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If all of the cities in Laos are thought of as siblings, then Luang Prabang is that beautiful older sister, the apple her parents’ eye and she can do no wrong.  Vang Vieng (and Laos river tubing) was the rebellious and party-tastic younger brother; this city, instead, is really old and full of beautiful Wats (temples).

The city is actually so culturally rich that in 1995 it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site -the whole city!  That means that even in another decade, you wont see multi-story concrete buildings marring theviews, just the quaint wooden buildings lining the streets, dozen or so Wats littered throughout, and the laid back Laotians quietly running this peaceful Buddhist city.

I camped out in Luang Prabang for about eight days total – that means that I did a whole lot…and a whole lot of nothing!

While I didn’t exactly plan to spend that much time in the city, the days just sort of melded together.  The great thing about staying a bit longer in one place is that you begin to develop a routine; and even in my handful of days in the city, I began to feel like we belonged.  Laura and I  developed a daily routine – most of which involved food…and it got to the point where are local street vendors knew our preferences as we approached and gave a hearty “sabaidii” of local greeting as we meandered past their street stalls filled with colorful foods.

I managed to find some really reliable internet at a small French-run cafe in town, Café 56 (near the post office); wifi preferences yielded quite a search, but that once found internet was a small part of the lure of staying…it was nice to really get some work done without dealing with dialup speeds!

Internet tip: if you find the token café or restaurant in town owned by a Westerner it’s likely to have reliable everything.

My favorite discoveries in Luang Prabang:

Cheap, Tasty Street Food:
Our daily routine of food was pretty consistent – we  only really branched out a lot for dinner – other than that we found what we loved and stuck with it.  Breakfast consisted of morning fruit shakes for 5,000 Kip (that’s less than 70 cents!).

The fruit is completely fresh and set out in cups in varying flavor combinations – the mixed one was my favorite and contained dragonfruit, banana, pineapple,   mango, jackfruit and anything else they happened to pop into the blender.  Lunch was frequently a 10,000 Kip veggie sub. Again, the ingredients are completely freshly chopped to order and served on a soft baguette.

Our vegetarian dinner buffet was one of our best finds of the trip so far.  There are several buffets lining the streets and we found one with a heaping selection of veggie eats accompanied by a delicious spicy chili sauce.  The best part about this buffet?  You fill your bowl as high as you can and pay just 5,000 Kip (again, like 70 cents!)- how rockin’ are those prices!

Luang Prabang Night Market:
The night handicraft market in the city is also pretty amazing. This half a mile of market is one of the highlights of the city, and not just because of the ridiculously cheap hand-made goods, but also because it  gives you a really good reason to interact with the laid-back locals.

The local Laos set up and break down their stalls, carefully laying out all of the scarves, purses, jewelry, and  more every single night.  I bought a few items to send back home and one of my favorite moments came when I was bargaining with the lady over a little wooden toy…the general rule for the night market is that you half whatever they tell you and settle somewhere in between.

Well, after halving the amount from 20,000 Kip to 10,000, the seller countered with 15,000…as a seasoned haggler by this point I countered with 12,000.  Well, this poor lady must have had a really long day because she let out one of the loudest and most exasperated sighs I have ever heard – I think she even startled herself!  We all looked at each other and burst out laughing, even the seller was wiping tears out of her eyes.  At that point I handed over the 15,000 Kip and considered the laugh worth the extra couple of thousand Kip.

Bizarre Ice Cream Varieties!:
We happened across a small little restaurant cum ice cream shop just beyond the night market advertising beer ice cream on the chalkboard out front – with a sign like that, we both couldn’t resist.  Once in the door, we discovered that they had a slew of pretty tempting flavors and we found our favorite in the most unlikely choice.

The lemongrass ice cream plate was to die for – seriously some of the most unique and deliciously refreshing flavored ice cream I have ever had (and boy have I had my share!).  As for the beer ice cream…well, it was oddly fascinating…it certainly tasted like beer…but yet in an icy-creamier-sweeter version…the video shows a brief clip of our first reactions to beer ice cream:

The Soft Sell in Laos:
Laos is truly different than its neighbors here – in Thailand everything is very pushy (and I hear that Cambodia will be the same).  But in Laos everything is just a lot more chilled.  The people certainly try to sell you on things and you hear “tuk-tuk miss?” quite frequently, but in the long run it’s all a lot more laid back.

Laura and I bought some groovy bracelets from some children along the Mekong River (we are slowly building the “backpacker arm…you can tell how long a backpacker has been traveling by the number of bracelets adorning her wrist)…the kids were pretty cute and they assured us they attend school during the day, so we couldn’t resist. And everyone is here very thankful and appreciative!

A smile goes a long way in Laos and so many of the locals we meet in this country are genuinely happy and friendly…we haven’t encountered really any resentment or like so far!

The Panoramas of the Mekong River:
We found a spot just on the other side of the Nam Khan with a spectacular view of the Mekong River.

The catch though?

You have to cross a truly rickety bridge to get to the other side of a smaller river that  flows into the Mekong, and then you just relax at the joining of the two rivers with a Beerlao, a gentle breeze, and the perfect view the local river-workers in their long boats making their way home in the late afternoon.

We managed to catch a sunset here as well as just recharge our batteries as the hustle of the city was a couple of kilometers away and out of hearing distance and the Mekong River swirled out into thick stretches of water in every direction.

The small town on this side of the river also has some of the wholesale crafts that you find at the night market and is good for an afternoon stroll before hightailing it back to the streets of Luang Prabang for the night street eats!

These were the lazy days in Laos, there are a handful of great sites and activities around the city and we did those while also taking the time to just enjoy ourselves and eat all of the interesting and strange foods we happened upon.