On arrival in Luang Prabang we discovered a sleepy town full of cafe's, bakeries and juice bars. It was a really beautiful town full of old French Colonial buildings and Guesthouses overlooking the Mekong River. Although the French influence was evident e.g. fresh baguette sellers lined the streets, there was also a distinctly Laos feel about the town, with numerous golden Wats (Temples). Perhaps our favourite thing about Luang Prabang was the night market, which was much more laid back and calm than the Thai ones- no-one harrassed us which made a welcome change. The night market was probably the main event of Luang Prabang evenings as everything else seemed to close around 10:30ish - we even got shooed out of a restaurant at 10:00 when trying to go for a drink! There were really pretty things to purchase, and as usual it was a struggle to resist buying things - although even katie caved in and made a purchase!
Another great thing about the night market is that it provided us with our favourite places to eat. Side streets from the main market were filled with food vendors selling all parts of animals...or for the less adventurous likes of us, there were delicious barbequed chicken, pork and fish skewers. After purchasing your skewer of choice, further down the road there were vegetarian rice and noodle stalls were you could fill up a plate for only 5,000kip (35p) and sit on a long table with others doing the same thing. It proved to be a very sociable way to enjoy dinner and we met lots of very interesting people.
One of the main sights to see in Luang Prabang is the Wat on the Hill in the middle of town. The trek (at least 200steps!) to the top was well worth it for the amazing city views and to witness a Buddhist ceremony complete with chanting and praying - it was incredibly serene and peaceful, despite being in the centre of town.
About an hours tuk-tuk out of town was the famous kuang Si Waterfalls which were amazing. There were many different levels of 'fall' with 3 natural pools to swim in. The water was beautiful aqua marine and absolutely freezing! This was ok when the sun was out but otherwise it was pretty chilly. The Waterfall was set in a forest which had paths cut out for people to walk to the top to the main Waterfall which was a great setting. Also the fact that there were not as many tourists as we had expected made the place really atmospheric. We liked it a lot.
Because the weather was often a bit cloudy/monsoon rains, we became well acquainted with the Luang Prabang Coffee Shop scene. This was a great way to while away a rainy day, however proved to be not so good for our wallets...or our stomachs! Our favourite by far was the wonderful 'JoMa' which provided us with gems such as the Bagel Egger (hot bagel with melted cheese, bacon and egg!) and the most amazing chocolate chip cookies ever. It was a great place to relax and read or write diaries.
Luang Prabang wasn't the most happening town and seemed more frequented by the more mature tourist as opposed to the Gap Year Crew but we really enjoyed it for the few days we were there- the totally chilled out atmosphere where big decisions in the day comprised of what fruit shake to have, or whether to have a barbequed chicken or fish on your stick, was definately what we needed post slow boat journey.
We left on Tuesday evening headed for Si Phan Don (another two day journey!) in search of waterfalls, dolphins and remote river islands.