Laos - Day 6 & 7 - Luang Prabang

Both a little ruined from the night before, and in a guesthouse that didn’t serve breakfast – we slept in late. We’d read that Luang Prabang was one of the most beautiful places in Laos – and is also a UNESCO listed town, so hadn’t made any plans in particular other than just walking around! We found a good place for brunch, then set about exploring the town. It’s sat on a peninsular between two pretty big rivers (The Mekong and the Nam Khan) and is packed full of heritage-listed buildings and more temples than you can shake a stick at (over 30 within a 30 minute walk of the centre of town). We were still feeling the effects of temple overload however, so just took a leisurely stroll around the riverfront.

We then had to sort out our onward travel – but our options were limited. Flying was an option, but expensive and we’d have to wait 4 days for the next free flight – the bus was also available, but it was something ridiculous like 18 hours overnight. We were left with a boat trip 9 hours up river to a town called Pak Beng – then another 9 hours the day afterwards to Huay Xai at the Thai border. Despite the fact we’d lose two days – we opted for the boat over the trauma of another long bus ride, especially overnight in cramped seats.

It was pretty damn hot again, so after a couple of hours we retreated – back to the guesthouse to research hotels up river. We ventured out again that night to have a look around the handicraft night markets (which were epic and took over an hour to walk from one side to the other), and then find somewhere for food. All of our initial choices looked rubbish though, and we ended up just picking a street/riverside place doing a BBQ because it was cheap and we were tired of walking around.

Best. Food. Ever.

It turned out to be the best food we’d had in weeks! They had clay BBQs built into the tables, which you sat around and they brought over fresh hot coals – then a big metal bowl which looked a bit like an inverted colander but with no holes on the lower part. Next an old teapot and a basket of herbs, veggies and greens with a couple of eggs and a plate of meat (we opted for pork given Lisa’s recent obsession). The woman proceeded to pour a vegetable broth into the colander, add a selection of noodles and herbs, the veggies and a cracked egg and whisk it all around – then the meat in the middle of the colander thing, which sizzled and immediately smelled amazing.

She then left us to it – so we guessed when it was all cooked, loaded up our bowls and the flavours were unbelievable! We sat there cooking and eating for over an hour and only just managed to finish it all – and it only cost $5 with a big bottle of Beer Laos (now my favourite SE Asian beer).

We retreated to the guesthouse before they locked us out for the night.

Given that we’d not done a whole lot the previous day I was keen to stay on for another and see some more of the town. We’d been a bit disappointed in the place so far but probably hadn’t given it our best shot. Unfortunately we got off to a bad start when the first place we tried for breakfast was closed so we got annoyed and sweaty looking for somewhere else – but the replacement was nice enough.

Shortly before the rain hit.

Afterwards Lisa went for a massage to attempt to fix her mangled back and I tried to beat the heat with a beer at a café for an hour. We were going to check out some of the riverside restaurants on the other side – but they were all a bit horrible, so didn’t bother!

We'd gotten wind of a place just on the outskirts of town which had a public swimming pool - given the heat was again fairly oppressive we grabbed our swimmers and headed over there. It took about 25 minutes to walk there so by the time we arrived, it was a rather welcome oasis! You had to pay $2 each to get in, and got given a wristband which you could then use at the bar - THE SWIM UP BAR! We were both a little bit excited by the prospect, so we had a pretty refreshing dip and enjoyed a couple of frozen cocktails sat in the pool - it felt like we'd found a small slice of Las Vegas in Luang Prabang (albeit a slightly dirty, backpacker filled slice of Vegas). We stayed for a couple of hours until the sun disappeared behind some ominous looking clouds before heading home to change.

 

Just near out guesthouse there was a giant hill with a temple on top that looks over the town – we’d been to tired to walk up the 400 or so steps the day before so decided to go up there that afternoon. It was really humid, and getting up there was a bit of a challenge – although the views were pretty spectacular once we made it. There was a collection of golden Buddha statues, as well as the temple and stupa at the summit which were all pretty cool – but not as nice as the others down below.

Possibly the best cocktail in the world.

Rather foolishly, and despite the fact we’d both looked at the clouds and thought it would probably rain later on – neither of us thought to pick up our waterproof macs. Sure enough, about 5 minutes after we reached the top – the wind picked up and it absolutely smashed it down with rain. We were stranded with no shelter and 400 steps between us and a dry spot. We made a break for it but both got completely soaked! Our plans of heading straight out to dinner were shot, and what’s more we walked down the opposite side of the hill to where we were staying (as that was the dry, sheltered side when we ran for cover) – so we had to trudge all the way back around!

Slightly demoralized – we waited out the rain, then went back to our new favourite BBQ place, before heading to a bar we’d read about called Ikon for some much needed, unique and rather tasty cocktails. Suitably boozed up – we made sure we got an early night in preparation for our epic boat journey up the Mekong the next morning.