Now we get to the real meat and potatoes of my trip, Luang Prabang. I chose to spend a week here in hopes of having enough time to really get a feel for the place. I was also able to meet up with a friend and coworker from my previous school in Guangzhou. We had not seen each other in at least 1.5 years since I left for Shanghai.

This portion of my trip will also be discussed in smaller parts due to the number of things I did here (too much to squeeze into a single post, even for me).

Luang Prabang is quite a small area. You can really get to most places of interest around town just by walking. The area is also conveniently located between two rivers, which allows for some decent scenery as well as transportation to see other areas. Although it too had a well-developed tourist feel to it, it still felt slower, more peaceful, and more relaxed than many other Southeast Asian tourist areas. Due to the close proximity to many sights, I rarely used the tuk tuks.

The place I stayed at was conveniently located right around the corner from the main street and the local night market, as well as across from the National Museum.

While strolling along the Nam Khan River side of town, we came across one of the two bamboo bridges connecting the other, smaller areas.

We didn’t spend much time on the other side, but we did pop in to see a local hand-woven craft shop.

The first major place to check off the list was to hike up Phou Si Hill in order to get a view of the sunset along the river. It is also referred to as “Mount Phou Si,” but I think this is misleading as the hill is only about 100m high. None the less, it still offers a nice view of the river and surrounding area. To get there, there are two entrances and exits. We chose to enter via the wat (temple) encompassing the base area near the Nam Khan River side.

Some things to see while hiking up.

At the top…

Coming back down…

After that, my friend got a mango smoothie at one of the nearby stalls at the base of the exit while I took a few more photos looking down upon the street.

At this point, we strolled along past some of the night market vendors and bid our farewells for the day. We had plenty more things to see and do that week, so we needed our rest.

Stay tuned for the next part of this trip.