Luang Prabang, Laos

Street in old part of Luang Prabang

Our time in Luang Prabang gave us a good taste of the Lao culture.  Our first night after getting off the slow boat we wandered around town and were surprised at the strong French influence (Laos was a colony of France from the late 1800s to the mid 1900s).  The Old City area where we stayed had cobblestone streets, buildings with shutters, and lots of sidewalk cafes.  Even better were all the bakeries and semi-modern restaurants serving Western food!  Fresh baguettes were sold everywhere, from the restaurants to the street vendors.  We had a drink before dinner that first night and the bar we chose gave us a free shot of Lao whiskey, along with warm Spanish peanuts.  The peanuts were fabulous, and addicting; the whiskey, not so much.  Big yuck!  I’m not a whiskey fan, so it could have been great whiskey, who knows?  The peanuts more than made up for it.  For dinner we chose a smart little pizza “café” with an outdoor patio– we had been deprived of cheese and bread for so long in Thailand that I think it was the best pizza I’ve ever had!  Maybe not, but a slice of heaven just the same.  Our pizza café happened to also be a bakery, go figure, so we had yummy apple pie for dessert.  It was late by the time we headed back to our guesthouse; the streets were eerily quiet.  We barely saw any other people out and about, which seemed strange.  The mystery was solved when we noticed the “rules” posted in our guesthouse room:  Laos has a curfew of midnight - it is illegal to be out past that time.  Other illegal items included foreigners having relations with Lao people (unless they are married), as well as the usual drugs, gambling, prostitution, etc.  Guess we’re not in Kansas anymore! 

The next morning we took advantage of the bakeries and got our bread’s worth.  Nothing better than a warm baguette with butter and jam - yum!   Everything we’d eaten so far in town had been fabulous, so Daron thought he’d give the Lao coffee a try.  Let’s just say that ended our yummy streak.  When it came out it was interesting looking, with dark strong coffee on top and what we figured was cream at the bottom (there was a definite stripe, white on the bottom, brown on top).  When Daron put his spoon in and scooped up the bottom, it came up with this thick sugary goop.  The spoon could have stood up straight in it, it was so thick!  When mixed together it made Daron’s teeth clench, such strong coffee with icky sweetness.  Not a good combination, although the Lao love it.  We also tried Lao tea, which is served with twigs and leaves floating in it.  If you can avoid choking on them, it is actually really good.   For lunch we had sandwiches on those great baguettes.  I love a good sandwich!  For 10,000 kip ($1.25) I got an amazing cheese baguette with fresh cucumber, tomato, onion, lettuce, mayo, and sweet chili sauce.  So good!  Needless to say, I had more than one during our stay in town!

Sunset over the Mekong

Luang Prabang was not at all how we pictured poor, rural Laos.  There were lots of cute shops, tons of cafes, and so many riverside restaurants and bars.  It had a very relaxed kickback vibe to it. Even the tuk tuk drivers weren’t very pushy and would actually take no for an answer.  In fact, half the time we saw them asleep in their vehicles!  Definitely everything is slower here.  We spent one day riding bikes around town, which was a fun way to check out the area.  We watched the sunset from the hill in town with 100 of our tourist friends (it’s a popular thing to do).  We also went to a private pool/bar to try to cool off one hot afternoon.  We met a few other well-traveled people there and picked up some tips on future destinations.   We also visited the night market where we saw amazing Lao handicrafts, along with regular made-in-China merchandise.

Early morning alms-giving ceremony

One morning we woke up before dawn so we could see the daily alms-giving ceremony, where kneeled locals offer rice and other food to the monks as they proceed down the street.  The monks remove the lids from their bowls as they pass by the locals, who have a container of rice in front of them and put a small ball of it into each monk’s bowl as they pass by them.  It was quite beautiful to witness, the long stream of orange robed monks proceeding down the street in complete silence.  Quite the flow of rice, from the bare hands to the bowls – it made us wonder about the sanitary-ness of it all.  The only distraction was a few tourists trying to get the perfect shot, getting too up close and personal (we thought) with the monks and the locals.  It gave the somber procession a bit of a circus feel. 

Impromptu meal with our guesthouse family!

The night before we left Luang Prabang we were walking through our guesthouse “lobby,” which is also the living space of the family that owns the place, which is also part of the store they run downstairs. They were having dinner with a friend and invited us to join them.  There was the matriarch of the guesthouse, her friend, and a young girl, who was the matriarch’s niece.  They were all sitting on low stools in a circle around a couple of low tables; all very informal.  Dinner was all of the ingredients for Vietnamese spring rolls spread out on the tables so each person could put them together themselves.  The friend, who brought the meal over, happily showed us how to make our own spring rolls, then proceeded to make one after another of them for us.  I must have had five of them and I think Daron had ten!  The ingredients looked like they were just pulled from the garden, lots of fresh herbs, garlic, lettuces, and other greens I didn’t recognize.  They were so good and tasted so fresh!  The niece knew some English and was our interpreter during the impromptu meal.  It was a nice moment and showed us just how hospitable the Lao people can be.

Night market next to the Royal Palace

Regarding the money here, it’s called the kip.  One U.S. dollar is worth about 8,000 kip. There are no coins in Laos, only paper money.  The largest denomination we’ve seen has been the 50,000 bill, and the smallest is 100.  We exchanged our Thai baht for kip and felt rich for about an hour – I think we got 1,300,000 kip in our first exchange (we’re millionaires!).  Unfortunately, it goes fast!  The kip is only used in Laos and is such a weak currency that it is worthless in any other country. Things are so much cheaper in Laos than in Thailand, at least so far.  Rooms are a bit more rustic, but still nice. Our guesthouse in Luang Prabang cost us $20 per night.  Restaurant dishes have been between $2.50 and $5.00. 

This town was an unexpected surprise for us – we didn’t expect such modern facilities and food in what felt like a remote area.  It was nice to get a dose of Western fare (pizza!) before heading on to other parts of Laos.