Living it Large in Luang Prabang

Here we are, Luang Prabang, our first stop in Laos. Arriving around 4pm we checked into in a place called Downtown Backpackers Hostel. The dorm was nice with curtains on the beds for some privacy.

The first night was a very fun night. We started by heading to the night market to grab some dinner and try out the street food in Laos. We ended up seeing some friends that we met on the boat, Sarah and Mirjam and had some post dinner beers. The night market closed at around 11:30pm, this is when everyone moves onto the bowling alley which is the only place that stays open past 12am. The bowling alley was lots of fun with Ben showing everyone that he was easily the best at bowling!

The next day we were slightly hungover so did not get up to much. We had some lunch, sorted out some admin and did some much needed laundry. Dinner time came round swiftly where we found a nice restaurant. After dinner we headed back to the hostel to get an early night!

the main attraction in Luang Prabang was the waterfalls (not that we hadn’t seen enough waterfalls already). This was our activity for the 3rd day in Luang Prabang. We were told it was cheaper to get there if you are in a bigger group so we met up with some friends who we met in Pai to spend the day with them. In our opinion the Kuang Si Falls were the best waterfalls we had been to so far in SEA. They had multiple pools which you could swim in, with one even having a cool spot where you could jump in! After a quick swim we decided to head to the top of the waterfalls. The walk up took around 20 minutes and was tough in the heat, that being said the viewing points on the way up made it so worth it. When we made it to the top there was a man with a wooden raft to take us to the source of the waterfalls which was a under water spring. We headed back down to catch our bus back to the town where we went out for dinner again with some friends from the slow boat. Dinner and drinks quickly turned into our second appearance at the bowling alley!

Day number 4, our last full day in Luang Prabang. This was one of the first day of the trip where we as a group did different things. Ben and Chloe decided a pool day was needed so found a nice hotel for a swim. I was up and out pretty early for a wood carving class, again joining our friends we had met earlier and now traveling through Laos with. I have to say this was a very long day (around 8 hours) of carving an Elephant. The results however were amazing and it was a great experience. We headed out for dinner that evening and decided to head back to the hostel for somewhat of an early night.

The next day we checked out of the hostel,had a stroll around the old town and made our way to the train station. Vang Vieng here we come!

Favourite moment in Luang Prabang: Kuang Si Falls

Beer choice: Beerlao (3L beer tower) 120,000Kip (£5.48)

Written by Sam