After our slow boat we needed a break. Luckily, we had booked 5 nights in Luang Prabang to rest and recuperate. Turns out Simon’s body hates him though as this is when he got sick. He ended up spending quite a bit of time in bed feeling unwell, but I’m glad to say as of now we are both feeling well again.

On our first full day in Luang Prabang we met up with 2 couples that we met on the slow boat and had a lovely, productive, but chilled out day. On our way to meeting them at the UXO museum, Simon and I found a brilliant place to try Lao noodle soup. The cafe was no more than a space outside of a ladies home, but she was welcoming and brought us a huge bowl to enjoy. I went for the beef, Simon for the pork. As well as our big bowl of brothy noodly goodness they bring you a plate of fresh veg, chillis, pickled carrot and the most amazing dip (Peanut and tomato). With all of this food in front of us, we were a little confused what to do, so the lovely owner and another man taught us what to do with the soup by pointing and many hand gestures. I have had quite a few Lao noodle soups since and this one still sticks out to me as my favourite.

(Bad photo)

We made it to the UXO (Unexploded ordnances) museum and spent a good 45 minutes walking around. What many people don’t know is that Laos is the most heavily bombed country in history per capita. During the Second Indochina war Laos was heavily bombed with 2 million metric tonnes, or 270 million individual submunitions being dropped. 80 million of these failed to detonate meaning 40 years after the end of the war, approximately 1 person a day is killed in Laos by these UXOs. During our time at the museum we were able to see examples of all of the warfare used, learn about how people are affected by the presence of these UXOs in their daily lives and about how they are being removed. We watched 2 documentaries about the work that is going on and some case studies about children that had been injured. They were both heartbreaking. The whole museum was really interesting and informative though and we’re very glad we are now more informed.

After the UXO museum we headed to a cafe called Utopia that sits on the Nam Khan river. We enjoyed a few drinks and had a good chat before our last stop of the day, Mont Phousi. Standing at around 100m above the town, Mont Phousi is an excellent place to watch the sunset. We had read that it can be quite busy around sunset and we weren’t wrong. I will post a photo below which shows you the beautiful sunset shot and then the reality of the crowds there. The walk up to the top was beautiful though with some really interesting Buddha statues and we were blessed with an amazingly colourful sunset as well. It was enough to forget the crowds really.

For dinner that night we enjoyed a traditional Lao BBQ. You get given meats, noodles, broth, veg and eggs and you cook it all on a BBQ in the middle of your table. The BBQ has a cooking area for the meat in the middle and then a broth ring around the edge where you can cook your eggs, veg and noodles. It was so good and worked out at only £2 each. Our night finished with a glass of wine (German Riesling. Yummy) in a wine bar with Ed and Leonie. A really perfect day.

The next day we had a well deserved lie in and Simon started feeling a bit dodgy. All we managed to do this day was visit Utopia again and catch up on research and photo organising. Oh dear…

On our third full day, Simon still wasn’t feeling any better so I decided it was time to go out alone. There were quite a few places I wanted to visit around the main town so I put on my walking shoes and started my adventure. My first stop was to the Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre. I wandered around here for about 45 minutes and learnt about the ethnic diversity of Laos, the main tribes and also about how many of their traditional clothes are made. Very interesting.

Next I walked along the Mekong river and stopped for a lovely Bacon and Salad sandwich and some Lao ice tea. The view was stunning. I continued walking along the river until I made it to the Golden Temple (Wat Xieng Thong). On first impressions I was really impressed with the mosaic work that was all over the buildings. The mosaics showed day to day life in Laos. I have found the temples in Laos to be a little more understated than the ones in Thailand. Personally, I’ve preferred them. They are truly beautiful despite being very architecturally simple.

After a good wander around I carried on to place where the Mekong river meets the Nam Khan. Here there is a sign saying the Luang Prabang is a UNESCO World Heritage site. I can see why. The whole town is so quaint and European from it’s time as a French colony. I carried on along the Nam Khan river from here, watching Monks bathing in the river and taking in the beautiful scenery. I loved our time in Luang Prabang, Simon not so much. I think if he had have been able to join me on this day, he would have felt a little differently about Luang Prabang as this is the day I truly appreciated how beautiful the area is.

My last stop of the day was to the Royal Palace Museum. I didn’t know much about the Royal family of Laos and to be honest, I still don’t! There wasn’t a huge amount of information around the museum. Having just completed some quick research it seems as though the Royal family was exiled in 1975 to re-education camps after the communist revolution. Many of the Royal family died in these re-education camps and other members are now living in exile in France. This museum was the official residence of the King from 1904 to 1975 and is now owned by the government. I couldn’t take any pictures during my time in the museum, but the palace itself was quite underwhelming. The rooms were large, but relatively basic. The only room that was very grand was the Throne Room. In this room all of the walls were covered in mosaics just like the ones at Wat Xiang Thong. It was very impressive. In the grounds you could go and see the King’s collection of cars. He seemed to like American cars having primarily large American Fords. Here are a few photos from the grounds.

With Simon feeling better, on our last full day we decided to head to Kuang Si falls. Many people say that these waterfalls are the highlight of their time in South-East Asia so we were glad we were going to be able to make it. We were taken in a minibus from our hotel and made it to the falls in about 40 minutes. To get to the waterfall you walk through the Free the Bears Rescue Centre. I had heard about this, but wasn’t expecting what we saw when we get there. There were Moon and Sun bears everywhere. Many of which had been rescued from the bear dancing industry or rescued from facilities that used them to harvest bile, which is believed to have unlimited health benefits. The exhibit showed us the horribly small cages that these bears live and just like the elephants, our hearts broke again. On a more positive note, these bears looked super happy and healthy. They were playing in their large enclosures and were a delight to see. Learn more about these bears here http://www.freethebears.org/index.php/help-the-bears/sponsorship/category/21-moon-bears

We walked towards the waterfalls and were so impressed. The Kuang Si waterfall/s are multi tiered and the colour of the water is just unbelievable. Just like in New Zealand, rock flour in the water gives it this gorgeous blue colour. We walked through the tiers in awe of how beautiful it all was. We stopped for some lunch before visiting the main waterfall and attempted to find the ‘secret pool’ to swim in. Lets just say after a lot of climbing up and back down again (we made it to the very top of the waterfall), we didn’t find the secret pool that everyone talks about. We know where we went wrong now, so if anyone goes in the near future please ask and I will give you some directions. Despite this, we made it back to the bottom of the waterfalls after the crowds so were able to swim in the other pools completely alone anyway. Our gopro decided to be a bit useless at this point though!

On our last evening in Luang Prabang we went to have a look around the Night Market and had some food in buffet street. For £1.50 you get a bowl and fill it with buffet style street food. They heat it up for you and away you go. They even came over and gave us some free bananas for dessert. We had our meal with 2 very interesting people and then headed back to our hotel to get ready for our journey to Vang Vieng the next day. I loved our time in Luang Prabang and was happy we chose it as a location to relax for a longer period of time. I could have easily stayed longer, relaxing at all the lovely cafes and taking in the beautiful scenery. Definitely visit if you can!