Our last trip for 2019 was to Luang Prabang, Laos PDR. We had been looking forward to this trip for quite some time. Firstly because it had been nine months since our last holiday, but also because we had heard so many great things about Luang Prabang; mountains, nature, waterfalls, Buddhist temples, and a generally relaxed pace were just some of the highlights we were looking forward to. And we were not disappointed.
Luang Prabang has over 30 Buddhist temples. While some are quite popular and have a number of tourists visiting, we also managed to find quite a few to visit where there were no other visitors.
Luang Prabang is located on the Mekong River and there are a number of boat trips available and which can be booked easily enough in town. Anything from a short sunset cruise, to a multi-day cruise to the Thai border.
And some street scenes.
The street outside our hotel converted into a daily market every morning. The sellers start setting up at 5am, and by 6am are already tending to the first customers of the day. We were really impressed by how clean the market is compared to some of the markets we have seen in Vietnam. The fresh produce all looks great, but not so sure about the buckets of frogs and eels, and crabs strung together like a wreath.
A daily ritual in Luang Prabang, and throughout Laos, is the giving and receiving of alms. Every morning the monks come out of the temples to receive sticky rice and other food offerings from loyal followers. In Luang Prabang the procession takes place between 5:30 and 6:00, so well before sunrise in the winter time. We had read a lot of articles and blogs about the morning alms procession. Some people complained about how some tourists get right in the monks faces with exploding camera flashes. And indeed there were plenty of those types of tourists. But there are also those tourists that show respect by keeping out of the way and don't use flash photography. So here are a few street lamp lit photos taken from the other side of the road.
No trip to Luang Prabang can be considered as complete if it doesn't include a trip to Kuang Si waterfalls. Or at least that is what I had read. To be honest, I was sceptical. I hadn't seen any photos of the waterfalls, and I was expecting muddy brown waters. But it was nothing like I expected. It was amazing. Crystal clear water and one of the most scenic waterfalls I have seen (and to be honest we have seen some good ones). These are not especially large waterfalls, but they just have something special about them. But, before we get to the waterfalls, we have some bears to visit.
This was another great surprise. On the walk up to the Kuang Si falls you will pass a moon bear sanctuary. Free the Bears is a non-profit organisation that has built bear sanctuaries in Camodia, Laos and Vietnam as rescue centers for bears that had been caged, and in most cases 'farmed' for their bile. According to their website, Free the Bears has rescued around 950 bears to date. From what we could see, this sanctuary was doing a great job and all of the bears that we saw looked happy.
And then it was time for the waterfalls.
After leaving the falls we had two more stops that we wanted to make. A butterfly farm and a buffalo dairy for some buffalo ice-cream. Unfortunately the buffalo ice-cream had all sold out, but the butterfly farm was a good stop.
And before we knew it our short break was over. 2019 had been a busy year and this was a great way to end it. We are already both back at work, but already looking forward to our next trip. This year we have an African safari to look forward to, and also a trip to see family in South Africa. So expect some family and wildlife blogs later in the year.
