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Published: April 21st 2009
I think that Luang Prabang definitely deserves its place as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is truly a beautiful place and even the constant gray caused by the slash and burn agriculture couldn't take away its beauty and charm, though I must admit that it would have been even lovelier with some blue skies now and again. Admittedly, my photos are somewhat disappointing and don't really capture all that Luang Prabang has to offer, but trust me, it is lovely and I would highly recommend it to anyone!
Luang Prabang was the ancient capital of the Luang Prabang Kingdom and remained the capital of Laos until the communists took over in 1975. The current capital of Laos is Vientiane, which is, from all accounts thus far, an unremarkable little city that isn't much worth the visit (I don't intend to make it there on this trip). Luang Prabang, on the other hand, is quite picturesque. It is a place where you can just walk up and down the streets, pop into galleries, enjoy a cafe and some pastries, and live the good, slow life.
I had read and heard over and over again that Laos (pronounced 'Lao,' fyi;
Slash and burn smoke
Travelers shake their fists at you for degrading the environment and also for 'ruining' our pictures!apparently the French added the silent 's' on the end which we took to be non-silent, but you quickly get the 's' taken out of your mouth over here, if only by other travelers) would be the most laid-back country in the region and that you may even have to wake up a tuk tuk driver to get him to take you somewhere (soooooo unlike Thailand!). I figured this was pure exaggeration, but so far I have found it to be not too far from the truth. People are trying to get you to buy from them or take a ride from them, but they are not nearly so insistent and take 'no' at face value more readily. On the first day I went into a restaurant right across from the guesthouse that had a vegetarian set meal. At first I thought that no one was in there, but then I realized that the waitress/owner was sitting behind the counter sleeping on her folded arms. I tried a tentative 'hello' and then another, slightly louder, but she didn't stir, so I decided that I should let her sleep and find somewhere else to eat.
There's a super night market
in Luang Prabang with lots of handicrafts from the hill tribes, cheap t-shirts, bottles of 'lao lao' (rice whiskey) with various creatures inside, and more. Despite the array of inexpensive things, I wasn't really in a buying mood at the time, but I am already rather regretting that fact.
Courtney and I toured around some of the sights of the town such as the Royal Palace and accompanying gallery with portraits of monks, and we climbed our butts up Phousi Hill in the center of town for a good bird's eye view of things. We also managed, though rather late in the day for the excursion, to make it to the Pak Ou Caves, which are about 25 km (the last of which over extremely rutted dirt roads-- not too comfortable in the back of a tuk tuk!) from Luang Prabang. We hired a little boat to take us the short distance across the river. Inside the 2 main caves are literally thousands of buddha sculptures placed there by pilgrims. I'm not actually sure why these buddhas were first placed in these particular caves, but obviously the trend took off and continues into today. Most of the buddhas are
carved out of wood and it is somewhat eery at first, sort of like a buddha graveyard, but it is also peaceful at the same time.
Though Luang Prabang doesn't offer masses and masses of major sights apart from wats, it is a great place to spend some relaxing days.
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