Discoveries in Luang Prabang, Laos

On a several week trip to Thailand and Bali, I took a side detour to Laos. Here’s what I found:
laos
Luang Prabang - UNESCO Heritage City

I was lucky to arrive in Luang Prabang just after a late afternoon rain when the weather was relatively cool. Oh but I had too much faith. By evening the temperature must have been 80 with nearly 100% humidity as I plodded down the main street lined with shops and cafes, many of French influence.

The town reminds me of other well preserved colonial towns like Taxco and Guanajuato in Mexico (without being a hill town). It’s charmingly quaint with monks, kids, and girls on scooters holding a parasol in one hand navigating the streets.

It took a couple of days, maybe for the weather to cool off and for me to start chatting with some locals, but I’ve come to really love the UNESCO heritage town of Luang Prabang in Laos. I flew here from Chiang Mai in Thailand, about an hour flight.

These have been highlights of my stay in Luang Prabang:

Big Brother Mouse Literacy Project - Visited and bought children’s books written, illustrated and published for Laotian children to love to learn to read and to also learn English from Big Brother Mouse. They can always use drop-in editors or maybe even illustrators as well as people who want to help Laotians practice English. http://www.bigbrothermouse.com/
Stay at Sensouk Guest House - My room was $25 a night and mainly felt like I had a room at home in this beautiful guest house across the street from Wat Sen where the monks chant at 4am and 5:30pm. (The balcony rooms in front have a great view but beware if you aren’t an early bird!)The staff are all extremely friendly and sweet and the place is spotless. It’s a great combo of modern amenities like satellite, a/c, hot water, clean tiled bathrooms with nice old teak furniture. (I moved here after first staying at one of the $50 “boutique hotels” based on good recommendations from Frommer’s and other review websites.)

buddha cave laos

Slow boat to the buddha caves - At 8am, with $5 with Green Discovery Adventures (whose ethics and practices made me want to book with them) I boarded a long wooden boat with about 8 other passengers for a 1-2 hours ride up the Mekong. We stopped at the Whiskey Village where you can see the “factory tour” in an 8×8 square area of how rice is fermented into whiskey and buy a few things from the local vendors.
Homemade yogurt abounds here as it also seems to in Chiang Mai. I’ve found a little muesli cereal with yogurt and fruit is a good balance to the stirfry / curry / rice diet to which I have become accustomed!
Walk the steep steps across from the museum for a great view of the Mekong River. It’s about $2 entrance fee.
Help a novice learn English - If you spend some time at a wat you will probably be approached by young novices studying Buddhism who have extensive schooling and will want to practice English. Speak slowly and don’t use slang expressions for the best experience in helping them.

lemongrass chicken in laos

Lemongrass chicken - a must try. I only order lemongrass chicken when I go to my favorite Vietnamese restaurant in Oakland, CA called Le Cheval. After a Vietnamese person once said “That’s more Laotian than Vietnamese” I put on my radar upon arriving in LP. But I saw none on any menu - except on the list of recipes to learn at Tum Tum Cheng Cooking School. It wasn’t even on their menu, but I asked if they’d make it. The dish was spectacular: chicken breast pieces with rounds of lemongrass, ginger, green onions, these 1/4″ wide green eggplants with a kick, peppers, and a light coconut curry sauce.
Massages are a great Laotian tradition and an hour long foot massage with shoulder and neck massage to follow runs $5 - a must do to escape the heat. I didn’t try the hill tribe version you will see a couple of outlets for around town but I hear they give you a real beating. So if your muscles are sore from backpacking it could be just the right thing!
Watch the parents taking their kids to school - I found it delightful to see all of the familes on motorbikes shuttling their grade school children to school, picking up things to eat at the nearby markets, and overall having a very nice early morning.Many places will not accept Visa cards in the off season which I’ve found is a common practice everywhere so ask in advance if you need to use a credit card even if they have a Visa sign!