Luang Prabang: Buffets, baguettes and sunsets

Sunrise almsgiving

Y’know what they say, early traveller catches the almsgiving. For this one we were up and out by 5:30am. It was still dark but the streets were filling with locals putting out their stools and getting their rice ready. Each morning as the sun rises the monks from the many temples in Luang Prabang begin their walk through the quiet city to collect the rice from the locals for their breakfast. We chose to observe rather than participate as we’d heard that when travellers join in there’s an excess of rice which then gets binned, which is not what we wanted. It was a pretty cool sight to see though, and observing an ancient tradition was definitely worth the early start. Disclaimer: we absolutely went back to bed afterwards.

Night market and buffet street

Every evening in Luang Prabang the night market rolls out along the main street. This was my favourite market yet as it was full of beautiful handmade crafts but so much more chilled than those we’d visited in Thailand. They sold everything from beautiful art on handmade Lao paper to key rings crafted from the scrap metal of bombs dropped between 1964-1973- the equivalent of a plane load of bombs every 8 minutes, 24 hours a day, for 9 years, making Laos the most heavily bombed country per capita in history.

Off of the night market is a little alleyway known as ‘Buffet Street’, which is where you would find us in the evenings. For 20,000 kip (£1.84) you got an all you could eat plate-full of food- noodles, rice, veg, spring rolls- and it was vegetarian too-amazing. Grab your plate and pull up a bench in amongst other travellers and locals and you’re set. Other stalls in the alleyway sold freshly cooked meals for the same price, cakes, and 15,000 kip (£1.38) baguettes filled with whatever you fancied. I. Love. Asia.

Wat Xieng Thong

Another day, another Wat. This is one of the most important temples in Luang Prabang, and Laos itself, thanks to its architectural and historical significance. For me, this one stood out amongst the many other wats we’d seen because of it’s beautiful mosaic patterns, including a dreamy Tree Of Life glass mosaic on the rear temple wall.

Kuang Si Falls

Surrounded by lush tropical jungle, Kuang Si has made it into our much revered ‘Favourite Waterfalls of All Time’ list. It’s made up of several levels of powder-blue water cascading over over tiers of rocks, and makes for a dreamy sight. Some levels you’re able to swim in- which is a relief after you’ve sweated your backside off on the hike to the top- and others you can’t, which creates beautifully unspoilt-by-men-in-speedos-who-shouldn’t-own-speedos photos. Best of both worlds. If you make the hike through the jungle to the top, you’re rewarded with a peaceful little oasis, a jungle swing and Jurassic Park views. Winner.

Garavek Traditonal Lao Folktale Theatre

This one we stumbled across by pure chance after seeing a little sign at the side of the road. A couple of days later we found ourselves in a darkened room, smaller than my shed, with a beer watching 2 men tell the folktales of Luang Prabang and play traditional Lao instruments, and y’know what, it was brilliant. We loved learning the folk tales behind the forming of the Mekong or the reason Mount Phousi exists. A two man show it might have been, but their charisma and obvious love of storytelling kept us entertained throughout the whole show.

Sunset on the Mekong

On our first evening in Luang Prabang we headed up the many steps to the top of Mount Phousi where we’d heard the sunset views were amazing. We arrived, hot and sweaty, to find that the rest of Luang Prabang had seemingly had the same idea. Yes the mountain views were beautiful, yes the sunset was dreamy, but my word were the people a bunch of noisy disrespectful humans. At one point someone actually had to utter the words ‘Er please could you move so we can actually see the sunset’ as a bloke had plonked himself right in front of it without any concern for anyone else. I really love sunsets, but selfie-sticks up my nose is not my idea of chill, and so we abandoned the mountain before the sun had gone down.

Several days later we decided to attempt sunset again, but this time booked a cruise along the Mekong River in the hope of less selfie sticks and people. Much, much better. We cruised along the Mekong on top of a wooden boat, sat in a deck chair with a Lao Mojito and a beautiful sunset in front of us. The sky was coloured pink and orange as the sun glittered across the Mekong and the local rowers cane out to practice. We also released fish that had been on sale at the market that morning- it was slightly odd carrying a bucket of fish on to the boat with us, but at least they had another chance at life in the Mekong rather than being someone’s lunch.

The Living Land Farm

Having eaten the volume of rice we have, it was about time we learnt how to grow it. So we spent the morning at the Living Land Farm doing exactly that. It’s a community enterprise made up of 7 families with 20 employees, and they also take on 14 students at weekends and holidays. In return, they support the students with all their schooling, providing everything from books to uniform. They also provide free English classes for local children every evening (which we popped back to help with too. Hopefully they learnt some English, and we learnt that Lao children are loud and giggly, and that Lao is SO hard to write).

Throughout the morning we learnt the entire process from choosing the right seeds, to cooking the rice, and it was super hands-on, which was a lot of fun. They’re doing great things at this little place, my only criticism is the use of poor Susan the buffalo- we understand that buffalo are used traditionally for ploughing the fields, but she really wasn’t having a good time, and offering tourists the opportunity to plough with her was no fun for her. Thankfully only 2 of our 8 person group decided to have a go, keeping her discomfort to a minimum. Aside from that, the rest of the experience was brilliant and provided us with a great opportunity to see the enormous effort that goes in to growing a food I complain about eating daily. I’ll think before I moan about it in the future, apologies rice farmers.