“Sabaidi”. Utter this simple greeting to any local as you walk the streets of Luang Prabang, and the chances are great that you will immediately receive an enthusiastic response of “Sabaidi!!!”, along with a huge smile. Pronounced as “sub-eye-dee” (officially written in Lao as ສະບາຍດີ ), learning this simple phrase will get you far in this chilled-out city of only around 55,000 people.
Luang Prabang is a city in the country of Laos. A country of only 7 million people, Laos is sandwiched between Thailand on the west and Vietnam on the east, along with some shared borders with Myanmar, Cambodia and China.
We can’t really tell you much about the country of Laos because we only had time to visit one city: Luang Prabang. But, man, if the rest of Laos is anything like Luang Prabang, it is one laid back place. Even though the city is landlocked (as is the entire country of Laos), it definitely has an “island vibe” going on. Over the 3 days we were there, we would be reminded of places we had visited before like Hawaii, the Caribbean and the beaches of México and Costa Rica. The country of Laos is officially known as the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). We’re told that the locals in Luang Prabang like to joke that “PDR” stands for “Please Don’t Rush”.
We arrived in Luang Prabang in the evening on a nearly empty flight from Siem Reap, Cambodia. Once again, we were experiencing the effect of the coronavirus. We were on an Airbus A321 jet which, depending on how it is configured, can carry 185-236 passengers. Grand total on our flight: 15 souls. Unlike our visits to Vietnam and Cambodia, where we secured our visas online before arrival, we decided to roll the dice a bit and get our Laos visas on arrival. We had no problems and the process was quick and painless, especially since the lines were super short. The visas cost $35 bucks each. At least we got a really cool stamp for our passports out of it.
Empty flight. Total of only 15 passengers. Cool passport visa stamp
The first thing that caught our attention in Luang Prabang was how clean and calm it was compared to the cities we had recently visited in Cambodia and Vietnam. There weren’t areas with piles of trash around. There weren’t malnutritioned stray dogs about. The road was smooth and even, without large pot-holes. The traffic wasn’t manic, and there wasn’t a constant cacophony of horns from cars and scooters. In fact, the very first picture I took in Luang Prabang was of the gutter, where there was no trash, no cracked asphalt, no mysterious foul-smelling liquid – just a few lovely flowers.
We made it to our lodging, Oui’s Guesthouse, at around 8:30PM. We dumped our bags and headed out for some food. One good thing about the way that Luang Prabang is laid out, is that most of the tourist attractions are within about a 1-mile (1.6km) radius. The place we were staying at fell within that radius, so we walked pretty much everywhere. We were staying on a thin peninsula between the Nam Khan and the Mekong rivers. The peninsula kind of makes a finger that points to where the Nam Khan and Mekong merge.
Not knowing the surroundings, and having just arrived in the dark, we headed out for dinner on foot a little cautiously. We were instantly rewarded, however, with a beautifully lit up Buddha next to an equally beautifully lit up temple. After an appropriate number of “oohs and aahs”, we walked down the street a little further until we found an open-air restaurant where we got dinner along with 2 for 1 mojitos. We weren’t super hungry, so we ordered a Lao appetizer plate. It included Lao seaweed (actually river grass), Lao sausage, some nuts and some kind of fried spring roll type food. After dinner, we walked further and hit a night street market. Stand after stand of tourist trinkets. More or less the same as we had seen at other markets in SE Asia with slight differences here and there.
The next morning, we had breakfast at the guest house (included in our stay) and then headed out to walk the streets. We saw more temples and ran into the main tourist drag that offered numerous cafes and places to stay. We visited a morning market, which was more based around food and perishables (such as flowers) than the touristy night market. By noon, it was getting pretty hot, so we caught some lunch and then retreated to our air conditioned room to plan out the rest of our time in Luang Prabang.
Other than food tours, we’re not much for organized group tours. That being said, sometimes it just makes more sense to do a group tour than it does to try and figure out how to see a bunch of different things on your own - especially, when you have limited time. This was the case in Luang Prabang, so we signed up for a day trip covering bathing elephants, a trip to Pak Ou Cavs, lunch, a visit to a “whiskey village”, a visit to Kwang Si Falls and a stop at an ethnic Hmong village. We paid $40 each and it was totally worth it - the day was a blast.
It started out with a visit to Manifa Elephant Camp, a sanctuary for retired elephants. They strive to provide a safe place for elephants in an ethical and sustainable manner. When we were in town, the day before, we saw many tours that offered “elephant rides”. We specifically told the people we purchased our tour from that we did not want to ride the elephants – only to bathe them. We arrived at the elephant camp not really knowing what to expect. We had our bathing suits on but we really weren’t sure if we would be in water or mud. Maybe we would just be handling a hose or buckets? We really didn’t know.
There were 12 people in our van but only four of us had opted to participate in the elephant bathing. The four of us started out by getting accustomed to the elephants by feeding them. We fed them sugar cane stalks that were about an inch to an inch and a half (2.5-3.8cm) thick and about 16 inches (40cm) long. We would give them anywhere from 4-8 stocks at a time. We would place them in the end of their curled trunk and then they would shove all of the stocks in their mouths at once and chew away. It was quite a racket – like someone biting into a stack of 6 tortilla chips about 3 inches away from your ear – “crunch, crunch, crunch”. The stalks we were feeding them were scattered all over the ground behind us, and we could not give them to the elephants fast enough. They ate them so fast we couldn’t keep up. We were told they eat about 550lbs (250kg) of the sugar cane per day (along with a lot of bananas and other items).
Next the handlers told us to fill our hands with sugar cane stalks and we would start walking down to the river (the Mekong). I found myself separated from the rest of our group, walking with a handler beside me, and an elephant both in front of, and behind me. The handler gave me some bananas to give to the elephant behind me to help cox her to continue walking down the trail with us. I would place a single banana – peel and all - in the open end of her trunk. When you look in the end of an elephant’s trunk, there are two nostrils – each a little larger than the size of a quarter – maybe the size of a 50-cent piece. I would set the banana down horizontally, on top of the two nostrils, and the elephant would close the tips of her trunk and bring it to her mouth.
It was probably about 100-150 yards (100-150 meters) to the river. As we walked further, the path got quite narrow and I really had to concentrate on the elephant in front of me and not getting in its way or pushed off the path. A few yards on, I heard what sounded like the sucking of a vacuum cleaner behind me. I turned around to see an outstretched trunk requesting more bananas. I gladly obliged.
Finally, we made it to the waters edge. We were told to put our things down on a large rock and get ready to bathe the elephants. It turns out that the way you bathe an elephant (at least at this camp) is by getting on its back, have it walk out into the water, submerge itself (and most of you) and then you proceed to scrub the elephant’s back, sides, head and ears. So, that’s exactly what we did. We each climbed up on an elephant and rode it bareback into the river (we each had a handler sitting immediately behind us on the same elephant). We were instructed to move all the way forward on the elephant, as far as we could go. We ended up riding on their neck, with our legs down behind their ears. We would then put our hands and arms out in front of us and brace ourselves on the elephant’s massive head.
Once we were in the water, the handlers let the elephants settle for a few minutes and drink a bunch of water. Then the handlers verbally instructed the elephants to wade out into the deeper water (no sticks or prodding of any type was ever used). Once in the deeper water, the handlers told the elephants to submerge themselves. Next thing we knew, we were lurching forward – trying not to fall over the front of the elephant’s face (remember, we were sitting all the way up on its neck) – while at the same time we were headed down into the murky waters of the Mekong. It was a rush! Once the elephants (and us) were thoroughly wet, the handlers handed us plant material to use to scrub the elephants. It looked like the fur on the outside of coconut shells, but it wasn’t. They told us it was from some plant in the local jungle and that they did not add anything to it. That was really surprising because when the stuff got wet and you started scrubbing, it lathered right up like a dish sponge with liquid soap added to it. We scrubbed the front of the mammoth beasts, while the handlers, sitting behind us, scrubbed the back part. I could tell the elephants enjoyed it – especially when you scrubbed behind their ears.
Once we were done scrubbing, it was time to rinse and get out. It didn’t take long to realize that this was the favorite part of the day for the handlers. First, they would use a verbal command to get the elephants to submerge themselves. As the elephants went down, taking us with them, the guides would stand up on the back of the elephant and laugh. I remember looking over at Janne, when she and her elephant were heading down for a rinse, and her guide was not only standing and laughing, but he was splashing water on Janne’s back. This was foreshadowing of what was to come later for me.
There were only four of us in our group. Janne, me and two women traveling from Australia. One was a legitimate Aussie and the other was a Canadian transplant. We made friends with them and enjoyed their company the rest of the day. The point here, though, is that I was the only guy. And it was time for the handlers to have some fun at my expense. After we were all pretty wet from being submerged during the “rinse cycle”, the handlers had more fun in store for us. They had the elephants fill their trunks with water, raise their trunks up over their heads, and then shoot the water out of their trunks and into our faces. On average, they did this to the girls about 2 times each. Being the only male, I think I got sprayed about 8 times. In the below video clip, you can even hear our tour guide, that was recording from shore, laughing and saying “take a shower!”. It was a good time and an experience we won’t soon forget.
One last note on the elephants. Everyone knows that elephants are big. Indeed, they are the largest land mammals on earth. But when you have an opportunity to really get up close - to listen to them chow down on multiple thick pieces of sugar cane at once - to mistake their inhalations for a Hoover vacuum cleaner - to feel their enormous skulls under your open palms - they seem absolutely immense! You quickly gain a respect for them and realize you need to watch yourself around them or you could really get hurt. I tell you all of this because, at the end of our time bathing the elephants, we all got together for a group picture. While posing with the elephants, Janne's elephant decided to move it's front right leg, and I'm not sure if I've ever seen Janne move so fast - LOL.......
She later said "All I could think of was my toes getting scrunched under those big feet!"
We left the elephants, and our thoroughly entertained handlers, at the river bank. We walked downstream about 100 yards (100m) and boarded a long boat. It was now time to cruise down the mighty Mekong River to visit the Pak Ou Caves. In the Lao language, “Pak” means mouth and “Ou” means river. The Pak Ou Caves are located where the Ou River merges with the Mekong. The caves have been a holy site for centuries - first to animist religions, and now to Buddhists. Inside the caves, were hundreds of Buddha statues of different types and sizes.
After leaving the Pak Ou Caves, we headed by longboat back down the Mekong to get lunch at the elephant camp. On the way, we enjoyed the beautiful natural scenery, including water buffalo on the shore.
Our next stop, after lunch, was to visit a "Whiskey Village". Apparently, some villages have figured a viable way to make a living by distilling whiskey. The whiskey is used for recreational and medicinal uses. We were given a short demonstration of how they made the whiskey (and rice wine) and we were also given some free samples.
Free samples! Sales display. Special "medicinal" varieties.
Next, we were off to visit Kwang Si Falls. The Kwang Si water fall area would be a great place to visit for a day or two if you were a family traveling with kids. In addition to visiting the stunning water falls, there are tons of other activities to check out. There is a bear rescue sanctuary, Luang Prabang Butterfly Gardens and the Laos Buffalo Dairy that offers cheese, ice cream and an opportunity to feed baby water buffalo. But the star of the show is definitely the Kwang Si Falls.
I have seen a lot of beautiful waterfalls. Many of them were truly breath taking. Comparing water falls is not easy to do. It is like comparing apples and oranges – or even harder. I’ve seen awe-inspiring waterfalls in Iceland and Niagara, that move tons and tons of water per second. I’ve seen waterfalls that drop from spectacular heights in Hawaii and Milford Sound. I’ve seen delicate waterfalls that are neither tall nor large, but hold a peaceful beauty unique to themselves. I have to admit, I think Kwang Si Falls are the most beautiful water falls I have ever seen.
The falls start high, tumbling over a jungle laden limestone cliff. When the water finally makes its way over the largest falls, there are a series of smaller tiered falls that continue for several hundred yards (meters). The paths the water takes seem too perfect to be natural. You think Disney must have sent in an “imagineering” crew or something. The falls continue to cascade over limestone formations into a series of cool, swimmable turquoise pools - absolutely gorgeous. Better than any of the falls I’ve seen in the north west of the U.S., Hawaii, Alaska or Niagara. Better than I have seen in New Zealand, Iceland or Costa Rica. Truly spectacular.
Our final stop of the day was to an ethnic Hmong village. The Hmong people are an ethnic group in East and Southeast Asia. If you live in the USA, you may have heard of the Hmong recently in the news. There are around 300,000 Hmong people in the US. The Hmong fought as US allies in the Vietnam War. After the war, tens of thousands of Hmong were forced to flee Laos and a vengeful Communist government. They came to the US as refugees beginning in the 1970s. Fast forward to 2020 and the Trump administration is negotiating with Laos to deport thousands of Hmong. It is a controversial issue that is coming to a head. Hmong leaders in the US are protesting loudly, and the issue is starting to get broader coverage in the US news.
The Hmong are a sub-group of the Miao people, and they live mainly in Southern China, Vietnam and Laos. They have been members of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) since 2007. They number approximately 4-5 million worldwide. Unfortunately, the Hmong people have been marginalized and they are quite poor. I really didn’t want to visit this village, as I felt it might equate to exploitation at worst, and a begging fest at best. I was pleasantly surprised though. There was a Hmong gentleman there who, working with our guide, gave us a tour of a typical Hmong residence (“hut” might be the correct word). We also got a demonstration of their hunting techniques. Of course, they had some wears on display for sale, as well as a donation box. We did drop a small amount of money in the box and, in the end, was glad we made the stop. One of our traveling friends from Australia managed to get a great photo (with permission) of the Hmong gentleman that spoke with us.
If the day ended there, we would have been completely satisfied. As it turned out though, we had a fun evening to follow. Previously, we had made friends with an English lady that was staying at our guest house. She was traveling alone, so we invited her to join us for dinner. She agreed, and the three of us headed out to find a restaurant. We had both read good things about one particular restaurant, so we decided to check it out and – bonus – to get to it, you had to travel over a bamboo bridge. The restaurant was on the opposite bank of the Nam Khan River. The “Khan” as the locals call it, is like the Mekong, and many other rivers in SE Asia, in that the rivers experience great variations in water flow over the seasons. During the times when the river flow is low, a series of bamboo bridges are constructed. People make money by charging people to cross the bridges. When the river flow gets too high, the bridges are taken down (either washed out or deconstructed – I’m not sure which – I would guess a mixture of both).
We paid 7,000 Kip (about 79 cents) for a round-trip ticket to walk across the bridge. It was dark and the bridge was lit up with strings of lights that reflected on the river – a beautiful site. The restaurant was busy and they asked us if we had reservations (which we didn’t). Despite this shaky start, we had good luck and were shown to a table overlooking the water. We would be sitting at a low table with no chairs – just pillows – overlooking the Khan and the illuminated bamboo bridge. It was pretty cool. It was a large table and we would be sharing it with a couple that was already seated. They seemed to be having a nice romantic evening, so we were a little worried about disturbing them. It all worked out in the end. They were a German couple and we enjoyed a couple hours of conversation with them. Especially entertaining was the German lady recounting her trip back in the '80s up the California coast on CA 101 in a VW bus spoking “Marianna”.
The next morning, we decided to climb Mount Phousi. Mount Phousi sits right in the center of Luang Prabang. It takes about 350-400 steps (depending on which side of the hill you take) to get to the top. There you will find a temple and a stupa, and spectacular views of the city, as well as the Khan and Mekong rivers. There are other temples and statues that you can visit on the way up and down. On our way up, we came across a group of about eight middle-aged Lao women who were just leaving a temple and heading down. As we waited for them to pass, they mostly looked down and not much eye contact was made. After most of them had passed, I locked eyes with one of the last ones and said in my best Lao: “Sabaidi”. Immediately, a loud response came back from one of the women at the head of the pack that was already several steps down the hill: “Sabaidiiiiiiiii!!!!”. Then most of the other women chimed in, “Sabaidi”. The entire group halted in their tracks to talk to us. Two of the ladies knew some limited English, and they asked where we were from and how long we were in Luang Prabang for and when we were leaving, etc. etc. One lady told us about her “Auntie” in Ohio. We laughed about how she must be freezing in Ohio. It was a nice exchange.
About half way up. Enlightenment? Near the summit.
After climbing Mount Phousi, we walked the streets a bit and window shopped. Janne bought a cute, locally made bracelet and then we found a place for lunch. After lunch, we headed to the comfort of the A/C in our hotel room and waited for dusk to come and bring the temperatures down. That night, we went to a restaurant and ordered a set meal that provided a good sampling of the different tastes of Laos. I took a picture of the menu in order to help me remember what we had. Most of it was very good, plus, they started us each off with a shot of Lao whiskey!
Our set menu. Bamboo chips to start. Chunky bamboo & veg soup.
The next day we were flying out, but not until later in the afternoon. I decided to get up at 5:00AM to go and observe Tak Bat. Tak Bat is the monk’s call to alms. Daily at dawn, saffron-clad monks walk barefoot, single file through the streets of Luang Prabang, while locals (and some tourists) place small balls of sticky rice, and other food offerings, into the monk’s containers. This is something that happens all over Laos, and other parts of SE Asia every morning. It’s just a little extra special in Luang Prabang due to the peaceful atmosphere and the high concentration of temples in the area. Just like visiting the Hmong village, I wasn’t really sure that I wanted to participate. I didn’t want to intrude on the lives of the monks or the people giving alms, or disrespect anyone in anyway. Many tour operators were offering packages where they pick you up in the morning, give you rice and place a chair for you on the monk’s itinerary. There are many rules for what to do and what not to do if you engage with the monks – and the rules vary depending on if you are male or female. In the end, I decided to just watch from a respectful distance. Janne decided to catch some extra zzzzzz’s.
When the alms giving was completed, I headed back to our guest house and we had another nice breakfast out on the porch. We then headed off to check out the Royal Temple Museum. The formal Royal Palace was built in 1904 and abdicated in 1975 when the Pathet Lao took over the country. The former palace had some interesting artifacts including former clothing of the king and queen, swords that had belonged to royal body guards and coronation garments. Also on display, were gifts to the Lao government from various nations. Among them was a gift from one of Denmark’s Princes (we couldn’t read the inscription to be able to tell which Prince it was from). Gifts from the US included a moon rock and a Lao flag that one of the Apollo missions had taken into space and then brought back to earth.
Our last stop in Luang Prabang, before heading to the airport, would be to stop and try some “worm poo tea”. Yes, that’s right, worm poo tea. We stopped in at a café that is an extension of a shop that sells locally made crafts. Similar to the places we visited in Cambodia, that aid at-risk children, this craft center was part of a larger network of craft centers that help local women learn weaving and other skills. The centers employ the women to make clothes, wall hangings, bedding, and assorted textile products. The women then take a cut of the profits from the items sold. The venture has grown to include a number of centers across the country and supports over 400 women nationwide. It is a great success and has empowered women, who otherwise might not have had the opportunity, to “learn and then earn”. Anyway, what does all of this have to do with worm poo tea? The center cultivates its own silk from silkworms. These worms munch on mulberry leaves all day, and one of the by-products of this is silk worm poo. The centers harvest said poo, and use it to make tea. It really was no big deal to try it – it was very weak tea without much taste. In the picture above, we are relaxing and having a cup of worm poo tea. Note the woman that is weaving in the wooden structure in the background.
We enjoyed Luang Prabang. It would have been nice to see more of Laos, but we just didn’t have the time. Our next house sit awaited us and we were looking forward to taking care of a very cute 10-year old labradoodle named Bella.
Below are a few more random pictures from our time in Luang Prabang. As always, you can find more pictures in the “Gallery” section of this website.
"Calming the ocean" "More sugar cane, please." Squeaky clean.
Buddhas inside Pak Ou Cave Two Lousy Tourists The shop keeper.
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