Travelling from Vientiane to Vang Vieng we’d got the sense that the Laos roads were not much chop and the journey from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang confirmed it. Apparently 75% of Laos is mountainous and if you’ve travelled around north Vietnam, the roads are very similar so it takes an awfully long time to go not very far! It took us 9 hours in a mini van along what is possibly the most hilly and windy road I’ve ever been on but the scenery was stunning. Laos is just so green and, in places, seemingly untouched.
The mountain roads in places were lined with little wooden huts with woven roofs, kids played on the edge of the road along with chickens, dogs and pigs. What was quite amusing was the that some of these little wooden huts had dirty great satellite dishes attached to them – a clear sign that Laos is right up there with other countries in some respects!
Laos just seemed to get better and better and I think we were travelling the right way, starting in Vientiane and moving upwards. Not only were we going the opposite way to the usual traffic coming in from Thailand, we were also (in our view) saving the best to last. Luang Prabang is a lovely place with a real chilled feel. It has a bit more polish than Vang Vieng and Vientiane but the rustic Laos was still there in the markets, the street stalls and the people. The city runs along the banks of two rivers and most of the city is in the land between the fork where the two rivers meet. The photo below is the Khan River (the Mekong River is behind me).
This is the main street of Luang Prabang.
Prices are still cheap and you could easily stay here for little more than £8 each per day. It seemed a lot more tropical than Vang Vieng and rained almost every day which dropped the temperature to a comfortable level. There isn’t much night life here as the Laos curfew kicks into place at 2300 and if you’re not back at your hotel, hostel or whatever by that time, you’ll be escorted there by the army. All the streets were connected by a network of little alleyways such as the below where we were staying
This is was our room (£6/night) in a tiny guesthouse a stones throw away from the Mekong River
Every morning, at the top of our lane, there was a fresh food market that started at around 0530 and sold all sorts of fresh produce. The meat changed daily, depending on what was caught the day/night before.
Snake was on offer two of the days I went there and they had been sizable snakes before being chopped up
The chillies were so colourful and came in all different sizes and heats
and this is river moss that is collected, seasoned, fried and eaten with rice
Breakfast stalls also featured and most were offering noodles with seasoned stock, whatever meat was around and vegetables
These are prayer offerings and we saw them in the Wats that we visited
There were loads of fresh vegetables and they always looked so appetising
but this did not. Its fermented fish and the juice is used for seasoning and also in the Laos dish of green papaya salad. The salads are made fresh and you can choose which ingredients and the heat, depending on how many chillies are pounded into the paste. I tried the salad and the rotten fish smell was even too much for me. Euan (who isn’t too keen on fish) tried a small forkful and nearly turned inside out with revulsion – very entertaining to watch.
This was a bit upsetting. One stall selling baby catfish and a dead wild cat (could have been either a civet, a leopard cat or a golden cat). These catfish live in the Mekong river and while I’m not sure if these are the ones that grow to 2-3m long, these were clearly youngsters and shouldn’t have been taken from the river. I had to walk away.
These were some sort of grubs, still in their house! They were still squirming around and when someone bought them, the seller pulled them out, put them in a bag, weighed them, minimal money changed hands and off they went.
These were presumably fresh-water crabs, all trussed up ready for sale
Among other things on sale were frogs, birds, big fat rat-like creatures with massive front teeth. If it moves, Laos people will catch it and eat it. That much was clear.
There are 300 monks in Luang Prabang and they were a common sight in town, walking in their bright orange robes and they looked so beautiful, this splash of colour against the buildings.
As usual, we found a few favourite places to eat but its not difficult to do in somewhere like Laos where the food is always so fresh and tastes so good. The best was big bowls of soupy yellow curry (not strictly Laos), made from freshly ground ingredients and the taste was out of this world. Another favourite was river fish from street stall, grilled over coals and continuously basted during cooking.
The fish was cooked at a street stall and varied in price depending on the size but didn’t go much over US$2 for a whole fish.
You ate the fish with some chilli sauce, lime and a bag of sticky rice. Such a basic meal but sooo good
This was followed up with a banana or pineapple shake from one of the many stalls that lined the streets. These were just the best, made with a mixture of milk and coconut cream (which made the pineapple shakes taste even better) and at least one of these shakes was a must every day.
Every night the street vendors would appear and set up shop, along with a night market that completely closed the main road for about 1km
The building styles were interesting and some were very French-inspired. I was taking a photo of the building, Euan was more interested in the menu!
This was (we think) a monks residence
and there are more Wats than you can shake a stick at. They’re not particularly exciting I’m sorry to say so we only visited a few. This is Wat Ho Pha Bang in the grounds of the Royal Palace
and this is the oldest Wat in Luang Prabang, Wat Xieng Thong, built in 1560
These Buddhas were sort of jumbled in down the back and they looked very eerie, their faces still serene despite them being shoved down the back and forgotten about
We met up with an Australian couple, Luke and Catherine, who we’d met on the way to Luang Prabang, hired a tuk tuk with them and two English girls and headed out to the waterfall at Tat Kuang Si, about 32km out of town. It was a very pretty spot and it was absolute bliss to be near the water
We reckon we’re getting pretty good at self-photography but Euans £1 haircut is starting to show its true colours
We climbed up the edge of the waterfall and walked across the top and this is the view down over the waterfall. It was a high waterfall but the terraces made it far less scary to be on the edge of than it could have been.
Despite throwing himself off a bridge some 200m high in South Africa, Euan still maintains he is scared of heights, didn’t believe me that the next level was only 10m down and refused to come to the edge.
Instead he took photos of me
The way down was through some bush and along muddy trails. I looked down and saw I had a caterpillar on my foot. Took a closer look and realised it was a leech. ARGHH. We don’t have leeches in NZ and if I’ve encountered them before I’ve not known about it and promptly had a fit trying to get it off. Euan thought this was hugely entertaining and very very funny, until he realised he had about four of them attached to his ankle. Luke, being Australian and used to leeches, was very cool about it and saying “guys, they’re just leeches”, until he found one sucking away in between his toes. We moved so fast down that path after that the slimy little b*s*ards didn’t have a chance to hook onto us. They’re horrible little things! Sensing vibration and heat then waving their ends around until they hook onto something then haul themselves into a warm spot before starting to suck. Ugh!!
We spent ages playing round in the water and swimming against the current was tough work!
Every morning the beat of drums was heard at about 0430, indicating the start of the Monks making their rounds, collecting the alms. Parts of the streets are lined with residents offering food in return for a blessing
We were leaving that morning on a slow boat bound for Huay Xai, via Pak Beng so got up extra early to see the morning market (again) and the monks.
View Larger Map
The mountain roads in places were lined with little wooden huts with woven roofs, kids played on the edge of the road along with chickens, dogs and pigs. What was quite amusing was the that some of these little wooden huts had dirty great satellite dishes attached to them – a clear sign that Laos is right up there with other countries in some respects!
Laos just seemed to get better and better and I think we were travelling the right way, starting in Vientiane and moving upwards. Not only were we going the opposite way to the usual traffic coming in from Thailand, we were also (in our view) saving the best to last. Luang Prabang is a lovely place with a real chilled feel. It has a bit more polish than Vang Vieng and Vientiane but the rustic Laos was still there in the markets, the street stalls and the people. The city runs along the banks of two rivers and most of the city is in the land between the fork where the two rivers meet. The photo below is the Khan River (the Mekong River is behind me).
This is the main street of Luang Prabang.
Prices are still cheap and you could easily stay here for little more than £8 each per day. It seemed a lot more tropical than Vang Vieng and rained almost every day which dropped the temperature to a comfortable level. There isn’t much night life here as the Laos curfew kicks into place at 2300 and if you’re not back at your hotel, hostel or whatever by that time, you’ll be escorted there by the army. All the streets were connected by a network of little alleyways such as the below where we were staying
This is was our room (£6/night) in a tiny guesthouse a stones throw away from the Mekong River
Every morning, at the top of our lane, there was a fresh food market that started at around 0530 and sold all sorts of fresh produce. The meat changed daily, depending on what was caught the day/night before.
Snake was on offer two of the days I went there and they had been sizable snakes before being chopped up
The chillies were so colourful and came in all different sizes and heats
and this is river moss that is collected, seasoned, fried and eaten with rice
Breakfast stalls also featured and most were offering noodles with seasoned stock, whatever meat was around and vegetables
These are prayer offerings and we saw them in the Wats that we visited
There were loads of fresh vegetables and they always looked so appetising
but this did not. Its fermented fish and the juice is used for seasoning and also in the Laos dish of green papaya salad. The salads are made fresh and you can choose which ingredients and the heat, depending on how many chillies are pounded into the paste. I tried the salad and the rotten fish smell was even too much for me. Euan (who isn’t too keen on fish) tried a small forkful and nearly turned inside out with revulsion – very entertaining to watch.
This was a bit upsetting. One stall selling baby catfish and a dead wild cat (could have been either a civet, a leopard cat or a golden cat). These catfish live in the Mekong river and while I’m not sure if these are the ones that grow to 2-3m long, these were clearly youngsters and shouldn’t have been taken from the river. I had to walk away.
These were some sort of grubs, still in their house! They were still squirming around and when someone bought them, the seller pulled them out, put them in a bag, weighed them, minimal money changed hands and off they went.
These were presumably fresh-water crabs, all trussed up ready for sale
Among other things on sale were frogs, birds, big fat rat-like creatures with massive front teeth. If it moves, Laos people will catch it and eat it. That much was clear.
There are 300 monks in Luang Prabang and they were a common sight in town, walking in their bright orange robes and they looked so beautiful, this splash of colour against the buildings.
As usual, we found a few favourite places to eat but its not difficult to do in somewhere like Laos where the food is always so fresh and tastes so good. The best was big bowls of soupy yellow curry (not strictly Laos), made from freshly ground ingredients and the taste was out of this world. Another favourite was river fish from street stall, grilled over coals and continuously basted during cooking.
The fish was cooked at a street stall and varied in price depending on the size but didn’t go much over US$2 for a whole fish.
You ate the fish with some chilli sauce, lime and a bag of sticky rice. Such a basic meal but sooo good
This was followed up with a banana or pineapple shake from one of the many stalls that lined the streets. These were just the best, made with a mixture of milk and coconut cream (which made the pineapple shakes taste even better) and at least one of these shakes was a must every day.
Every night the street vendors would appear and set up shop, along with a night market that completely closed the main road for about 1km
The building styles were interesting and some were very French-inspired. I was taking a photo of the building, Euan was more interested in the menu!
This was (we think) a monks residence
and there are more Wats than you can shake a stick at. They’re not particularly exciting I’m sorry to say so we only visited a few. This is Wat Ho Pha Bang in the grounds of the Royal Palace
and this is the oldest Wat in Luang Prabang, Wat Xieng Thong, built in 1560
These Buddhas were sort of jumbled in down the back and they looked very eerie, their faces still serene despite them being shoved down the back and forgotten about
We met up with an Australian couple, Luke and Catherine, who we’d met on the way to Luang Prabang, hired a tuk tuk with them and two English girls and headed out to the waterfall at Tat Kuang Si, about 32km out of town. It was a very pretty spot and it was absolute bliss to be near the water
We reckon we’re getting pretty good at self-photography but Euans £1 haircut is starting to show its true colours
We climbed up the edge of the waterfall and walked across the top and this is the view down over the waterfall. It was a high waterfall but the terraces made it far less scary to be on the edge of than it could have been.
Despite throwing himself off a bridge some 200m high in South Africa, Euan still maintains he is scared of heights, didn’t believe me that the next level was only 10m down and refused to come to the edge.
Instead he took photos of me
The way down was through some bush and along muddy trails. I looked down and saw I had a caterpillar on my foot. Took a closer look and realised it was a leech. ARGHH. We don’t have leeches in NZ and if I’ve encountered them before I’ve not known about it and promptly had a fit trying to get it off. Euan thought this was hugely entertaining and very very funny, until he realised he had about four of them attached to his ankle. Luke, being Australian and used to leeches, was very cool about it and saying “guys, they’re just leeches”, until he found one sucking away in between his toes. We moved so fast down that path after that the slimy little b*s*ards didn’t have a chance to hook onto us. They’re horrible little things! Sensing vibration and heat then waving their ends around until they hook onto something then haul themselves into a warm spot before starting to suck. Ugh!!
We spent ages playing round in the water and swimming against the current was tough work!
Every morning the beat of drums was heard at about 0430, indicating the start of the Monks making their rounds, collecting the alms. Parts of the streets are lined with residents offering food in return for a blessing
We were leaving that morning on a slow boat bound for Huay Xai, via Pak Beng so got up extra early to see the morning market (again) and the monks.
View Larger Map
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