The Art of Picking Up in Luang Prabang

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We arrived in Luang Prabang early evening and found a nice guest house which was absolute luxury compared to the night before, on first impression the town was just lovely, and it is so peaceful. There is a night market everyday selling all kinds of handy crafts and food, made by the local people. We were so tired however that all we did was walk for a bit, eat, and listen to some Aussie guy trying to pull an American girl, by telling her how he was "in training to be a jackaroo, but as it takes 10 years he was currently dividing his time 50/50 between university and travelling" and how "it was kinda like being a cowboy". We're guessing this approach worked as we saw them together the next day.

The next morning we had a bit of a sleep in and went out for breakfast, the town was even more beautiful in the day, it sits on the banks of the Mekong River and is full of restaurants, book shops and handy crafts. The French influence is present everywhere, we even had baguette's for breakfast. The rest of the day was spent exploring and eating, we started by walking up Phu Si to look at the temples and the views over the town. For lunch we tried jaew bawang (dried buffalo skin in a chilli paste) with khai paen (dried river moss fried in sesame oil and topped with sesame seeds), Trace didn't partake with the chewing of the skin, whilst there was no holding back Matt. After the initial tastings we ordered fried noodles with some sort of meat, and of course it was all washed down with the local Beer Lao; which in our opinion is just the best beer in Asia.

Everything we came across was really cheap, for dinner we dined at the best restaurant in town. We both had pre-dinner drinks, hot bread, three courses, French Sauvignon and at least two people waiting on our table at all times. It was easily the most indulgent meal of our trip so far, and it came to a grand total of $32US.

Unfortunately we had to head off the next day, as we had a flight booked to Siem Reap in Cambodia. It was sad to be leaving so soon as Luang Prabang is the most tranquil town we have ever been to, but at least we know which place we can say is at the top of our list of destinations we will be returning to.


On our last morning we once again slept in, and had breakast in an open restaurant on the main street. Then we were off to the airport for a preflight Beer Lao Stout, and on our way to Cambodia with the five other passangers who were on our flight.

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