- Luang Prabang
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Laos
Thai cookery - been there done that? Why not try Lao? Different enough from Thai to feel like a real adventure.
Great Lao guys teaching you to cook Lao food! $25 for the day, go to the market in the morning, cook all day then eat what you've prepared (washed down with a Beer - Lao of course!)
I thought it was one of the best value things we did in Laos. We cooked chicken laap (salad), coconut curry and jeow (chilli jam-paste-type thing) which required 50 chillis for a 2-person serving!
And can absolutely agree with the tip about the Tamarind Cafe. We ate the 'beer snacks' there and came back for more pretty quickly! Carolyn was fantastic and really helped with finding a cookery course. They do pretty advanced stuff at their school (and we are amateurs!) so she recommended Three Elephants.
It's advertised all over the place - you can't miss it. If you do, enquire in the Three Elephants Cafe or Tamarind cafe. Have some beer snacks while you're there!
Jeow Bong is a smoky chilli and garlic paste traditionally made with buffalo hide. But Tamarind cafe - brilliant place - make a non-meat version which you can bring back to the UK without lawbreaking.
I just wish that I'd carried more jars of it home.
Pork candyfloss sounds vile, but is good. It's actually quite like a fluffy biltong. You can't ship it home so eat up while you're in Laos.
Tamarind will also organise morning trips to the market to look at the amazing variety of fruit and vegetables and also be grossed out by pig skin masks at the butchers.
Carolyn (who jointly runs Tamarind with her boyfriend Joy) is a fount of food knowledge.
Ban Wat Nong, Luang Prabang
We found it tricky to exchange money whilst we were in Laos (combination of national holidays, weekends and initially staying out of town). So we ended up having no cash. Stupidly we didn't take a lot of dollars with us.
Wish we had: everywhere takes them and it saves queuing in hot banks.
This is an expensive hotel ($100/night) set up by Thai owners. It is not worth the money.
You are out of town with infrequent bus journeys in and out. They start late so you have to pay extra if you want to see the alms giving or to climb Mount Phousi at dawn.
If you want the map that they show you at check-in you have to pay extra.
The rooms are shabbily furnished and you can hear everything your neighbours are doing.
Service is poor and orientated towards the dozens of Japanese package holidaymakers who dominate the hotel.
While the scenery is absolutely magnificent, there is nothing to do, no gym, no pool. (I think generally Lao are against swimming, so this is probably not surprising.)
The walk into town is over an hour along a main road and not very nice.
We left after a night and regretted spending that long.
www.grandluangprabang.com/
but really, don't bother
Luang Prabang is a town which only seems to cater for backpackers or honeymooners/touring middle-aged Japanese in terms of accommodation. So rooms seem to cost either $6/night or $100/night.
The 3 Nagas is definitely in the $100/night camp but it is worth it, unlike some others. It has been built from scratch in beautiful local wood by two French men and every detail has been thought about.
It is truly lovely and small enough that it remains personal - tour groups were nowhere to be seen. And the breakfast croissants are the best that I have had anywhere! Breakfast and free internet access from their computer are included in the room rate. Staff are friendly and each room has a sitting area (either onto the private garden or the veranda).
We had room 14 which was lovely, but it might be worth asking about the garden rooms as they looked lovely. The hotel is on the main road in Luang Prabang and en route for the monks' alms giving. The only downside, which everywhere in town has, is that you are near the wats. They are beautiful by day, but the chanting starts early and Thai donors supplied one near to us with loudspeakers. Think the record was 3am- 7pm. It may make buddhists serene, but I was not!
This market appears towards the end of the day, along the main street outside the royal palace. It gets really magical at dusk or after dark, as the stall holders have lanterns. It keeps going until about midnight. You can buy handmade textiles and jewellery, amongst other things.
Set in jungle about an hour outside of Luang Prabang, the Kuang Si waterfall is a spectacular series of cascades and clear turquoise pools. Quite a climb to the top but you can cool off with a swim in the pools.
30km from Luang Prabang - can be reached by road or boat
High up in the limestone cliffs along the edge of the Mekong is the Buddhist pilgrimage site of the Pak Ou Caves. Accessible only by boat, the two caves have been filled with thousands of Buddha figures of all shapes and sizes over the years, apparently by local people who wanted to get rid of them but didn’t want to destroy them. Very atmospheric with spectacular views of the river.
25km from Luang Prabang, a 2-hour boat trip along the Mekong;
www.laos.co.uk/PakOu.html
The best place to try real Lao food: you get platters of interesting things to try. Fish barbeque Lao style is great fun and they had lovely gifts of food. Super friendly, not expensive and great drinks! Only open daytimes, but worth a visit.
It's opposite a temple called Wat Nong, lovely location actually, we listened to chanting monks while we ate.
Superb place for breakfast. I notice that one of the owners is a westerner: if he's not Australian, I'd be very surprised, because this place has a really Sydney feel about it. Decent coffee, papers from Bangkok to read, and a 'hang around as long as you like' vibe. Don't leave without trying the Bagel Egger: it'll set you up good for a day of cycling around temples.
Th Chao Fa Ngun (in the centre, and Luang Prabang is small, so you'll find it easily);
tel: 071 252292
We rented bikes when we were there and rode out into the country for a few miles. This way we saw some local culture, kids swimming in a pond (they got a kick out of us and our bikes) and some beautiful views. We tried to ride out to the waterfall but it was too far and got picked up by a taxi. The waterfall near the city is worth it though. As is the market and climbing up on the hills for some views and the sunset. It's a beautiful place.
A cafe/bar/bookshop on the street at the foot of Wat Phu Sii (east side, away from the Mekong). As well as swapping your books they have a vast range of back issues of National Geographic you can browse over your tea or coffee.
Thanon Latsavong, Luang Prabang
Excellent photo opportunites and breakfast snacks. Try the hot soy milk.
Enjoy an exhilarating early morning, twenty-minute climb up the steps of Mount Phousi to see one of the most beautiful views in south-east Asia.
Sisavangvong Road
The street we stayed in. There are so many beautiful places to stay, but we found a guest house opposite a temple from which the monks emerged around six each morning, prompted by gongs, and proceeded past our balcony on their route to collect alms from the devoted Buddhist population.
It was an impressive, understated, beautiful experience to watch the silent progress of these young men each morning and to talk to them later in the day, stretching their English, modest, talkative and very approachable. Luang Prabang may be slowly turning into a must visit tourist venue - or even quickly - but that does not make it any less a must visit place. We did not want to leave. The gentle, modest young Lao people, the Mekong, the temples, the excellent food, the slow pace, the friendly welcome, the clean and simple places to eat and stay.
Even if you have never heard of the place - go there and treat it with quiet respect. What a beautiful country. Ride a bus through it. Buy the produce, drink the beer and relax. Also learn a bit about the history and think hard about what the west does.
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