Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang is a beautiful city heavily influenced by the French, you can tell by the architecture of some of the buildings, and my favorite part, the food.

One of my favorite meals of the trip

To be honest, I didn't do much in Luang Prabang. I was running low on cash and Luang Prabang was more expensive than I anticipated. Don't get me wrong, it was still very cheap, but not as cheap as I anticipated it to be. However, I can almost guarantee that if I go back in 5 years the cost of anything from food to guesthouses to beer will be twice the price of what it is today, maybe even three times as much.

At Kuang Si Falls. I think I was in the process of yelling "Hold the button!"

I spent about three or four nights in Luang Prabang. Each day we pretty much just walked around town, absorbing the sites, smells, and people. At night we would do they same. There's a cool night market that we walked through with lots of crafts, Beerlao t-shirts, and other souvenirs. One of the days I went the Kuang Si Falls with the Korean, the Kiwi, and the Brit. Talk about an international crew! (The German would've came too but he was still feeling sick from the stomach flu.) We bargained with a tuktuk driver who agreed to drive us out to falls and wait for us until we're finished (so much cheaper than going with a guided tour). The falls were beautiful! Kuang Si Falls consisted of cascading falls into different pools that you could swing in, jump in, dive or just sit in (which is what we did with BeerLao). There was also elephant riding and ziplining in the area so every now and then an elephant would walk through the pool below us, but unfortunately no zipliners that day for us to see.

On the boat back to our tuktuk from Kuang Si Falls

The most memorable thing about Luang Prabang was watching the procession of monks collecting alms in early morning. Every morning I set my alarm at 5am to go see it, and on my last day I finally got my butt out of bed and did just that. Luang Prabang is popular for its's large number of Buddhist monasteries and temples, so every morning at around sunrise the monks walk through the streets asking for alms from the local people. They  carried pots where the locals gave them sticky rice and other various treats. This was truly a special moment; the sun just rising, the monks flowing through the streets in a river of orange robes, and it was a very quiet procession. Except for one very big annoyance; the tourists. I'm one too and yes, I stole some shots with my tiny point and shoot, discretely of course. However, those with the giant DSLRs running between monks to get the best shot was rude.

Luang Prabang is considered to be a holy city with about 33 wats in the small area, and this is a pretty special tradition of walking through the city (I think). Regardless, the monks were being treated like a tourist attraction, or like animals in a zoo. I made the mistake by making my perch next to a high-end guesthouse where a loud British kid was yelling about how hungry he was while the monks were walking past. When the procession was finished and I was making my way back to my guesthouse, and the papparazzi was surrounding a girl that the monks were giving some of their sticky rice to. It was really sad, and it ruined the peacefulness of the whole movement. If you ever make it to Luang Prabang, I really recommend seeing this, but be weary of your actions. Here's some advice if you do find yourself there.

Here's some more advice I didn't follow when I started my vacation. ALWAYS bring dollars with you. I wad dumb and only brought Korean won with me, so I had a panic attack on my last day in Luang Prabang when I was out of the Laos kip I exchanged. I stopped at over a dozen currency exchange places and travel agencies that offered such services until I finally found a place that exchanged to Korean won. I also only brought my Korean credit card which was NOT accepted anywhere. I honestly don't know what I would have done if I didn't find a place that accepted Korean won. So always bring dollars or euros. I have learned my lesson. Goodbye Luang Prabang. Helloooooo Vang Vieng!

Lao Style Sandwich AKA my breakfast every morning in Luang Prabang.  Basically a baquette with cucumbers, tomatoes, tofu, eggs, lettuce, sweet chilli sauce, and some other delicious goodness. Noms.

2 Day Slow Boat to Luang Prabang: Day 2

The final day of our boat cruise down the Mekong. Our group was one of the last to arrive which sucked. The boat today was smaller than the previous. The only spots we found were in the back next to the engine, where it was incredibly loud and insanely hot. I was selfish and left the group and found an empty seat next to an older Australian man with shorts so short I could almost see his shlong.

This boat ride was not as fun as the previous one. I was separated from my new friends and it was a much smaller squeeze. Luckily, the beauty of the boat ride made me forget this quickly. If anyone is every travelling from Thailand to Lao or vice versa, I highly recommend taking the slow boat. Flying may be faster, but I heard that they may be building dams on the Mekong, so this option may not be available for much longer. There is also the option of a fast boat or the night boat. I would not recommend the fast boat because I've heard that it is incredibly uncomfortable and cold and not fun at all. And I would not recommend the night boat because then you couldn't see the beauty of the Mekong! Duh. I have also heard that doing the less popular direction (Luang Prabang to Thailand) is more comfortable with less passengers on board. Both boats I was on were always packed to the brim with backpackers, but I saw boats heading in the opposite direction that were almost empty.


Here are pictures of the scenery to make you jealous:

Anyways, I pretty much daydreamed or slept throughout the ride. We finally made it to Luang Prabang. The German, Brit, and new friends a Kiwi and a Korean found the cheapest guesthouse we could and settled in.

2 Day Slow Boat to Luang Prabang: Day 1

We finally took off! The boat was full, yet surprisingly comfortable. It was a long boat with four seats on either side of an aisle. The seats were basically taken from a bus or a van and placed on the boat. The only downside of the boat was that the sides were too high so we couldn't see out to the river from sitting. But that didn't matter,  for most of the trip we sat on the side of the boat, legs hanging off, socializing, drinking Chang and Beer Lao, playing games, and meeting people from all parts of the world.

Luang Prabang or bust!

Behind my seat

In front of my seat

The view was amazing. There was something to see in every area of the river. Water buffaloes, remote villages, green mountains, jagged rocks and cliffs. It was so tranquil. The majority of the passengers on the boat were fellow backpackers, and there were some native Lao people traveling to other parts of their country. My greatest form of entertainment on the boat was a chubby Lao boy who would squeeze his oranges at two guidos sitting behind him.

Cute chubby Lao boy with his orange

Every now and then we would stop at a small village on the riverside to drop people off or pick people up. At these stops, it seemed like the entire village was there to greet the boat, and sometimes young boys or girls would jump on the boat and sell us beer or other various things. The boat would also stop at obscure areas where you could see nothing but the jungle, but someone would always get off and walk straight into the jungle. I wonder how far some of these people had to walk into the forests to get to their homes. At one of these remote stops a family exited the boat and the father was carrying a huge sack, he dropped the sack, and out wiggled a full grown pig. It was super cool to see the the way that the people live and how they go about their lives.

Selling Beer Lao

From my temporary floor seat

One of our many stops

Where are you going?

We arrived in Pak Beng, the halfway point of the two day boat ride. After the commotion of finding our packs among hundreds of other packs that were thrown in the storage area, we exited the boat and were surrounded by different hostel and guesthouse workers insisting that their hostel is the best and we should stay there.

Yunsam's drawing of me sleeping (he had a collection of drawings of people sleeping)

Almost to Pak Beng

Pak Beng is small, basically a stopping point for travelers. It's full of hostels and guesthouses and restaurants. We didn't walk around much, only to find food and a pharmacy, but it the town was basically one main road. The electricity and water shuts off at night too. Which was very unfortunate for my German friend who had a case of the stomach flu that night.

Journey from Thailand to Laos

My journey to Laos was off to great start. I conked out in the back of the van for most of the ride, with the occasional backpack falling on me. We stopped at the Wat Rong Khun (also known as the White Temple) in Chiang Rai which was weird. I can only describe it as a modern, avant-garde wat. It was pure white, with a sea of hands, skulls hanging from trees and pictures of Micheal Jackson and Osama bin Laden. Unfortunately, due to my lack of sleep, my zombie-self didn't notice the murals of Micheal, Osama, and President Bush. It was a cool wat, but I was too pooped to care. "Wat-ever" is the perfect way to describe my mood at that point, a wonderful phrase coined by my new German friend, Tim.

We FINALLY made it to Chiang Khong, a sleepy town on the shores of the Mekong River. We spent the night at the Boom House which had a stunning view; you could see the river, people going along their daily lives, and across the river, was Laos! Tim and I sat on the patio, drank cold Chang beer, and drowned ourselves in the beautiful sunset that graced the two neighboring countries. I would also like to note, the room I slept in was bigger than my apartment in Korea, AND it had a full sized bed. I hadn't slept in a full sized bed since America. I rolled across the bed until I got dizzy.

My feet, Chiang Khong, Thailand, the Mekong River, and Huay Xai, Laos on the other side! 

We woke up the next morning and trucked it over to another area on the riverside, then walked over to the immigration office. I booked the entire package (ride from Chiang Mai to Chiang Khong, bed in Chiang Khong, 2 day boat to Luang Prabang, and a couple meals) from my hostel in Chiang Mai. It probably would have been cheaper if I booked everything separately on my own, but it was so much easier with the boat and visa situation to book it as a package, so I would recommend doing that. The process of exiting Thailand and entering Laos was simple and disorganized. The immigration offices in both countries were just little buildings with window booths. Here's how it went down: went to immigration office (window), got exit stamp from Thailand, took tiny boat across river to Huay Xai, got Lao Visa sorted (for this, you fill out a form, give the window money, leave your passport, wait around for them to holler your name), then we went to another area of Huay Xai along the river, purchased beer and food for the journey, and boarded our boat.

Informative signs for the Immigration 'office'

An attractive picture of me on the boat on the way to Huay Xai

Immigration 'office' in Huay Xai, Laos

The journey begins.