As I stated in my previous post, Luang Prabang is a great place. I have to put a side note to that statement though. This opinion does not originate from the cultural richness and sights of the city (even though the city centre is listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site), but mostly because it’s a lovely small town with beautiful surroundings and we were lucky to know so many people there. This was the first time during our South East Asia Trip in 2009 that we went out every night of our stay. We stayed for three nights.

Kuang Si Falls

My favourite sight of Luang Prabang is the beautiful Kuang Si Falls (a large multi-level waterfall). My friends and I visited the waterfall by tuk-tuk with two other girls who we had met on the slow boat. The waterfall and its surroundings are beautiful and the best part is that you could swim in some of the pools, even though there is an incredibly strong current. Some areas also have swing ropes and cliffs you can jump from. The falls begin in shallow pools atop a steep hillside. These lead to the main fall with a 60 metres (200 ft) cascade. We didn’t actually climb to the top, but if we would’ve wanted to we could have because there was a stairway leading there.

You can arrange the mini bus beforehand through Get Your Guide or you could organise a tuk tuk on the location. The falls are straightforward to reach!

Night Market

Another big attraction in Luang Prabang is the Night Market where you can browse clothes, souvenirs and the usual knick knacks. There are also some nice food stalls with grilled meat (and insects if you’re interested – I didn’t try any). Just note that as with everything else, the curfew applies here as well so around 10pm the night market closes.

Curfew

As I mentioned before, there is a curfew in Luang Prabang which means that at 11pm everything closes, including bars. In a way it’s good because I can see how the backpackers that flock to this village could potentially destroy everything with their late-night antics. The only place that’s open is the bowling alley, so all tourists make their way there after everything else is closed. You can imagine how busy it gets! Unfortunately for the people who are interested in a game, the bowling alleys themselves are always hogged by first-comers. If you’d like to play a game it’s best to go before 11pm to ensure availability.

That having been said, it’s great to chill at bars during the day by the river. The whole town has a really chilled vibe.

Conclusion

My first experience of Laos was so different from Cambodia and Thailand. I didn’t experience the backpack culture in Cambodia and Thailand so I think I missed out there.

As with any other city, I have a few regrets. I think it’s a pity I didn’t visit the Pak Ou caves (Buddha caves). The reason we didn’t go is because on this leg of the journey we didn’t feel like getting up too early and rushing around to view sights. This also applied to the cultural side of Luang Prabang. Even though we walked around and saw some temples, we didn’t concentrate on them. The biggest thing I regret missing was the alms collections by the monks. The collections start at 6am and we were simply not planning to get up that early.

I’m sure I’ll be back one day to explore Laos a bit more extensively.

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