Luang Prabang

After leaving Luang Namtha on Tuesday evening, I arrived into my next stop Luang Prabang at 3am which was completely unexpected as I read it was a far longer journey. When we arrived I didn't even realise we were there being half asleep, and with the bus station out of town I decided to just sleep on a bench there until daylight. Luang Prabang is probably is the most visited destination in Laos, it's historical core gaining UNESCO World Heritage status in 1995, characterised by its high concentration of temples and French architecture. Lieing at the confluence of the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers, the former Laotian capital attracts people due its array of cultural, nature, and food opportunities.

The benefit of travelling through the night was the fact it bought me a whole day I would have otherwise used sitting on a bus. I therefore dropped my bag off at my hostel that morning, before spending the day exploring the cities historical core. First stop was Mount Phousi, a small hill sitting right in the middle of town. The summit had a small temple, and there were several Buddha relics to see on the way up. What most people come for though are the views and they were brilliant despite it being a pretty overcast day. Apparently May is officially the start of wet season so I probably need to start preparing for the prospect for a lot more rain as it's definitely becoming more frequent.

From Mount Phousi I followed the Nam Tha right round to where it met the Mekong, before winding my way through the streets and alleys to explore some of the temples. Some of the highlights included Wat Xieng Thong, Wat Mai, and the old Royal Palace. I found the French architecture very interesting too, which included several little French bakeries and cafes. It was all just a very picturesque place. I didn't get back to the hostel until later that afternoon, where I had a well earned lie down. Come evening I checked out to the night market which was actually pretty sizable, the street packed with these low lying gazebos selling lots of interesting items. I found this really good buffet for dinner down one of the side streets, before heading back for a proper nights sleep.

On Thursday I crossed the Mekong River to attempt a walk known as the "Chomphet Hike". En route to the river crossing I visited this shop to try some Snake Angco Bravan, a local shot. It was weird. When finding the public boat service across the river, which was a challenge, I arrived on the other side in the small village of Ban Xieng Mane. After walking through the village which compared to Luang Prabang was incredibly poor despite its proximity, I headed up to Wat Chomphet. The temple itself has certainly seen better days, but it was views that I was particularly interested in, getting a great panoramic of the Mekong, Luang Prabang, and mountain backdrop.

The next temple I arrived at was Wat Long Khoune, which acted as the gateway to the nearby Wat Tam Sackkalin. In Laos caves are considered as sacred places, and over the centuries have been filled with Buddha statues. The Sackkalin cave was no exception, and after being escorted to the entrance by the young kid who unlocked the gate for me, I went in and explored. I had to borrow a torch as it was literally pitch black but there were several Buddha relics and it was really fun, although you could have easily got lost! As with most of the walk, the walk presented me with great river views as it went through the dense forest, and the next section to Wat Had Siaw was particularly picturesque.

From there I started climbing through the forest where I saw several crumbling Buddha relics scattered over the place. I eventually descended back down to Wat Khok Pab which had some further ruins as well as some nice gardens. It started raining here however so I found shelter and had lunch, which I'd been looking forward to after grabbing one of the filled baguettes from one of the local French bakeries that morning. It was literally proper bread too unlike the sweet stuff they have in most of Asia. I headed back to Ban Xieng Mane via Wat Nong Sakeo. When getting back to the boat landing the weather really started to set in. The rain persisted for the rest of the day so I couldn't go very far, although I did get out to the night market for dinner. It was a lot quieter than the previous night though!

On Friday I headed out to the Kuang Si Waterfall for the day. Situated 31km out of town, I decided I would cycle out the falls as the only other way I could realistically get there was tuk tuk and they had a fixed rate out per tuk tuk, great for groups, not great for a solo traveller. The ride out to the waterfall was actually really pleasant passing through countryside and the occasional village, before heading into the jungle to the waterfall. I didn't stop anywhere on the way though because I wanted to visit the waterfall while it was nice weather. When arriving I had to pay money here there and everywhere to do things like park my bike, go to the toilet, and access the waterfall. Laos people seem to exploit tourists out of money in literally every way possible.

Just before reaching the waterfall there was a bear rescue project which housed several black bears saved from poachers. It was interesting reading about the project and the bears were actually really active and cute to watch. The waterfall was a short walk from there, which was basically a three tiered waterfall leading to a 50-metre drop into spectacular azure pools before flowing downstream. On the way to the falls were several pools with cascades of up to five metres high you could swim in, which had nice and refreshing water due to the shade given by the surrounding lush tropical jungle. I swam in a couple of the pools, the water so clear, although they had little fish in there too which were nibbling my feet.

At the main waterfall there was a jungle trek you could do up to the top of waterfall to see some of the streams which fed it above. It was incredibly slippery but a nice walk. I spent ages lazing around in the pools, although come afternoon there was a big thunderstorm. After it passed I thought I'd  better head back to Luang Prabang, taking a more leisurely ride stopping in a couple of the villages and surrounding countryside to take in the views. I got back to Luang Prabang just in time before the rain really set in. I was actually pretty exhausted after what was quite a sizable bike ride in the end. I went out to one of the French bakeries for dinner as I really enjoyed my baguette the previous day.

On Saturday I had a far more chilled out day, mainly because my bike ride had made me a little stiff come morning. The countries official name is Laos PDR, and the locals affectionately say PDR stands for "please don't rush", and I was in no rush to take another long bus ride somewhere. After checking out the morning market I headed over to Utopia, a riverside bar I'd seen advertised everywhere. It was really laid back with these mats to lie on by the river, and also a particularly good food menu which had literally that day launched a new Laos style vegetarian breakfast inspired menu. Come evening I went to the night market for dinner, before listening to the football later on.