was being chased and almost captured by a man with a human-sized butterfly net, and awoke to find I had thrown my pillow across the room in the “struggle” with the mosquito net that must have prompted the dream (not to mention my visit to the butterfly park). Anyway, crazy dreams aside, the hotel was lovely.
This is the only city on my trip that doesn’t have an SPG property, so I was forced to look elsewhere for lodging. I stayed at a wonderful boutique hotel called Villa Maly and would recommend it for anyone who’s traveling to the region. The staff was incredibly friendly and helpful – upon arrival, a very nice French woman (possibly the owner?) walked me through a map of the town and explained my options for common activities or day trips. The building is old – I’m guessing it’s from the colonial era, but has been well cared for. It’s within walking distance from the main shopping area and night market, though far enough away to be quiet (except for the occasionally ambitious rooster who needs his voice to be heard). The beds were European style, but included mosquito nets, which I very much appreciated. I will admit I had a vivid dream my second night that I was being chased and almost captured by a man with a human-sized butterfly net, and awoke to find I had thrown my pillow across the room in the “struggle” with the mosquito net that must have prompted the dream (not to mention my visit to the butterfly park). Anyway, crazy dreams aside, the hotel was lovely.
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| Villa Maly Boutique Hotel |
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