Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang has the feeling of a small village. Although it's the 3rd largest city in Laos (pop. 100,000), it's spread out over a fairly large area with rivers and a lot of vegetation that prevent it from feeling that way. To get a sense of setting, here's a picture from wikipedia of Luang Prabang from the other side of the Mekong river.


And to give you feel for just how un-city-like it is, here's a shot of Luang Prabang's main street (which we took from a cafe while enjoying our breakfast).



At most times of day you can find some of the city's many saffron-robed monks going about their business. I've seen monks as young as about 10, and older than I'm able to guess. There are very few cars as most locals either walk, use bicycles or motorbikes.

In the morning, aside from an occasional distant motorcycle, the only sounds are the small quiet ones of people and animals moving about and starting the day.

Here's anther view further down main street.


In the city's center, there's a wat (buddhist temple) for every 3 or 4 square blocks. They vary in size and style, but all are ornamented with gold decorations as the ones below.


One wat in particular sits atop a small hill in the middle of the city center. Here's a monk at the bottom of the stairway leading up to it. (You may also be able to see the excellent "old-woman-crossing-the-road" sign to the left, though this thumbnail may be too small to make out the bun in her hair).

Midway down main street is a very nice man who sells steamed dumplings filled with coconut...


In the evenings, there's a large night market that sells textiles, antiques (more likely "antiques"), local coffee, and all kinds of other things. Along the wall of one of the wats is a vegetarian buffet (5000 kip per plate...a little less than a dollar) where we frequently eat in the evenings.

Parallel to the main street you've seen is the street facing the Mekong which has many guesthouses and restaurants with seating overlooking the river. Here's a shot of the guesthouse right next to ours along the riverside. (We're staying just around the corner, and although our room doesn't look out directly on the river, it's also significantly cheaper).


Along the river are many restaurants offering beautiful views over the Mekong. Sometimes we spend the cool mornings enjoying these with our breakfast. Though there are many establishments along the river, most of them look something like this:


Before about 8 in the morning, there's still mist over the Mekong providing picturesque views like this one along with your coffee.

On the other side of main street is another river with its own collection of waterfront eateries where you can see farmers tending their gardens, and fishermen on the river.



I wish I had been able to photograph more of the people around Luang Prabang, since they're a large part of the experience of being here, but as discussed previously, I have a hard time photographing other people. To conclude, it's very quiet and beautiful here and we're enjoying it a lot! More updates with specific information to come, I hope.