I had originally planned to bus it from Siem Reap to 4,000 Islands in Laos and spend some days there hanging out in a hammock, but since I had just spent a week longer than anticipated doing just that on Koh Ta Kiev I decided to fly all the way to Luang Prabang in northern Laos. 

I had heard some mixed reviews about Vang Vieng, and mostly lukewarm reviews about the capital, Vientiane, so I decided that my Laos adventure would begin and end in Luang Prabang. No regrets.
Coming from the tourist Mecca that is Siem Reap, Cambodia, Luang Prabang felt like going home. It’s a town of 50,000 people and you can feel it as soon as you arrive, be it on plane, bus or boat. 

I treated myself to my own room, ensuite, which was invaluable, it turns out. I’ll get there in a minute. 

I spent at least two days there just walking around, exploring and taking in the feel of the city. I visited some shops, ate some amazing food, and walked across an old, rickety bridge that had my palms sweating like a teenage boy anticipating his first kiss. 

The two defining aspects to Luang Prabang, in my opinion, are the monks and ecotourism. A tradition that is under threat is the morning alms. Tourists come through, gawk, get too close, and commonly disturb the procession of monks in saffron robes chanting and pacing through the streets, collecting rice from the Buddhists in the town. The people of Luang Prabang are up no later than 6am to sit on tiny stools on the street in order to give a small portion of rice to each monk that passes. This is their fill for the day, though they do compile and divide it evenly once they return to the temple.

It’s a beautiful ritual I’m grateful to have witnessed far from the crowds, as smaller groups walk through most neighborhoods in the town, not just on the main street. I simply walked out of my guesthouse and witnessed the ritual without cringing at the thoughtlessness of other travelers.

Ecotourism is also a really cool thing about Laos. It is incredibly beautiful and filled with smiling, friendly people seemingly everywhere you go. The first day of exploring led me to the Aussie Bar simply because as I was passing I noticed the Rugby World Cup on TV. Here I met a Kiwi woman about 30 years my senior who invited me on a trekking and kayaking tour with her later in the week. I accepted.

Unfortunately, the day before this trip I fell ill with food poisoning…bad. (Here’s where the personal room and bathroom comes in to save the day) But despite how shitty (ha) I felt, I decided to do the tour anyway. We drove to the river, crossed it by boat, and toured a village that houses three different hill tribes. 

We happened upon the school here while the kids were on their mid morning break and I could not get enough of their smiles and playfulness. 

As we moved through we saw people weaving baskets, embroidering clothing and pillow cases, and staying in shade to keep out of the heat. 

We strode straight through the village to a jungle path and trekked along the hills a while. We passed countless rubber trees on rubber farms on our walk, which was pretty cool. How much rubber do you use in your daily life? Yeah, well, I got to see it leaking from a tree, collecting in bowls en masse. 

It had rained quite a bit so parts of the path were slippery…and some very steep. When the lady at the tour office said flip flops were fine for the walk, I figured it would be mostly flat. I wore my hiking sandals just in case, but they did not save me from sliding halfway down a muddy hill on my ass. Mental note: trust no one.

After our final descent we crossed the river yet again to collect our kayaks. 20 minutes later we were at Tad Se waterfall and it was time for lunch. I laughed in the face of lunch. My body still couldn’t handle food. Though I despise elephant tourism, of which there was plenty here, I did enjoy my time at the falls. 

The water was cold and blue and looked quite fresh. I had intended to swim, but feeling as icky as I was, I was happy to simply lay in a chair on the man-made deck adjacent to the swimming area. It was nice enough.

After an hour or so we were back in the kayaks for our final push home along the river. It was downstream, which was nice, and the sun was shining. I swear I haven’t seen a sky that blue since I left home. Asian smog blues. The sky was a deep blue with fluffy white clouds and luscious green mountains all around us. Stunning, frankly.

As tired as I was when I got back, I decided to take my new friend, Jess, to watch the rugby match at the Aussie Bar. We made it to halftime. 

The next day I happily slept in and rose only when I was ready to hire a tuk-tuk to take me to the “big” waterfall, Kuang Si. First and probably only time I’ll sit shotgun in a damn tuk-tuk.

This time I really did wear flip flops, even though I was instructed to climb all the way to the top of the falls. I survived.

Before you get to the falls, you are greeted with sunning bears in a sanctuary. Traditional Asian medicine calls for bear bile, among other things, to heal people of various ailments, and here these bears are safe. They were playing and lounging around. I especially liked the guy in the hammock–bear after my own heart.

A nice thing about this waterfall is the amount of places you can get wet. There are terraced pools of perfect blue water, like a beautiful lagoon, even at the very beginning. There are even some with tables and benches built right in. Keep climbing and you’ll find the grand fall. There is a bridge and some walkways built around and over the water here to facilitate the countless peace sign selfies that grace its face.

While I considered this could be the top, I laughed when I saw the stairs to the left of the fall. Up, up, up I went. Flip flops were not the best idea, but I wasn’t alone. Part of the path includes another fall, but the stairs you climb up are basically inside the fall, so watch your step, it’s slippery. When you continue on there are two paths. Many people were coming down the one to the right so I figured that’s where we had to go, not knowing exactly what I was looking for. Bad idea. Go left. Same place, easier path.

I finally found the beautiful lagoon at the top of the fall and felt like I had entered Eden. The water was freezing and blue and rapid, but I swam up there for about an hour, surrounded by lush green, looking to the mountain peaks through the breaks in trees.

I descended in half the time it took me to climb up there and I was on my way. Well, sort of, my tuk-tuk disappeared and his buddies told me to sit tight for a few. Everything was fine then.

These are the things I really enjoyed about Luang Prabang, but there’s a lot to mention. Some highlights include:

-Utopia Bar & Restaurant. This looks like the perfect place to get stoned. It’s not. They’ll literally call the police on you. And I was told (and am unsure how true it is) that you don’t get fed in prison in Laos. Apparently your family must bring you food. Don’t get arrested.

Otherwise this is a really cool spot. You can take yoga for about $5, lounge on the deck overlooking the river, enjoy some good eats (try the river weed), and have a drink or two if you fancy. This is also the place where people go out at night because it is open latest, until 11:30pm. There is a midnight curfew so all business are shuttered before then…with the exception of the bowling alley where many people file to after Utopia closes.

-Food. Laos has some great food, stemming from a lot of regional and colonial influences. They even have their own version of Korean BBQ (yum!). There are nice curries, tasty veggies and tender meat dishes–I recommend the buffalo. And, as always, sticky rice with mango for dessert. My fave.

-People. Get to know some people from Laos. They’re so kind and friendly and you’re not going to find people like them easily in cities like Siem Reap or Hanoi. 

After five days, me and my stomach bacteria headed for Thailand…again…on a mission to Pai.