While some people decide to skip Vientiene or/and Vang Vieng, noone visits Laos without stopping by the charming little town of Luang Prabang. The entire peninsula surrounded by Mekong and the Nam Khan is UNESCO protected along with its numerous Wats and French colonial buildings.
Great Lao architecture in the religious buildings
Visiting the many wats and temples
Peacock looking piñata
One of the amazing temples in Luang Prabang
Traveling in Luang Prabang isn’t about trying to visit all the attraction. It’s about enjoying the laid-back traveling life. The heat probabbly also has something to do with it too though. We spent all and all about 5 days or so in the city itself. First day we rented a bike and went around the town visiting several Wats and with extra time to kill, we went a bit further and visit some of the outerlying markets. At night we visited the nightmarket and stopped by a cafe where they showed free movies and enjoyed the godly AC. After some time of fan-rooms, the luxury comfort that airconditioning brings is such a blessing.
Monk-ey getting some coconuts…. (sorry for bad pun…)
Multi-tier waterfalls at Tat Kuang Si
Tat Kuang Si waterfalls
The next day we met up with some other people and all chipped in for a shared taxi towards the waterfalls of Tat Kuang Si. I’ve seen waterfalls before, but never really swimmed in one before and especially one with multi-tiered cascades tumbling into menthol green pools. In the lower pools it is possible to take a refreshing cool dip. Especially a great way to cool off during the hot days. Oh and of course there is a swing at one of the bigger pools as well. Afterwards you can hike all the way to the top of the waterfall. To be honest, the view wasn’t really that amazing, but it was a nice little hike. The visit took a whole day/afternoon out of us though since the drive up there itself took an hour. At night we just chilled again, wandered around the nightmarket and checked in at the movie place again.
Cool dip in one of the many pools in Tat Kuang Si
Waterfall at Tat Kuang Si
Bears, chillin’ in Tat Kuang Si
Asians and their camera(s)
The third day we visited yet another sight around Luang Prabang: Pak Ou. Two caves in the lower part of a limestone cave completly filled up with Buddha statues. I can’t really say I was impressed by this trip in general. The costs were substantionally higher than our trip to the waterfalls and the caves weren’t even that impressive. And to continue the (boring) trend, we went to the nightmarket and yep, back to the movie screening.
Entrance to Pak Ou caves
Tons of Buddha statues in Pak Ou caves
Homemade hard liquor with all sorts of stuff in them
All kinds of shakes available, fruit, orea, chocolate, etc…
Cheap buffet at the nightmarket!
Like I said in the beginning, Luang Prabang is a nice place to lay back and relax. You don’t have to do much to appreciate the charm of this UNESCO protected town by the Mekong. After a full 4 days of “relaxing”, me and the final member of the party gang, Abby head to Huai Xai to something more exciting, the Gibbon Experience.
Alex Yip is a web enthusiast who put his online marketing career on hold to travel around the world for a year. This blog is his virtual journal and logbook to keep people updated on his backpacking adventures on the road.
