Little Big Town Luang Prabang

From Bangkok and then Chian Mai, we were ready to slow down. The smog was wearing us us out and both Rolfe and I started getting congestion. The tiny town of Luang Prabang was the perfect place for us to wind down and go zen. Picking us up at the Chiang Mai airport was the introduction of what we should expect from Luang Prabang. A tiny propeller complete with all the amenities of any large Boeing or Airbus plane.

 Lao Air flight from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang

After arriving at the airport, Rolfe and I were greeted at the immigration with officers. Being still a Filipino citizen, I can take advantage of traveling around SE Asia without needing a visa. Rolfe had to queue up and get a visa and pay some fee to get in the country. When we got to town, we immediately felt how different the stay would be in comparison to the much bigger and busier cities of Thailand. The weather was cold at night, filled with locals and monks walking along the small streets. Motorbikes and regular bicycles zipped around like bees. Guesthouses (smaller version of hotels), internet cafes, tour operators and bookshops lined the quiet streets that lead to the main street of town. Once you get to the main street, you'll be greeted by chic restaurants and shops housed in old-style French Maison.

Local French style Cafe

Chic spaces meant not very cheap prices. However, it is still cheaper in comparison to eating out in the US. A full set breakfast with a large baguette (they love this french bread here) with marmalade and butter, coffee, fresh fruit, two eggs, fruit shake cost about 40,000 Kip (around $4.50 per person). If you're still not satisfied with the price, you have the option of eating at a local food stall to eat pho for 10,000 kip ($1.20) or the many skewered meat from chicken, pork to fish and many of their byproducts (hehehe) for even less. Many stalls open for dinner at the small streets that lead up to the night market. One thing positive about shopping and eating in Luang Prabang is that they accept US dollars and Thai baht everywhere. So don't worry about running of the large denominations of Lao kip.

In addition to eating cheap and window(less) shopping around town and the night market, some highlights of being in this UNESCO world heritage site city are the magnificent views of the river, the mountains and the falls. You can spend an afternoon just chilling long the riverside, where you can watch slow boats dock, read a book or do yoga (yes someone was doing yoga by herself on the quiet riverside).

Mekong Sunset

After a day of pure relaxation, Rolfe and I decided it was time to do a little bit of giving back to our very kind world. While walking along the streets of the night market, we bumped into this small stall where a guy is selling books that benefit children and young adults who are keen on learning the English language. The organization he represents is called Big Brother Mouse (click here to learn more) . Basically, the idea is you buy the book, then the next day, you can bring the book to their local office where you can have a book party where you give the book to a kid who wants to learn and speak English. If you don't have much mulla (just like Rolfe and myself - both unemployed), you can just give the gift of time by spending two hours of conversation. We decided to swing by the office the next day to help some locals, and there we met a few students. One of them stood out who's very keen to learn. He also asked us if we wanted to learn more about some interesting sites. Since we decided to go the next day for site seeing without a guide, we decided to bring him along with us to serve as our guide and so he can practice his English at the same time.

In the afternoon, we decided to be more active and to journey outside of town to the villages using the bikes we rented for the day. In addition to the wonderful views of the mountain ranges, we also had sightings of local youth engaging in fun sports.

The next day, were excited to be toured around by our new friend. We hired a private minivan so we can make the most of our time and visit. We went to Luang Prabang's most famous site. Outside of town lies the wonder, Kuang Si Falls. It is composed of terraces of smaller falls and a large falls on the very top. You can swim at the clear small falls and hike up the top of  main large falls to peek at the view of the beautiful rain forest.

Kuang Si Falls

After watching the spectacular view from the top of the falls, we decided to trek another 4 kilometers to the rainforest to a water spring and cave. Along the path, we bumped into fields, goats, views of the mountain ranges and a dilapidated bridge. Once we got to the cave entrance, we figured couldn't really go inside since we didn't bring flashlights.

 

As we headed back to the hotel, our van broke. It was like fate telling us not to leave yet. But we really had to go. Although very sore, that night, we still tried to exert our all the energy we've got by strolling around town, eating local food and even playing three rounds of bowling until midnight (I had a high score of 140! Woohoo!) The next day we had to leave but who would've thought we would have so much fun in this little big town called Luang Prabang.