Sabaidee from Laos! To physically arrive here from the US required two days of flying, stopping in Seoul, South Korea and Bangkok, Thailand. To mentally arrive here required time traveling to a mystical place seemingly frozen in a complicated past. As Americans, it also required mentally addressing the not so distant troubled past between the US and Laos; namely the Vietnam War. A war so recent, you likely have personally met someone who was deployed there. Between 1964 and 1973, the US conducted 580,000 bombing missions on Laos. This equates to one mission every 8 minutes, 24 hours a day, for 9 years, making Laos the most heavily bombed country per capita, in history. In the 40+ years since, Laos has gone through many political changes, and has found itself in a recent era of relative stability, despite still being riddled with poverty and struggles. As a foreigner planning a trip, it can be hard to look past the politics of a destination country. This is especially true visiting a country like Laos, where as an American visitor, it’s impossible to not feel a heavy weight of guilt and responsibility. How do you casually explore a place with constant reminders of the devastation your country created? How do you converse and relate to the locals? These are not easy questions, and while planning our vacation, we understandably received many puzzled reactions to our desire to explore Laos. But with Laos, if you can peel back the layers and look deeper, you find a place with the most unwaveringly hospitable and honest people, fascinating culture, and jaw-dropping landscape, that has inexplicably stood strong through the waves of war and political unrest. For Monica and I, this is the allure of Laos. A place that despite tides of devastation has endured to stay true to their culture, heritage and morality. I wanted to start this post in this fashion to explain that for us visiting Laos, we understood the weight of the situation. To jump ahead, I’ll say that we were graciously welcomed everywhere we went. This made for one of those most positive experiences I could imagine, and I can’t wait to return to Laos someday.
Nestled at the confluence of the Mekong and Nam Khan Rivers in northern Laos, lies the World Heritage city of Luang Prabang. I would argue that it is the most charming city in Laos, and naturally has become one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country. Buddhism is the primary religion in Laos, and because of this, you will find Wats (Buddhist temples) peppered all over town(s). In Luang Prabang, the wats are intermixed with beautiful French Colonial buildings; remnants of the European colonial influence through the 19th and 20th centuries. Luang Prabang is unique in that this style of architecture has become the expected standard, and new buildings in the city center stay true to this style. Older buildings here have been remarkably well preserved.
When talking about Southeast Asia, it’s easy to think of dense and chaotic cities like Bangkok, where streets are flooded with mopeds and life whizzes by. Laos is not like this, even in the laid-back capital city, Vientiane. We started our Laos journey in Luang Prabang, and it was surprisingly easy to blend into the lifestyle. The city has a quiet buzz of locals going about their day blended with tourists absorbing the wonderful sights, sounds and smells unique to Asia. It is easy to explore by foot and their are many attractions in the surrounding areas, reachable by tuk-tuk (think of a colorful three wheeled motorcycle with an open-bed pickup in the back). Tuk-tuks and mopeds are constantly zipping around town, but the density isn’t so much to be bothersome.
We spent 5 days in Luang Prabang. A typical day consisted of waking up to chickens, venturing out of town to an attraction, exploring the town’s streets, getting cheap massages, and beating the heat with Beer Lao (the domestic beer of Laos) at a cafe. Each evening, one of the main roads is closed off for vendors to sell their handicrafts and a wide assortment of street food. The currency conversion is $1 USD = 8,000 Kip. The largest bill is 100,000 Kip ($12.50 USD) so you end up walking around with comedic wads of cash which really isn’t that much money. Laos is extremely affordable as an American traveler. It’s important to note that because Luang Prabang is a world heritage site, it has a full range of lodging and food options regarding price. You can find $5 per night budget hostels, or $500 per night ritzy hotels. You can find all-you-can-pile wok bowls at the street markets for 15,000 kip (not even $2), or high end gourmet restaurants. We found everywhere we went in Laos, you can find a nice middle ground of a private room with double bed for about $30 per night, and affordable while absolutely delicious food options.
Being jet lagged, on our first morning in Luang Prabang we found ourself wide awake before sunrise. We took this opportunity to climb Phousi Hill which sits in the middle of town. The Hill is adorned with tons of golden statues of buddhas and dragons, and the top offers 360 degree views of the surroundings. We definitely recommend doing this early morning hike as you beat the crowds and get a more intimate experience.
One highlight of Luang Prabang was taking a Laotian cooking class from the local restaurant Tamarind. We took a Tuk Tuk with about 10 other people to the Phousi Market where our instructor, Sit, walked us through a wide range of common Lao ingredients and spices. Markets in SE Asia in general are a barrage on the senses. There are so many things to see including foods that you can’t believe people eat, and smells so bad that you just HAVE to smell it again, such as open vats of fermenting fish sauce. Meats are laid out openly on cardboard, and every part of the animal is consumed. There are countless fruits and peppers you’ve never seen before. Overall it’s an intoxicating experience that I truly enjoy. After exploring the market, we rode our tuk-tuks to a lakeside open-air cooking pavilion outside of town that was the definition of tranquil. Sit walked us through cooking several Lao dishes and cooking styles. At the end we got to feast on our efforts. We had such a fun time that we’ve now made it a mission to take a cooking class in every new country we go to.
Another highlight about an hour outside of Luang Prabang, is the Kuang Si waterfalls. You can get there by minivan or tuk-tuk (we chose minivan), and our driver definitely had a death wish, passing constantly at the most inopportune times. All part of the adventure I guess. The waterfall itself is at the top of a series of emerald blue cascading pools, in which people swim, that stretch for a good mile. You hike from the bottom and the view of the waterfall from the bottom is breathtaking. You can hike a sketchy steep trail to the top and the view is superb. This is one of the more popular destinations from Luang Prabang.
Probably the most surreal highlight of our trip was riding elephants at the Elephant Village outside of town. We knew that there are many places that offer elephant rides that treat the animals poorly, so we did our research and felt that the Elephant Village truly took care of their animals well. The elephants only have to walk about 3 km per day and they have room to roam. There is a veterinarian on site that gives them regular check ups. The elephants to ride are all female Asian elephants that were saved from the logging trade in Northern Laos. From a young age they are trained with vocal commands and can remember an impressive range of commands. They are of course trained in Laotian so to ride them we had to learn some simple commands: “pie” – forwards, “doun” – backwards, “sai” – left, “kwa” – right, “map” – kneel, and “suang” – lift left knee to mount. After practicing riding around their neck, we went on a 3 km trek through water and land, and later rode them into deeper water where we got to scrub them while they splashed and sprayed water. From the sanctuary, we took a skinny boat 15 minutes up the river to see the Tad Se waterfalls, which were similar to the Kuang Si emerald pools but smaller. We highly recommend this experience.
From Luang Prabang, we headed north to the rural town of Nong Khiaw. See our post on Nong Khiaw.