Flashpackers that we are, we flew into Luang Prabang on the very efficient Lao Airlines (on time, free meal and alcoholic drink on a 1 hour flight - you don't get than on United!). Given that Caroline had come down sick on returning from Pai (which we later learned to be a stomach bug from Pai, not food poisoning), it was a huge relief not be undertaking the 2 day overland journey from northern thailand to Laos that most of our fellow backpackers were doing.
We were delighted by Luang Prabang - the former royal capital, it is a charming town characterized by rambling french colonial architecture interspersed by numerous buddhist temples. We stayed in an old colonial style guest house by the river in the old town. We had a huge room with an excessive amount of furniture - it kind of looked like a soviet waiting room, all for $13 a night.
We had a fairly low key time in Luang Prabang as Caroline was still unwell for the 4 days there. However we did get out and about to enjoy most of the key sites.
We did a half day trip to visit the Pak Ou Caves - this is a 2 hour journey by slow boat along the Mekong River - the caves hold hundreds of old discarded buddha statues. They are mostly damaged buddhas that can no longer be venerated due to the damage, but you can't just throw away a buddha image, so they bring them to these caves - it is quite an eerie sight.
We visisted numerous other temples which we won't list out here, but in particular, we visited the former royal palace which was really very interesting: it's quite a modest palace and held some fascinating royal regalia and in particular, a number of curious diplomatic gifts from other governments over the years.
Luang Prabang is really the cultural and high art center of Laos - we visited the ecole des beaux arts and was shown around their gallery by a charming young Laotian who took time to tell us about the medium and subject of numerous pieces of art. There are also many lovely textiles, silverwork and woodwork typical of this area for sale - there are many market stalls where the village people come into the town each evening with all these items - we bought a few items, but would have loved to buy far more to send home.
Luang Prabang was quite superb for food: We discovered some great spots for coffee including the scandinavian bakery (wicked hot chocolate and swedish desserts); and Jo Mas bakery with a cinamon bun and latte to die for. There are also numerous french cafes and wine bars which we didn't get to take full advantage of this time, but if we ever come back... - oh there is also of course lots of Laos food (but we'll cover that in another blog)
On our return visit to LP for one night after our trek up north, we treated ourselves to a special dinner out at the Villa Santi Restaurant - where we had a beautiful table on the balcony and enjoyed cocktails and (pretty decent)wine. We even had creme caramel and banana splits for dessert - yummy!
