Luang Prabang

I had decided to travel straight from Thakhek to Luang Prabang in the North of Laos to get the large trip over in one go. This was a good idea in the most part though I was starting to feel I would be forever stuck on a bus winding back and forth on the last six hour mountain road part of the journey. I did however make it eventually, all in one piece though rather exhausted.

On reaching the hostel I planned to stay at I was informed it was fully booked and was given directions to another option down the street. As I was about to leave, three more people entered and suffering the same fate, joined me in search of free beds elsewhere. Succeeding in our second option, our next priority was food and so we all set off towards the night market. This was a large stretch of road which was split into two corridors packed on all sides with stalls selling clothes, jewellery, souvenirs and a number of other random trinkets, with a number of food stalls at either end.

Still quite exhausted the next day, I spent time wandering about the local area. Although quite busy with tourists, the city has a very laid back, but sophisticated feel about the place, much of the architecture displaying the French influence. That evening we went to a story telling, told by locals, relating some folk stories of Laos and Luang Prabang. A simple set up of two men sat on a small stage, with lights changing from white to red to blue to accentuate different points of a story and accompanied by the traditional Laos instrument the Khaen, this turned out to be a wonderful captivating performance.

My night only got better from here as we went to a 10,000 kip ($1.25) street buffet and discovered that everything was vegetarian! I was loving this city more by the minute.

The following day a group of us took a tuk tuk from our hostel to a large waterfall (Kuang Si) on the outskirts of town. It took around 45 minutes to get there, and we got to enjoy some great hit tunes there and back (we think our tuk tuk drive was a secret raver). The waterfall itself was several crystal blue pools leading up to one tall waterfall. Despite the super touristy feel, with picnic tables and a restaurant, this was still a great place to spend the afternoon. After taking a walk around the top of the waterfall and back we were all glad to jump into the icy water (though not to stay in too long!)

On my final day I tried to get some of the other main sight seeing points ticked off. We visited the Palace Museum, walking around the outside we saw some classic cars which were once used by Lao royalty. We then moved onto Xieng Toung the largest temple in the city. The walls of the buildings were covered with mosaic tiles used to portray stories.

That evening we went up to Phu Si, a temple on a hill highlighted as a hot spot to watch the sunset and was also a great way to get a full view of the city. We were there for 4:30pm, by the time sunset occurred at 5:30pm the small square was filled with people all wanting to get their ideal sunset picture!

The morning I left, we woke early to watch the alms giving to the monks. This is a tradition dating back to the 14th century, where locals kneel on blankets on the roadside offering food to the monks for their daily meal. The experience was ruined a little by tourists taking pictures with their flashes turned on, and we began to feel disappointed at the lack of respect they showed. Despite this I was still glad to have witnessed the important spiritual ceremony before leaving.