Travel Blog Chapter 18: Luang Prabang, Cultural Capital

The bus came to pick me up from my guesthouse in the morning and upon boarding the bus I met the Singaporeans again. It was a mini bus but we would be transiting onto a bigger bus at the bus interchange. The ride to Luang Prabang would take almost 6 hours and would be up a winding mountain road. I have never got motion sickness before until that day. It was a continuous hour after hour winding road up the mountains and the curve was sharp which meant that you can basically feel yourself going round and round. I was giddy from looking up the window and hoped that we would soon have a pit stop. The first pit stop came when the driver stopped the bus and with a nonchalant look pointed outside the bus at the bushes and said "Toilet". This has become part and parcel of travel and the girls and guys strolled out of the bus into the bushes to relieve themselves. The second stop was for lunch and I could feel the mountain air which was crisp and cooling to the skin. Eventually we arrived at Luang Prabang and unloaded our backpacks. I checked into a hostel at the other end of the road from the Singaporeans. It was more cost effective at around 7 USD a night without your personal toilet and my iternary for that day was spent finding another place to stay, exploring the city as well as planning my next destination.

Home owner in Luang Prabang..the income disparity is rather wide

Sunset in Luang Prabang

Where I stayed

One of the temples

I spent the afternoon looking at the temples, browsing in bookshops and chilling in cafes. As a cultural capital, Luang Prabang was filled with magnificent looking temples with monks collecting alms in the morning by the side of the street. I was told that there would be ongoing processions of monks in the morning but as a Singaporean, such things were more ordinary compared to the perspective of westerners. At night, there was  a night market at one of the main streets in Luang Prabang where you would have hill tribes selling homemade handicraft. These were the hmongs as well as there are hmongs in Thailand, Vietnam and Laos. It was shopping heaven as there were all kinds of things at bargain prices. I met the Singaporeans again and we had dinner together at streetside hawkers. For anyone who ever go to Luang Prabang, such a dining experience is a must as the food are cheap and really tasty.

Bear conservation

Kuoung Si Waterfall with launching rope

Clear waters

Swimming paradise

More pics..

lagoon

Waterfall

The Singaporeans

Shop selling souveneirs

The next day in Luang Prabang, I hooked up with the Singaporeans and visited the Kouang Si Waterfalls which was one of the must visit places. We took a tuk tuk to Kouang Si Waterfalls which was located at the outskirts of Luang Prabang and was a few hours away. Around the vicinity there was a conservation reserve for bears. The main attraction was the waterfall or waterfalls with a lagoon area for swimming and jumping in from a hanging rope. The guys with me started doing somersaults into the water while some of us swam in teh lagoon. The water was extremely cold but the body adjusted rather quickly after awhile. On teh way back from Kuong Si Waterfall, at the entrance we met even more Singaporeans who were there for a community service. That night, I met up with the Singaporeans and we played some drinking games in their guesthouse. It was a fun time of bonding and laughter as we hung out until midnight. The only inconvenience was that I had to walk back to my guesthouse at the other end of the road with little to no street lights. When i arrived at my guesthouse, the gate was closed and I had to press the doorbell and knocked on the door for the owners to let me in. In Laos they have a curfew where shop closes before midnight and no one would be supposedly be on the street after 11pm.

Night Hmong market

Street in Luang Prabang

Last evening in Luang Prabang

I was itching to move on again to another place after the few days in Luang Prabang and after talking to some tour operators I decided that Nong Kiaw was the place to go.