The Royal City of Luang Prabang

The city is located at the “V” shaped confluence of the Mekong and Khan Rivers and is overlooked by Wat Phu Si, a temple that sits atop the city’s highest point. Wat Phu Si is a short but strenuous climb up a winding stone staircase among a hillside of gnarled fruit and nut trees that brings visitors’ to a temple complex providing the best views of the city and the Mekong River valley.

Many of the teakwood homes and colonial buildings of the city are being restored and walking along the Khan River promenade or in the old quarter with its shade trees, ornate gardens, and many side streets is one of the city’s greatest highlights.

The old city stretches roughly two miles from the Kings Royal Palace to a 16th century Buddhist temple, Wat Xieng Thong. All along the main street between these two must-see sites are a number of smaller temples, antique shops, Lao craft stores, and French-style cafes.

Boats can be hired to bring one a short way up the Mekong to the Tham Ting and Tham Thueng caves, a cliffside temple with many gold-brushed Buddha images that sit among eerie limestone rock formations.

Quick Tips:

The bank is on Thanon Phothisalat, the main road through the town center. Try to go on a Lao payday when you can see business people picking up suitcases full of four-inch high stacks of Lao currency, the Kip. My hundred dollar travelers’ check was transformed into Kip fist-fulls.

The Red Cross office on Thanon Wisunalat runs an herbal sauna and massage parlor that is well worth it and cheap.

The food stalls across from the main market on the Khan riverside of Wat Phu Si sell great fried dough-like pastries with shrimp, nut, or meat filling for pennies.

Best Way To Get Around:

Inside the city walking is fine. I used Song Thaews (open-air taxis) to and from my hotel only late at night. I negotiated a day in advance with the Song Thaews driver's for side trips out of the city and into the hills for sightseeing. It was about .00 for the longest all-day trip (see the entry for Kuang Si Falls) up into the mountains.

I tried to rent a bike and a car but was told that it was illegal.

I arrived by boat from the northern Thai border crossing of Huay Xai, but tourists can fly to Luang Prabang on Lao Aviation from the Lao capital of Vientiane, or come by bus from Vientiane or other southern cities. The trip on crowded, uncomfortable, bare-bones public transportation is marked by fabulous scenery and ends at a city that is everything the ride there is not – restful, tranquil, and un-crowded.

Like many of the small guesthouses and hotels in the city, The Ban Lao Guesthouse is a former villa. This whitewashed two story has comfortable “better than backpacker” level accommodations. An addition was being added in the large backyard, so there may be more than 18 rooms now.

There is one room that costs more than others located on the second floor and inside a large bank-like steel vault. The owner told me that the villa belonged to a member of the royal family of Laos hence the safe. It may sound somewhat creepy to sleep in a bank vault but there are large windows in the room, and it is quiet. I don’t know if the vault door locks.

There is an open air patio bar and restaurant which pretty good but basic Lao cuisine.

The villa is across the street from the Forestry Authority building and there are a number of small hotels and hostels on this same road at the edge of the old quarter in a quiet residential area.

This is a patio restaurant serving excellent Lao food and some French fusion dishes. Tiled floors and simple wooden tables with real cloth napkins and a large selection of wine make this a bit nicer than most restaurants in the same price range in Thailand. Although the food seems similar to Thai food it has a little less heat and is more gently spiced than Thai food in general.

This restaurant’s offerings had a rustic, country-kitchen quality served on thick clayware and set off with locally produced tablecloths and furnishings.

Throughout Laos beef can be found more easily than in Thailand too and this restaurant had excellent steaks-frit. The whole grilled fish was also excellent.

Take a taxi to this site, about an hour’s drive through the mountains to the south of Luang Prabang. The taxis cannot go beyond a gate about a quarter mile down the hillside from the falls. Far from a north face ascent of Everest climb, the easy walk on the road ends at a small park where bamboo walkways and dirt paths cross into the spray at the falls’ base. The pools are deep enough to wade in, although no one seemed to be doing this.

The ride to the falls is as good as the falls themselves. Driving through mountainside villages, fields, and the jungle in an open-air pickup was very scenic and my driver, for a few extra dollars, was kind enough to stop for photo taking when I wanted.

There are dramatic bulbous-shaped limestone steps over which the water rushes and plunges to form the multi-tiered Kuang Si falls. The falls are wide and the multiple shoots of water send up a lot of spray, hence the lush flora at its base. This is a park-like setting that has many folks picnicking along the nice walkways near the clear pools of water at the base. There are hundreds of the metallic-colored dragonflies and butterflies all around the gardens at the base of the falls and at its summit.

The hiking comes in when you try to get up the muddy and slippery trails that lead to the summit, about 200 feet up. There are two summit paths, one on each side of the falls. While it is steep, the unmarked trails are not technically hard and didn’t require any special skills or equipment. I did it in sneakers.

The small river that feeds the waterfall spreads out under the jungle canopy before the waterfalls lip and forms a large pool at the summit. Walking around in this knee-deep pool, I hiked about 200 yards up the very clear and cool river. If you don’t like nature or are frightened by bugs don’t do this. Mosquitoes were everywhere as were dragonflies, butterflies, spiders, snakes, lizards, and no doubt other things that I didn’t see.

There is no railing at the top of the falls, but the look down the face is very nice and in gaps between the jungle you can look out and down the mountainside above the canopy below you.

We took a taxi here as part of a larger daytrip. It is a little confusing to reach the town, really just a like jumble of houses on stilts set among the trees, so take a taxi.

This town is known for its weaving of silk and cotton cloth, sold in various patterns, clothing styles, and in whole bolts. In fact, all the crafts stores in Luang Prabang have very similar items at higher prices compared to Ban Phanom.

The town has a collective store where many weavers display their wares. Walking in, it is assumed you are here to buy and there is a bit of high-pressure treatment in store if you come here. In the store there are about 20 or 30 stalls one for each weaver, and saying no when faced with the pleading eyes and eager hand waves is a little hard to handle. Behind the collective store are some looms and we were able to watch as the women of the village worked on their weaving.

My wife and I stayed quite a while and rooted through the piles of hand-made placemats, shawls, tablecloths, and bolts looking for presents. Most of the time we were alone which only increased the high-pressure sales tactics and made us feel guilty for buying from one woman when we had just said no to her neighbor.

We left when, just like in the Louvre in Paris, all the art starts to look the same.

All and all though, the quality is quite good and the very nicest silk 6-foot tablecloth that we bought was only $40.00. Two words of warning are that quality varied widely from weaver to weaver and also, bargain a lot. Don’t be too cheap but bear in mind that the first quoted price is too high. It might be a good idea to check out Luang Prabang stores first for some pricing and quality comparisons and then go to Ban Phanom and try to pay less.