My first view of Luang Prabang was on Google Images. I was not even aware that such a town existed. As my screen started to show a village like town from an aerial view with two rivers joining hands at its head, I was already clicking on more images. The initial reaction from my Hanoi based agent when I told her about wanting to add Laos and in it Luang Prabang to the Vietnam & Cambodia itinerary, was a ‘why’?
“Why do you want to go there? You have a similar kind of town in Central Vietnam, called Hue and much cheaper”, she said in one of our 30+ mails, exchanged to discuss what exactly to do different in the already touristy Vietnam and Cambodia.
The only way I could decide between the Central Vietnam and Luang Prabang in Laos was by going to both the places, before having the tourists come with me. Back in October 2015, on a bus from Hue to Hanoi in Vietnam, I was kind of desperate in wanting Luang Prabang to be better than the architecturally old world chinese but very commercial, Hue. I had to however scrape through the madness of Vientiane, the capital of Laos to reach Luang Prabang. As I stepped out of my over crowded Toyota van, the first welcoming sign was the breath of fresh mountain air. We indians and especially people from Mumbai dislike sweat, crowd and rush when we travel. The first few minutes and I had already known that the matter of sweat is resolved, now I had to see if the crowd and rush give me a 1:2 ratio against coming to Luang Prabang. I wanted a 3:0 in favour of Luang. I still remember the relief I felt, when I first entered the centre of the town on a shared Tuk Tuk from the bus station. There were tourists, but for some reason it didn't feel crowded.
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| The very French main street |
That evening when I had already made up my mind about coming to LP back with tourists, I changed a few dollars more than what I would normally on a 2 night stay. I was not worried about the left over Kip (local currency in Laos). A old world (not thankfully chinese) french town with a lot of south east asia character which dripped from the smiles of the local Lao people was a recipe for at least 3 - 4 nights of stay.
I could just spend all the time walking on its quant streets (only post sunset) in the glimmer of the low lit shops and cafes. But I would have people with me and an answer had to be found to, ‘what to do for the period of stay’?
Trip advisor is something which I have come to have a love - hate relationship with. At the onset when one is completely unaware of what to do or where to stay in a place, trip advisor is a good platform but then I believe one should simply follow ones own path. When a place becomes famous with a 4 star + rating on trip advisor it usually stinks of management making things work to just keep up the rating. The soul is replaced by plain smiling faces I think. When I chose the living land company for a half day excursion out of the near 2 days I had in Luang Prabang, I chose it for what their website said and how they appeared to be but the initial guidance came from trip advisor.
When I visited the farm where the whole process from seed to feed is actively shown, I was happy. Happy that we would as a group, have a really different activity to do in the town which was at par with the feel of the town.
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| 'Suzuki' the water buffalow at the 'living land farm' |
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| Sticky rice being steamed |
The other obvious choices, the Kuang Si waterfall with a asian bear rescue centre and the city tour made up for the 3 days I would choose to spend here.
3 days ago as the flight from Siem Reap to Luang Prabang was about to land the flight attendant announced the outside temperature to be +15 deg C, a drop of 18 deg C from Siem Reap. I however knew the people would have a 180 deg turn around in terms of the feel, once they see the central street of Luang Prabang. I like it when someone from my group asks me on the first day at a place which I want them to like, “How many nights do we have here?”. In Luang Prabang as a 65 year old lady from my group looked at the Mekong from her room with a face I know well, the question came, “why are we only staying for 3 nights here”?
The river Mekong is the biggest in South East Asia and it runs through the length of Laos after beginning in China and ending in the Mekong Delta near Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. It is in Luang Prabang that it meets the Nam Kham and therefore fish is an integral part of the cuisine here in Lao. The local snack, khai pan is a dish where, mekong river weed is dried with some sesame and fried to be eaten with a chilly paste. The paste usually is anywhere from spicy to super spicy and is therefore combined with sticky rice, a national past time. Rice is rolled in balls and dipped in any sauce, and you have a wholesome meal. The starch content in the sticky rice is more than the regular grain and therefore the average person feels and remains full till mid day after having a breakfast of sticky rice with fish or pork. The lunch again has to take care of not feeling hungry till dinner and therefore its sticky rice time for the mid day meal as well.
We have had our quota of rice and before the noodles of Vietnam, something like a Pizza is a safe bet to give variety to the already deprived vegetarians. So it was Pizza for the guests. As for me, I had the other Lao meal. A fish fillet stuffed with pork and steamed in a banana leaf.
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| Fish with Pork steamed in Banana Leaf |
The more I come to Laos, the more I want to come again. As I write from my flight to Hanoi, and going back to the mad tourist rush, I know I wouldn't mind if Laos was the only thing that people remembered from this trip of Vietnam Laos and Cambodia. Without Luang Prabang and its laid back european ambience added to that the Laotian greeting of ‘Sawasdee’ coming from every person on the street, there is no Laos for me. As i sipped my last bit of the Lao mango juice on a cafe on the main street, the only thing asian about the experience was the mango, until the bill came and with it came, khop chai (thank you, in Laotian).
Khop Chai Luang Prabang for staying Luang Prabang.
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