Luang Prabang, Laos
We arrived in Luang Prabang on a Friday and as luck would have it, there was a night market. This was typical of other markets we had seen except this one had more handmade items, crafts and other high quality goods. Things like lampshades, serenity bowls, hand made scarves, skirts and pants, beautiful pop up cards, and lots of hand made jewelery. I saw several people selling items made out of bomb casings, which I thought was a great idea as it also sent an important message about just how many bombs have been dropped in Laos during the Vietnam war, and brought attention to the fact that they were still finding them today. I also found several hand carved face masks made from wood. I think they brought my total up to 6 bought just on this trip. I would have bought more, but I literally had no more space.
It seems like most people come to Luang Prabang to take the slow boat into Thailand, or the hopping off point from Thailand to explore Laos. While Luang Prabang is a sweet little town, there isn't much going on. For us, it was a welcome rest from all our travels. The first two days we basically just walked around and enjoyed the sights. We met some really great people as we sat at different coffee shops and watched the people walk up and down the busy pedestrian street. Everyone from the tourist to the locals had such a great chilled attitude. Of course it wouldn't be Asia without the daily massages. I'm going to be very sad coming back to the west where the prices are ridiculous.
On Sunday we took a trip to a local waterfall park called Kuang Si, which is about the only must do in the area. There is a bear sanctuary in the park and a butterfly garden just down the street. The bear sanctuary is home to about 20 moon bears who have been rescued from the bile trade. It's really heartbreaking to see the pictures of the conditions that these bears lived in, sometimes up to 30 years. They had lived in a tiny cage where they had no room to even turn around. They're hooked up with a catheter into the gallbladder where the bile is extracted twice a day. The conditions are absolutely horrific. It was very nice to see how there is a major education campaign to rescue these bears and stop the bile trade, which is used in traditional Asian medicine. It was much nicer to watch the bears enjoying their home in the jungle. The butterfly garden was small, but surprisingly well stocked.
The waterfalls were amazing, I've never seen so many in one place. At the back of the park was the main waterfall, falling 200 ft. You can hike up to the top, which Caron did, but I opted out of the climb and found plenty of things to take pictures of while I waited. The water flows from the main waterfall toward the front of the park where it runs over a series of maybe 20 smaller waterfalls; making several pools of beautiful clear water, the perfect swimming holes, if only it were a bit warmer.
There was a nice hard packed path next to the river and for once, there was plenty of room to avoid other people trying to take the same pictures. We went with a couple we had met at dinner the night before and hired a private driver. You can also haggle with the Tuk Tuk drivers, but if you share the cost with other people, the van was a better option as the trip out there is about 45 min and the roads are not great. We had been advised to go early to beat the crowds and it turned out to be great advice. In the early morning, we almost had the park to ourselves. Not so later in the afternoon as we met throngs of people on our way out. There was a nice restaurant about half way through the park and several stands of food just outside, with delicious grilled chicken and whole fish on a stick.
After a few days of relaxing, it was time go by boat, on the Mekong river, into Thailand. Luckily Caron had done some research. You have a one day option by speed boat, but it's a long day packed tightly together. You have two options for the two day trip, the cheap public boat or the more expensive private one. We chose the private option with Shompoocruise and it was so worth it. We were picked up at our hotel, had a light breakfast and a full lunch on the boat, and made stops along the way.
Our first adventure was the Pak Oh Caves. A short hike up some steep stairs brings you into 2 large caves with thousands of Buddha statues. We also stopped at a Hill Tribe village partially supported by the boat company. 2% of their profit goes to the village for things like school supplies, shoes, clothes etc. Our guide explained that the villagers had been relocated from the mountains to the river. Before, the villagers supported themselves by growing poppy for opium. The government hoped that by moving them, they could become fishermen and learn other means of support. We saw large patches of cut grass laid out to dry and learned this grass would be made into the stiff grass brooms used in this part of the world. The village was pretty simple, with the wooden houses built on stilts. The houses were made of wooden poles and lots of thatched roofs and walls. There was a central water spigot where one woman was doing her washing. We saw several chicken, pigs and goats roaming around and there were wooden fences to keep the animals out of the gardens behind every house. It seemed like the whole village came to meet us including many children. The kids knew enough English to beg money which we didn't give them. I really wish we had known we were visiting, I would love to have brought the kids something useful like school supplies. In the end, I gave two little girls a necklace I was wearing and my scarf.
The cruise was interesting as we got to see daily life on the river for the many villages along the way. We saw lots of fishing of course. People seemed to use the river as their main source of water as we saw 2 men shaving from their boat, women doing laundry, washing their hair and their kids. The Mekong is a main transportation artery and we saw many different kinds of boats. There was a flat home made barge transporting a dump truck and a cement mixer, many speed boats transporting people and cargo, and many long boats like ours moving people around.
We stopped for the night in Pakbeng. It seems this town is nothing but a midway point for the boats. Every building on the main street were small hotels and restaurants. We arrived a bit before the public transport boat, so it was pretty quiet. After dinner, we wandered along the main street and found a little bar with a big bonfire out back. The weather had been quite chilly, to the point that on the boat, everyone sat huddled under 3 or 4 blankets. After about 30 minutes of having the fire to ourselves, the backpackers showed up. We were joined at the fire by 4 or 5 young people who were quite entertaining. After hearing about their day on the public boat I couldn't thank Caron enough for booking our private cruise. There were over 100 people on the public boat and our group ended up on the floor of the engine room. And this isn't even high season. They had to arrange their own lodging in town and were met at the dock by shouting hawkers, all trying to get them to stay in their hostel. We didn't dare tell them we only had 10 people on our boat, or that we had a nice hot lunch, open lounge space, big tables, couches and blankets and a fairly nice hotel room with breakfast included. But like all the young backpackers we met along the way, they took this minor inconvenience in stride and made the most of it. Shared bad experiences can make for life long friends.
I expected to see more wildlife along the river but mostly we saw cows and goats. On our second morning we were lucky enough to see a pair of tame elephants being brought to the river. Apparently, many of the villages still keep and use domesticated elephants. I would imagine there is plenty of work for them to do.
We arrived at Houay Xay around 5pm on the 2nd day. We were transported to the customs office in Laos then taken by bus across the river into Thailand where we had arranged a ride to Chang Mai. The trip was really easy and quite enjoyable. I would definitely like to spend more time in Laos. In talking to the many people we met, it sound like a hidden gem with plenty of wonderful places to explore. The people were all very friendly and seemed very welcoming.
Link to the pictures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/jLZbrYwiV5WlKXQH2
Link to out boat company: http://shompoocruise.com/
Link To Caron's website: https://caronguillotravel.com/
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