I looked in this direction for a long time, I kept doubting whether to go or not, but the latest reviews from friends and not so much pushed the decision in a positive direction, in the end, having collected information and determined for myself several places that need to be visited, I decided to go.
So, Luang Prabang is a city and province in the northern part of Laos. The journey began in Bangkok, from where I flew to the border with Laos on an Indonesian low-cost airline Thai Lion Air, fortunately they recently had a promotion, unfortunately, there were no options for humane prices to fly to Luang Prabang itself, then I actually understood why ... "if you don't want to suffer, take an expensive one, there are no alternatives." We flew to the border in an hour, but from Vientiane, I was pleased - the bus to Luang Prabang takes 11 hours and it's only 400 km! And do not believe any of the locals' beliefs that you will be taken by some high-speed minivan in half this time, this will not happen, they go the same way, parallel to state buses, meeting them at stops, and they make a lot of these stops.
During my first trip to Laos, when I was traveling from Vietnam to Thailand, through half the country, I defined my impressions of the country as "not very good", there is nothing interesting enough in that section of the road that could overshadow the impressions of the neighboring countries. The poverty of the villages scattered along the entire route, mixed with modern low-spiritual progress from poverty and non-modernized life does not give reason for delight.
However, the Vientiane-Luang Prabang road, or rather its second part, can be put on a par with my best roads in Asia. Human progress is not in a hurry to come to the mountains, people like to live on the plains and if you want to see that part of human life that was quite recently before the arrival of the benefits of civilization, then you are here.
These are the top five roads that deserve special attention and it is better to travel on them independently, without using the services of third-party carriers. By the way, on the way to Luang Prabang, a lot of cyclists were noticed. I myself had experience of riding 750 km in my youth, in principle, everything is possible, but here I sympathized with the guys, because the passes are not sweet in this plan for cyclists and, if you decide to go this way, keep this in mind. But, nevertheless, there are quite a lot of people traveling this way on the road, a lot of European couples, when girls go with their men, in general, you can only admire them. Europeans on motorbikes are also quite common there.
We'll go back to our bus for now. Anyone who's traveled on local buses in Asia will understand me. You're the only one, let's say, with a European face and the whole bus is packed with Laotians with bundles up to their ears, sitting in the aisle on their own bags. The bus will stop and pick up people who want to leave along the way until there's no more free space left.
A fairly long experience of living in Thailand, in some way relaxes in terms of relationships with people and "fighting for a place in the sun", but here we are in a socialist republic and you need to be on your guard. Getting off the bus, you will then easily find upon returning to the cabin, a Laotian sitting in your seat, and your things left on the seat will at best end up on the floor, if at all. So, going out for a smoke break, discovering the absence of my tourist hat, which traveled all over Asia with me and here decided to join some socialist. Naturally, I did not look for who stole my hat and attributed it to expenses. I had to get a new one in Luang Prabang. Here, looking ahead, life hack #1:
In Luang Prabang, on the main street right across the road from Wat Mai Monastery, there is a shop that sells sports and tourist shoes and not only, from Vietnam, world brands, but cheap, but the same thing. (There are many sportswear and equipment manufacturers in Vietnam).
Luang Prabang is not a small city at all, but most of the interesting places are grouped in the city center, where the colonists once settled. History is a great thing, we all know from school textbooks about the colonizers of Asia and America. Without justifying anyone, I just want to note that if it were not for these colonizers of new territories of Asia, humanity would have lost a lot. This is very clearly seen in the countries of Indochina - Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Where the colonizers settled, strangely enough, people lived more richly and more spiritually. In many places of these countries, where there were no foreigners, poverty and misery still rule the ball. Still, I take my hat off to those explorers of the new territories, no matter what nation they were. Now we can choose to fly by plane or drive on four (two) wheels, but then there was no choice, we made our way independently through, at best, paths. These are the thoughts that come to mind when you look at the islands of life nestled along the road. Meanwhile, people always set up their homes in the mountains and this must be emphasized, over the opening majestic view, initially the one who put a bamboo hut on the cliff wanted his gaze to open up a worthy panorama from the house. Luang Prabang is no exception to the fact that cities prefer plains and founded it on a piece of plain between the mountains, on the banks of the Mekong.
Where to find shelter in Luang Prabang such a problem does not exist. The whole city is dotted with guest houses and hotels. Naturally, the largest concentration of them is, again, the historical center. You can book in advance, but it is easier and more profitable to look for it on the spot. For me, everything turned out very simply. Tuk-tuk dropped me off in the center, from this place I walked twenty meters, became interested in a very beautiful alley
And then I found a very cheap guest house that suited me perfectly in terms of its location, price and level.
All the sights are just a stone's throw away. There are even streets consisting only of guesthouses. One of these is located next to the Tourist Information Centre - if you cross the intersection in the southern direction, walk along the sidewalk past the supermarket and the hospital, behind them there will be a street consisting entirely of guesthouses.
Lifehack #2 (for men). If you go down the street of guesthouses to the embankment, twenty meters on the right side of the embankment there will be a shop where the owner sells various tinctures based on all sorts of creeping things and roots. They are displayed in several huge bottles, clearly demonstrating what is inside. This guy has a stack of notebooks with reviews of his products in all the languages of the world. He can pour a glass to try - 5000 kip. I tried it, it's not a bad drink. By the way, having tried all sorts of such drinks and local coffee in particular (Laos simply cannot overtake Vietnam in the quality and recognition of coffee. It is still inferior to Vietnamese), I could not sleep normally for a week.
At the night market on the main street, which opens at five o'clock in the evening, they also sell bottles with various snakes and scorpions, but the prices did not seem adequate to me; in the same Vientiane (the capital) you can easily find cheaper ones.
Everyone allocates a different amount of time to the city and here it is up to you to decide how much you need, there is a lot to see in the city, a lot of monasteries and the architecture of the center itself, its cafes, shops, restaurants and guest houses, takes you back to the past, I like this atmosphere, three days with more were enough for me, although there were more. The main products of local shops are souvenirs, so many authentic souvenirs in one city, you still need to look for them. The night market is also filled with souvenirs and national clothes.
By the way, there are also many markets in the city; in the historical center alone there are three, replacing each other from morning until evening.
Lifehack #3 On the right side of the Tourist Information Centre, directly opposite the covered stalls with fruit shakes, coffee and sandwiches (another legacy of the colonialists), in a narrow passage deep into the quarter, a market of prepared foods and dishes of national preparation is beginning to take shape. There is everything from fish, chicken, the famous Laotian sausages (a must-try), there are two huge counters in the style of a buffet. For 10,000 kip, you can put anything you want from the vegetarian dishes provided on your plate. And despite the fact that there are only vegetarian dishes, there is something to try. Well, for meat lovers, it is right next door.
For those who want to feel like a colonizer, welcome to the most posh cafe in the city, overlooking the street, with waiters standing between the tables, like in the good old days.
I liked the rather inconspicuous French cafe-bakery with original croissants and baguettes located at the end of the main street. Although you can find plenty of this stuff in other cafes.
It is worth remembering that Luang Prabang is also the northern center of eco-tourism and extreme tourism. The city's travel agencies actively attract young tourists to visit the elephant village and fly over the vines on stretched ropes. All sorts of groups of European pensioners are lured into trips to the nearest villages of the peoples, which in fact turn out to be more of a show for tourists, who are led along the streets of the village, consisting of reed huts, near which, again, lined up behind the counters, locals sell trinkets, a pitiful sight. A couple of villages to the south of the city seem really interesting, where people simply live, but organized tourists are not taken there, unless you go on your own, and this is easy to do, since this is the same road to the famous Kuang Si waterfall, which gives rise to the river of the same name.
It is located 30 kilometers south of the city and although a park has already been built on the way to sell tourists all sorts of junk and food, the waterfall itself and its territory are worth visiting. Moreover, right there is a nursery for Himalayan bears, which live there in absolutely wonderful conditions, you can freely gawk at them.
On the way to the waterfall, five minutes before reaching it, there is also a butterfly park. I advise you to visit this place, do not forget to climb above the waterfall, to its very top tier and, perhaps, if the employee is on site, he will take you on a bamboo raft further to the main source of the river.
Everything is good in this part of Laos, only one thing can spoil the impression, especially for those who spent some time in Thailand - these are unreasonably high prices for everything, compared to the southern neighbor, in the city itself food and products will probably soon be equal to European ones (apparently the descendants of the colonists are still loved so much)). I have not seen such an expensive motorcycle rental in any other Asian country. Tukers here are by default one and a half to two times more expensive than Thai ones. Well, it is understandable, there is not enough Thai service. In all other respects, everything is quite interesting even taking into account the fact that I have visited more than one place in Asia.
So, you need to keep such nuances in mind when planning a trip to these parts.
Source: travel.ru
