Luang Prabang Should Be on Your Travel List

[Guest reader]

From Travel and Leisure

In the ancient city of Luang Prabang, even popular spots feel intimate. Boats cruise the Mekong River — almost all head out around golden hour and cruise through twilight — yet it seems as if you’re floating alone on this iconic waterway, which flows from China to Vietnam and through Northern Laos on its way.

As I lay on the wooden deck of a traditional slow boat, one that Sofitel Luang Prabang uses for guests, I watched the outline of the hills in the distance, and in the foreground, fishermen standing on their respective sampans. For a moment, time stood still; it was just the fishermen, me, and the Mekong.

Visitor numbers have surged here in recent months (mostly due to the border with neighboring China reopening), but Luang Prabang remains relatively under the radar among U.S. travelers. Should someone arrive in the Laotian capital of Vientiane, they can access Luang Prabang via a new high-speed rail link that takes just two hours; the route will soon continue north and up to China. However, if you’re like me, you will fly in from Bangkok. From there, Air Asia and Bangkok Airways offer daily service for the less than two-hour flight to Vientiane.

Some 500,000 people, across more than 60 different ethnic groups, call Luang Prabang home, the Khmu, Lao Loum, and Hmong being the largest Indigenous nations. People here live a decidedly laid-back and unhurried life. It’s a stark contrast to, say, Bangkok or Saigon, neighboring Southeast Asian cities that offer international flights to this former royal capital.

In early May, the region was hot and steamy, the sky a hazy grayish-blue and permanently on the cusp of a storm that would provide temporary relief. I spent my early mornings and late evenings on the quietest streets of Luang Prabang, which you’ll find on the promontory of the historic district between the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers, east of the Royal Palace. These streets contain the largest number of heritage buildings and are a peaceful retreat from the bustle of the markets. 

The morning market, operating from around 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. daily, is located in a mini-maze of alleys and backstreets near the center of town. It’s the place to be if you want to get a taste of how people here really live. Most of the vendors — who sell everything from grilled sticky rice (khao jee) and mung bean coconut rice cakes to sun-cured pork naem, plus the day’s catch — are set up on the ground.

The night market operates from around 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. daily and is more of a tourist-focused affair, with an array of vendors setting up shop on streets that are closed to cars. While the red and blue tents along the main thoroughfare sell souvenirs and art pieces, the market has street food galore as well, like Laotian baguettes, laap, and green papaya salad.  

 

Continues at

https://www.travelandleisure.com/how-to-visit-luang-prabang-laos-7555706

 

[PeterRS]

It is almost 2 decades since I spent 4 nights in Luang Prabang - and loved them. It is a completely charming small city but never felt like a city. I flew in on Bangkok Airways. I understand there is a long boat service down the Mekong from Chiang Mai, but that would need to be checked to see if it still runs. Just meandering through the centre with its plethora of small temples and colonial houses was a joy. As was the gentle climb up Pussy Hill (although it is spelled Phousi!) to get an overview of the city. The former Royal Palace is now a Museum.

And there is a lovely boat ride about 25 kms up the Mekong to the Pak Ou Caves where there are many hundreds of small Buddha sculptures.

I had booked through the long dead Utopia Tours. I had a non-gay guide during two days but frankly a guidebook would have been just as good. One evening I had a gay guide. Funnily, that evening I had had an early dinner in a little restaurant around the corner from my guesthouse and spent the meal lusting after the two cute waiters. I was then amazed when my evening guide arrived. He was one of the waiters! Gay nightlife then was mostly limited to one very large bar cum disco with very few people and one smaller bar, again with few patrons. 

But I did get a feeling of Luang Prabang being quite cruisy. On my last afternoon before my flight back to Bangkok, I was sitting at one of the tables outside the guesthouse looking at the boat traffic on the Mekong. Soon three cute boys - not sure if they were in the last year at school or first at university but they were in uniform - came and sat nearby. As they were drinking their tea, they obviously were aware that I was looking at them. Soon one came over. He said one of his friends liked me and asked if I lliked him! Of course I did and told him so, but sadly I had absolutely no time to do anything. Bummer!

One anecdote. The guesthouse on the banks of the Mekong was quite new. It was the idea of a Lao architect who had spent about 20 years in Sydney stuying and working before returning home. As I returned from sightseeing one afternoon, he told me I had just missed meeting Mick Jagger and his daughter and how he had had a fascinating chat with them. Another bummer! The Rolling Stones had had a concert in Bangkok cancelled when the plane taking all their stage and technical gear from the previous gig in Mumbai had broken down. So Jagger had hired a plane specifically to visit Luang Prabang. Since he was sitting on a table across from the guesthouse, the owner went up to say how nice it was to see him again.

It turned out that the guesthouse owner had met Jagger during a concert in Sydney some years earlier. Then he formed part of the security guard. At a rehearsal, seeing that he was Asian Jagger had gone up to him to say the band had run out of pot and was there any way the Lao guy could obtain some more! It turned out that the owner had a friend in the Lao Embassy. So overnight, a stash of pot was sent down in the diplomatic bag! 

[scott456]

On 7/23/2023 at 1:02 PM, PeterRS said:

 

I will put a monk on my to-do list for next trip

[vinapu]

9 hours ago, scott456 said:

I will put a monk on my to-do list for next trip

perhaps better to leave him alone

[joizy]

A beautiful place to go and just relax.

[fedssocr]

The whole country is just waiting to be discovered. I took a fantastic trip there several years ago now. Started with my second visit to LP and then flew down to Pakse from which I boarded the Vat Phou Mekong River cruise which was excellent. Then I spent a couple of days with a guide and driver visiting various places around central Laos. Beautiful waterfalls. It could be a great ecotourism destination if it had a little more tourism infrastructure in place. It's probably better now than it was 8 years ago.

And I'll put in a plug for Big Brother Mouse which is based in LP. They publish books in Lao and some tribal languages to help kids learn to read. And they have opened several schools that offer a much richer education than the regulat state-run schools. www.bigbrothermouse.com If you're in the US they have a 501c3 arm here that makes your donations tax deductible. You can sponsor a book that is ready to be published or just general help.

[scott456]

4 hours ago, vinapu said:

perhaps better to leave him alone

His legs are wide open for me.

[macaroni21]

 

On 7/23/2023 at 2:02 AM, PeterRS said:

I understand there is a long boat service down the Mekong from Chiang Mai, but that would need to be checked to see if it still runs. J

I did that trip more recently, just before COVID, so it still runs, but I went in the reverse direction. I took a long boat from Luang Prabang upriver to Huay Xai/Chiang Khong, the nearest river landing to Chiang Rai. More accurately, the long boat docked at Huay Xai, which is the town on the Lao side of the Mekong, directly opposite Chiang Khong. From Huay Xai I had to bus over a bridge to Chiang Khong complete with border formalities. The long boat trip took 2 days and 1 night with a sleepover in a village called Pak Beng halfway up the river.

From Chiang Khong, I took a bus to Chiang Rai. About 3hours, mountain roads.

I'm talking local busses, not tour coaches. You sit tightly with a vegetable seller and a hairdresser on their way to the big city (Chiang Rai).

this is not a trip you do with luggage. A backpack is all you can have with you. The river banks can be muddy and steep. Don't imagine pulling a roller suitcase behind you.

 

[macaroni21]

For those 2 days on the boat, meals took the form of instant noodles and whatever the itinerant vendors sell. 

In short: it was fun. 

Hard seats on long boat.

But those who swear by Business Class may curse every moment of the trip.

 

[thaiophilus]

On 9/10/2023 at 2:05 PM, macaroni21 said:

 

I did that trip more recently, just before COVID, so it still runs, but I went in the reverse direction. I took a long boat from Luang Prabang upriver to Huay Xai/Chiang Khong, the nearest river landing to Chiang Rai. More accurately, the long boat docked at Huay Xai, which is the town on the Lao side of the Mekong, directly opposite Chiang Khong. From Huay Xai I had to bus over a bridge to Chiang Khong complete with border formalities. The long boat trip took 2 days and 1 night with a sleepover in a village called Pak Beng halfway up the river.

From Chiang Khong, I took a bus to Chiang Rai. About 3hours, mountain roads.

I'm talking local busses, not tour coaches. You sit tightly with a vegetable seller and a hairdresser on their way to the big city (Chiang Rai).

this is not a trip you do with luggage. A backpack is all you can have with you. The river banks can be muddy and steep. Don't imagine pulling a roller suitcase behind you.

 

Been there, done that, back in 2001, though I don't suppose it's changed much since. If the river level was low, some of the older wooden boats took three days in the upstream direction. In that case, instead of the relative metropolis of Pakbeng you get to stay in two tiny no-name villages.  The trip had its moments...
Late on the first afternoon we met another boat identical to ours, which had hit a sandbank and sunk. So we stopped for a couple of hours while our boat's crew helped the other crew to rescue their cargo. By the time we moved on, it was dark. Very dark.  Those boats have no lights and we now knew that apparently even an experienced crew can run aground, even in broad daylight. It was a welcome relief when we reached Village #1. The evening meal was noodles or rice; breakfast was rice or noodles. The "hotel" was a row of mats.

When we reached Pakbeng at midday the following day I chose to leave the wooden boat and complete the journey on a (slightly) faster and stronger steel boat the following day. Meanwhile I enjoyed the UNESCO world heritage delights of Pakbeng: choice of guest houses! private rooms!  beds! choice of restaurants! choice of food! electric light (until 9pm)!

Slower than usual slow boat up the Mekong.

Pakbeng

 

Luang Prabang

[vinapu]

On 9/9/2023 at 11:40 PM, joizy said:

A beautiful place to go and just relax.

with all those temples , waterfalls, hills and rivers it's actually plenty to do there at Luang Prabang 

[tm_nyc]

4 hours ago, thaiophilus said:

Been there, done that, back in 2001, though I don't suppose it's changed much since.

I went to LP in 2013 & I liked it a lot.  It was a sweet, relaxed place, but definitely touristy.  Not much going on but it had a unique charm.  Now I am wondering how the opening of rail service (to China & to Vientiane) is going to affect it.  Are the locals gearing up for a big increase in tourism from China?   Is LP changing?  I am planning to go back in December so I will see for myself!

[fedssocr]

8 minutes ago, tm_nyc said:

I went to LP in 2013 & I liked it a lot.  It was a sweet, relaxed place, but definitely touristy.  Not much going on but it had a unique charm.  Now I am wondering how the opening of rail service (to China & to Vientiane) is going to affect it.  Are the locals gearing up for a big increase in tourism from China?   Is LP changing?  I am planning to go back in December so I will see for myself!

the old town of LP is a UNESCO World Heritage site and thus cannot really change much. The changes would likely be on the other sides of the rivers from the town itself.

[PeterRS]

Just for info, the fast speed train from Vientiane to Kunming stops at Luang Prabang. On the present schedule it departs at 08:08 and arrives at 09:53 (but this might be Chinese time which is an hour ahead of Laos). Return train to Vientiane is late afternoon.

[vinapu]

8 hours ago, PeterRS said:

Just for info, the fast speed train from Vientiane to Kunming stops at Luang Prabang. On the present schedule it departs at 08:08 and arrives at 09:53 (but this might be Chinese time which is an hour ahead of Laos). Return train to Vientiane is late afternoon.

should be 1 or 2 more between Vientiane and Luang Prabang . There were at least 3 in each direction when I was there last November. That could change of course so it's better to check locally when there. 

[Keithambrose]

See other pist about threat to LP, from dam over Mekong.