Luang Prabang, Laos

(Katherine)  We arrived in Luang Prabang, Laos on the 29th after a short 1-hour flight, which was a pricey but time saving alternative to the 2 day, 1 night slow boat that most people take to reach this French-influenced, Unesco-protected city.  And what a beautiful city it is!  Travelers here should know that you need a photo for visa upon entry, and $35 in USD - they don‘t accept any other currency.  As soon as we walked out of the airport we immediately felt a sense of calm - no one was hassling us to take our bags or give us a ride.  In fact, we had to walk up to the taxi stand and inquire about a ride, something which we haven’t had to do in months!  We finally found a gentleman who took us to our guest house for 50,000 kip, the going rate in Laos currency.  We checked into the Villa Laodeum and took off almost immediately to explore the town.

Luang Prabang is not very big, around 50,000 residents.  There are only a few main streets with restaurants and bars which cater to tourists, so we set off to find Kingkitsarat Street which is dubbed “Entertainment Village“.  We located a bar that Robert had read about online called Hive and coincidentally, they were set up for entertainment that night!  The owners daughter had put together a fashion show called Ethnik Fashion which featured models wearing traditional clothing representing 20 different ethnic groups from Laos and the surrounding area.  It was set up just like a show that you might see in LA including a series of several well-lit stages, beautiful 18-year old male and female models, and house music playing in the background. 

Just prior to the start of the show we met a couple from San Francisco, Darin and Song, and learned that Darin was a photographer who was hoping to create a Vogue-inspired fashion spread of the event as his final project for the Academy of Art.  It sounded like it would be a win-win for him and Hive, because this would provide exposure for these Asian ethnic groups while giving Darin a unique subject for his final project.  The show was amazing, so I can only imagine that his photo shoot will translate into stunning images.  We stayed until the end of the show, and then headed to Sisavangvong Street to settle on a restaurant called Coconut Garden for a late dinner.  It was nearly 10:00, and with the town’s 11:30 curfew we were lucky to get served!

We had allocated the following day for exploring the town and its many temples, which meant wearing appropriate clothing (skirt/pants covering the knee, shirt covering the shoulders).  We rented bikes and rode to a gorgeous and well maintained temple next to the Royal Palace Museum called Vor Prabang.  We then took off for Wat Xieng Thong at the tip of the peninsula formed by the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers.  We then rode to Wat Wisunalat (Visoun) on the east side of town, where we saw several young monks lounging around what I would assume to be their housing.  Each of these location were peaceful and rather vacant, a welcome change from the attractions in other cities. 

We timed everything out so we could start hiking up to the top of Phu Si (a huge hill in the center of town) at 4:30 to catch sunset.  The hill consists of about 400+ steps straight up, so it’s not for the faint of heart.  But the incredible statues, shrines and view at the top make it worth the trek.  We snapped several images, and were also amused by a group of Japanese tourists who became infatuated with a tall blond model-looking girl and asked her to pose with them in dozens of their own photos.  The sun seemed to be taking forever to set, so around 5:15 we started walking down….just as about 5 huge tour groups started trudging up the hill.  We rode off to a restaurant along the Mekong river to enjoy the last few minutes of sunset in a peaceful setting, away from the huge crowd that had now formed at the top of the hill.

The next morning we awoke early to start our first scheduled tour, a boat ride to the Pak Ou Caves.  This consisted of a 2-hour boat ride up the Mekong river, along with a stop at Ban Xang Hai, or “Whisky Village”.  True to their name, they offer up homemade whisky in a variety of glass bottles, many of which contain snakes, lizards and scorpions inside for dramatic effect.  We befriended the first whisky peddler we encountered and also sampled his rice wines before we decided up on a 375ml wicker covered bottle of whisky, sans dead creatures, as a remembrance of our experience.  This is the kind of liquor that will put hair on your chest - yow!

 We finally landed at the two caves which are tucked into a limestone cliff and jammed packed with a variety of Buddha images that have been abandoned by their owners.  The upper cave is perched at least 300 steps up the side of the cliff and has no electricity so a flashlight is recommended (you can also rent them).  I wouldn’t allocated too much time for this cave, as it is difficult to see the Buddhas and they are not very well displayed.   The lower cave is the main attraction, but it’s also the most crowded with tourists.  The Buddhas are visible with the available sunlight, but many are damaged and quite dirty.  It’s actually a pretty anti-climactic site, but it’s still interesting to see this graveyard of unwanted statues.  The ride back along the Mekong river was definitely one of the highlights of the adventure due to the lush hills and greenery which line each side of the river.

Back in town we jumped into a van to set off for our next destination, the Kuang Si waterfalls.  A public park surrounds the series of limestone waterfalls, which create an amazing display of beautiful light bluish-green pools of water.  The trail keeps taking you up level by level until you finally approach the main attraction - a huge waterfall off an enormous cliff which provides the momentum for the stream below.  Several people were jumping off a rope swing into the water, but we decided it was far too cold to be that daring.  I was more interested in trying to take photos of all the falls, each of which looks like a perfect computer screen saver.

Back at the hotel we showered up and ran out to grab a traditional Laos dinner before we headed to Hive for their Halloween party.  Knowing that Robert hates to dress up (plus being pretty lacking in costume accessories) I thought I put together a pretty low-key and creative idea - Professional Heineken Tasters.  We still had out wristbands from the brewery in Amsterdam, and I used our Velib metro passes from Paris to create lanyards with our new titles.  Hive had permission to stay open until 1am that night, and right around 11:00 dozens of young backpackers started rolling in wearing very elaborate makeshift costumes.  One guy had taken toilet paper and tuned himself into a mummy.  Another guy took a black garbage bag and made it into a caveman outfit.  Feeling a bit inadequate in our costumes, plus a bit old and tired, we elected to head to bed to rest up for tomorrow’s adventure rather than keep celebrating Halloween.

The next morning we met up with our tour guide for a mountain biking and kayaking excursion.  We were paired with a couple from Scotland, Graeme and Paula who had just gotten married last month and were on a 1-year honeymoon; the first long-term honeymooners we have met on our journey!  Our bike ride started off with a visit to a gorgeous golden temple on the outskirts of town, where the roof it so bright you can see it clearly from far across town.  We then set off for a 15km trek which was mainly uphill along dirt roads.  It was a painful reminder of how long it has been since I have taken a spin class at the gym!  We stopped at one of the rice fields where we snapped some photos, then Paula and I helped out the workers by taking turns beating the stalks of rice against a wooden board to extract the grains.  I will never look at a bowl of rice the same way again while in this region now that I appreciate how much work goes into it!

The second half of our journey was a 15km kayak adventure, although after the first kilometer we stopped at the Tad Se waterfalls for lunch and a dip in the water.  Similar to Kuang Si, the white limestone creates clear bluish-green pools of water which were perfect for taking a quick swim.  We got back in the river and started paddling…and paddling…  There was absolutely no current in the river, so they only way you could move forward was to propel yourself by paddling.  We spent 14km complaining about the lack of current, but karma and the river struck back on the last kilometer, which happened to be a pretty tethered rapid.  The Scottish couple flipped in front of us, and in a panic to avoid hitting them we lost control of our steering and flipped ourselves.  I’ve never actually been thrown out of a kayak before, and it’s a pretty scary experience - thank goodness for helmets and life preservers, along with waterproof bags.  Robert and I managed to survive with just a few scraped and bruises, but Graeme lost his new wedding band in the process.  Later that night after a much needed shower, we met back up with the Scots at an amazing waterfront bar and restaurant called Utopia where we discussed our near death experience over wine, shisha, and our new favorite beer, BeerLao.

The morning of the 2nd we grabbed breakfast and debated over whether to spend our last few kip on a souvenir or an activity, and we elected for massages over material items.  Robert got a 45 minute foot massage, while I opted for a Laos style massage.  In case you’ve never had one, this type of massage is extremely active, where your masseuse is constantly twisting, pulling, punching, slapping and cracking your body into alignment.  I was warned that it would be pretty rough, but I thought it was worth the overall mental and physical sense of balance that is supposed to be accomplished.  We tore ourselves away from our massages to dash off to the airport for another hour long flight out of Laos.  This is definitely a beautiful and relaxing community that should be included in any trip to Southeast Asia!