Luang Prabang

Our next destination was the former capital of Laos and UNESCO World Heritage site, Luang Prabang. Luang Prabang is a beautiful old town on banks of the Mekong and Nam Khan Rivers, it pretty much has everything you could ask for as a holiday destination: spectacular scenery, history and culture, serious shopping and delectable dining. I've heard a few Europeans say that Luang Prabang seems like a typical French town mysteriously transported into the middle of mountainous northern Laos. Having never been to France I cannot verify this, but I'd say that the plethora of Buddhist monks wandering around the streets, the temple on every street and the abundance of tuk-tuk drivers all trying to tout their services were distinctly South East Asian!

 There were a lot of old, classic cars in Luang Prabang. I love this VW Bug, it looks to be about the same vintage as my mum's Bug (the car I learnt to drive in). I would have loved to have taken this one for a spin through the streets of Luang Prabang!

Vat Xieng Toung, the oldest temple in Luang Prabang. The exterior walls are decorated with very intricate mosaics, it is incredible how much detail has gone into them.

 Buddha statues at Vat Xieng Toung.

 The main street of Luang Prabang.

 Crossing the bamboo bridge over Nam Khan River.

 Some young monks in the grounds of another temple. Most Lao men spend at least a year in a monastery. Some of the monks we saw wandering around looked so young!

 Danny made a demon-friend at the temple!

 The famous Luang Prabang night markets.

We did a day tour which included riding elephants and going out to a waterfall. More about it (plus more pics!) after the jump.

We went to an elephant camp which specialises in taking care of elephants that were once work-elephants (moving logs etc.) but have been abandoned by their owners as they were too expensive to feed. Dan and I got to ride on the neck of the elephant which meant that we were the mahoot (elephant driver). We controlled them by nudging them behind the ears and yelling ou instructions in the Laos language. The elephants very obediently ignored us and wandered into the bushes to find something good to eat. I forget the name of the elephant I was riding, but I nicknamed him 'Angry Little Man'; he was the smallest elephant at the camp and seemed to have a bit of an issue with it. He spent a lot of our ride blowing hot air and dirt up at me through his trunk. Maybe he just didn't like the nickname I gave him, but it was far better than the nickname the Laos camp workers had given him: "Lady-boy" (because of his size).



Dan's elephant was a lot more interested in eating than in walking through the jungle with some crazy falang (foreigner) on her back. To show that Dan was interrupting her precious eating time, the elephant decided to show her displeasure by spraying Dan with water as we crossed through a stream.

After the elephant camp we went to Kuang Si Falls. This is a series of spectacular waterfalls where the water is the strangest minty-blue colour I have ever seen. Because Dan and I are so adventurous (hah!) we decided to climb to the very top of the falls, not realising how very steep the climb was or just how far up it went! Anyway, after the climb Dan went for a swim in one of the pools (not the one pictured above but very similar) and I, as always, went in up to my ankles then complained about the water being too cold.

The tour ended with a trip to a local ethnic minority village. Most of the villagers were trying to sell us scarves, cushion covers and bracelets, but we also got to see the traditional lifestyle of the village.The lady in the photo above is weaving together dried palm fronds to make thatched roofing for the houses.

We also did a half-day tour out to Pak Ou Caves. We took a boat along the Mekong to the caves where thousands of Buddha statues were placed, I'm still not entirely sure if they were put their for religious purposes or if they were hidden there from foreign invaders.

Buddha statues inside the Pak Ou Caves.

After the caves we stopped off at a small village which is commonly known as Whiskey Village. Why? Because they make whiskey there of course! And we stopped there because, after you've spent a few hours on a boat and an hour or so exploring caves and climbing up mountainsides, there's nothing you want more than a shot of Laos whiskey (locally known as Laos Laos - so good they named it twice!). Laos Laos is, as one of the women on our tour put it, absolute firewater. It smells like tequila and tastes even worse. We did quite like the black sticky rice version of the whiskey though (the red whiskey in the bottles on the far left), Dan bought a bottle of it to share with his friend who is coming to visit us next month - lucky him!

Luang Prabang was a really fantastic spot, I really enjoyed my time there. It was good to be able to see some of the history and culture of Laos; all conveniently located in a stunning little town which, to my absolute delight, has some absolutely brilliant restaurants (no food poisoning in Luang Prabang! Did you hear that, China!?). I'd say that, along with Siem Reap in Cambodia, Luang Prabang is one of my favourite places that I have visited in Southeast Asia.