Luang prabang tourist

The one unique feature luang prabang offers to people is the big scale alms receiving event held every day. The monks has no possession and requires the alms they receive for food. Throughtout m travelling i have seen quite a few temples and monks receiving alms. I must say luang prabang is the one place monks never have to worry about food.

Woke up very early at 5.30am and many locals were already waiting for the arrival of the monks. They will always have this bamboo made container which they put all their sticky rice. What happens when the monks come is they will pinch half a handful of it and place it in their bowl. They will do this for every single one of them till they have given all away.
Preparing for the alms givingAt struck of dawn, it all begins! The elder monks will lead the novice monks as they walk the town

As it was still early, we decided to head up to phousi(not pussy)hill for sunrise which was disappointing due to the foggy sky.
Stupa at the top ofPhousi hill
The empty streets in the morning

We came back down and there they were again! Lots more monks and even more camera clicking tourist. THere are even vendors selling containers of sticky rice for you to experience it yourself. For a more touristy view of the alms giving, head to the main street at about 7am. You get better lighting with more tourist. Otherwise head out to the other streets at 6am. You will be the only 1 holding a camera.

The plan for today is easy, walk around town and observe and understand the people of this town.

Serene river And local street signs
US100=840,000kip. Change US150 and you will be a millionaire like oliver(Shanghai)
My roomates. Oliver the computer engineer from shanghai, Celine the spa owner from france, Jay the "self employed" from SG

Food in laos is very much influenced by thailand and vietnam, the 2 strong countries decades ago and france who used to colonize laos.

French baguette is widespread in laos due to the french influence.1 with massive toppings cost about 10k kip($2)
Antique cars for the rich
Sun baked sticky rice
Wat in luang prabang
Sticky rice offerings?
Local snack
Steam egg(left), salted sticky rice(top), black rice(right)
Mak kieng(oranges)
Lao people love to party!
Usually with a live bandAnother local delicacy, BBQ!
Mekong riverLocal school girl
Sharing is caring Wat that luang

As we ventured around town, we chanced upon this wat That luang which is not the main highlight in town and is some distance from the town center. Naturally we did not see any other visiting people around. It is in this wat that we met a monk who could speak some english. We sat down and chatted for awhile about our respective countries and we learned that he wants to go to university and be a tour guide in the future when he left the monastry. Other hoobies he has is to watch international soccer. Hard working monk

Luang prabang town
Sun set atop phousi hill

As we venture more into the night, we indulge ourselves at the Red cross association in luang prabang for a herbal sauna and a massage(50k kip=$9 total). Really good and its for a good cause!

The next day, we planned to go out of town to the pak ou caves and khuang xi waterfall. Previous checks with tour agencies is more than 130k kip($24)/pax. Together with 9 others from the slow boat, we decided to charter our own transport to save cost. Figure on around 250k kip to both places on a jumbo. When we walk towards groups of jumbo owner and ask for price, they sorta conspire against us and offer prices of 400k-600k kip. A tip would be look for lone drivers aplenty in town.

Empty streets in the morning

Cute kid and helmet

This road doesnt look anything but it really does rock your bum

Pak ou cave

It is a 30mins of the ride was on good tarmac road. The remaining 1hr is a butt rattling ride to the village opposite the caves where we have to take a exhorbitant boat ride(10k kip=$2) to the caves(20k kip $4).

To be honest, the caves really isnt that interesting. It is good if you just want to do something in luang prabang and if you are short of time, feel free to leave this out.

Group of peeps i went with

Small buddha statues laid across the caves

What you will find here is statues and..

more statues

Gossiping village ladies

Hey you! get back in line!
Next up is khuang xi waterfall(20k=$4) 2 hrs away. The waterfall on the other hand is much better than the caves. There is a nice waterfall at the top with several nice mini waterfall for pictures and swimming.

Bear conservation area in khuang xi waterfall

Many waterfall spots

WIth a couple good for swimming and jumping
The cascading waterfall

Dinner for the night was a sumptuous lao style bbq dinner! It was by far one of the best dinner i ever had in laos

After seeing bbq for so many times, i succumb to the temptation and bought it!(22k kip= $4 with sticky rice)

The next day, oliver and me say our goodbyes to celine would be catching a flight from here. The 2 of us is heading to our next destination vang vieng!!

Went up to a tuk tuk driver and had an interesting exchange

Tuk driver: Where you go? Airport? bus staion?

ME: Que rot mei, Thao dai?(Bus staion, how much?)

Tuk: you 2? ok 30k kip

ME:Bo mi, Ani Peng Mak. Sip phan(no, its too expensive)*starts to walk away

Tuk: Ok ok, come i bring you. Sip phan is lao people price, falang no no.

Me: i know...*grins

When in laos, dont always expect the bus to leave on time. Many a times profit is priorities and drivers wait till the bus is full before moving. Local bus to vang vieng 85k kip($15.50)

Off we head to vang viang!

Throughout the different places and countries i go, tuk tuks vary in different forms

Trusty ride

A couple of falangs(foreigners) and mostly locals :D

I sat beside a lady and her baby girl konta who is absolutely adorable. She keeps making faces and keeping me entertain a good part of the 7 hour ride. I shared with her my baguette take awa and chips and she gave me some fried banans and gum. On board there is a guy with a AK47 rifle. I was told this route used to be robbed often and this explains his presence. Half way in the journey, the driver stopped in the middle of nowhere and everybody got off to relieve ourselves in the view of passing vehicles!! even the ladies! The view between luang prabang and vang vieng is the best i have seen so far dotted with plenty of small villages and sometimes view of locals bathing along the road.
Konta the little girl who sat beside me

Piss off!

Best shot i could take of her.

A kind local who sat beside me during dinner gave me these, being amazed i could speak lao

local food place

So there you go, my little update on the town of luang prabang. It is a town of peace and serenity with very obvious tourism presence. A trip here however is definitely a must in laos.

on a side note, this is the result of a recent survey conducted by no other than me. Everytime people see and talk to me, they will think i am from:

60% korea

30% japan

10% others(china, malyasia and even a cambodia!!)

How about singapore? So far none has guessed correctly that i am from singapore. I guess not many singaporeans travel out of the tourist circle to be noticed that much eh

Little update

First up a little update on me!!


I think this video sounded alot like a documentary and i looked weird in it. However i was at the best stop of the waterfall and there is a line of people waiting to take pictures so i had no chance to do a retake! Forgive me!

I am doing great guys!!

Happy Chinese New year!!

Buddha park in Laos capital city Vientiane
I know i know, i have not been back for Christmas, New year and now even CHINESE NEW YEAR!

I am sure you guys miss me just as much as i miss you all!

To my family and all my friends and the 3 groups of relatives i visit every year.

XIN NIAN KUAI LE!!

For those who are really keen to have good luck and fortune this year. You can wire my ang bao money to my bank account. I have put it here to make it easier for everybody :D

POSB saving 126-95894-3 !

I assure you, you will win toto if you do

Adios!

Entry into Laos:slow boat to luang prabang (Jan 5-7, Day 24-26)

The moment i stepped into laos, everything is different from Chiang Mai. The most obvious is the cost of everything here. Checked into Friendship GH (40k Kip $7.20) which was the cheapest i could find. Internet is 15k kip ($2.80) per hour compared to 10B ($0.40). Had initially planned to join the gibbon experience where i will zip line in the jungle and live in tree house, however the cost ($325 for 3d2n) stopped me in the end. It is however a good activity to do, not forgetting that the money will go towards preserving the forest.

Welcome to laos!
View of the mekong from my GH, thailand on the opposite bank
The quiet streets of Houay Xia

The very next day, i went to the pier to catch a 2-day slow boat to Luang Prabang (900B$38). I had known prior that it is extremely touristy and the price is outrageous because of it. Little did i expect that 99% of the passenger on it were foreigners (westerners)
Slow boats landing
I boarded half an hour before departure and was glad to see this
10mins past departure, this is what i saw...
To maximize profits, they made the wooden bench extremely small and uncomfortable
50 mins later, we are off!
Fisherman
Little owner of the boat
Small villages on the way
Kids waving to us
Like all westerners, they practically turned the boat into a mini pub. Estimated: 100 people on the boat.
Another option is to take a speed boat which is expensive and dangerous
The sky grew from this...
..to this..
Just at night fall, we arrive at Pak Beng. Our stop for the night. Greeted by many touts for GH.

I knew that to find a better and cheaper GH i would have to walk further away from the pier. So i managed to hunt down 1 for 100B after bargaining. And the room wasnt too bad. I had a double bed all to myself.
My 100B ($3.80) GH
Dinner at funky place
The heater in the GH uses a working fire in it. Gas is much more available than electricity there
Little owner of GH
Peaceful streets of Pak Beng
My first sight of baguette (10k kip $1.80). You can find it anywhere in laos
The next morning, it is another 9hours on the boat again. Bring a book or mp3, it really helps
Many beautiful sights along the way
As well as many vendors selling handicrafts
2 days into Laos, i arrive in Luang Prabang! Overall, the slow boat is an interesting thing to do if you can stand being cramped in an uncomfortable seat and being surrounded by drinking westerners. The views along the way are much better sights to see.