Day trips from Luang Prabang
 

Has anyone ever stayed overnight at Luang Say Lodge? It looks like the only way there and back is via their boat and takes a day each way so this probably doesn't make much sense on our time table, but I'm curious.
http://www.luangsay.com/Lodge-Laos.mekong.html

Am thinking of writing ekscrunchy's guide to put together a day in the countryside -- has anyone hired a guide/driver to visit villages recently?? Or are we better off with a Mekong boat trip to see scenery, as we did visit quite a few hilltribes outside CM 3 years ago?

If you've got an LP trip report I can read let me know and I'll dutifully follow all links.

hi jenskar,

i am hiring the same guide (for 3 of the 5 days we're in LP) that ekscrunchy & LizS did for their trips. his name is Ta (short for khamta keovongsy).

day 1 - city tour
day 2 - pak ou with villages
day 3 - villages, elephant ride to one of the waterfalls

here's his email:
across.asia.travel.laos AT hotmail.com

my email, if you want to contact me, is:

quimbymoy7 AT yahoo.com

here's ekscrunchy's report:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35112908

and another thread about guides. includes LizS' link to her trip:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35110036

I hired Ta when I was in LP in March. He is fantastic!! Ta is very knowledgeable and pleasant to be with. I booked him for the Pak Ou caves. Ta arranged to stop at a small village along the Mekong. I got the chance to bring school supplies and visit with the kids. One of the highlights of my trip.
I would highly reccomend Ta.

Here's the bit I wrote about LP:

My LP guide, Dara, was waiting and in no time at all I arrived at La residence Phou Vao. The beautiful, relaxed atmosphere was exactly what I needed at that point. What I enjoyed most were the extensive landscaped gardens and the views. My room wasn’t ready so I had lunch while I was waiting. While I love this hotel, I really cannot say much about the restaurant. The quiche I had for lunch was runny, and the pork loin I had for dinner on another night was so tough I couldn’t chew it. Breakfast was ok. Once again laundry prices were outrageous, so Dara was kind enough to have mine done in the town for $3 rather than $40.

The next day was spent visiting the temples and getting a feeling for the lay of the land. It felt so nice to finally slow down. A stall lady asked if I would look at her things, and I declined. When she said ‘ok’ I was shocked! Gone was the nagging and the hassle factor. I could finally just wander around and look at things without having to be on guard. LP is a great walking town, La Residence provides a shuttle as it is too far to walk to the central area.

The night market is worth visiting for the various handicrafts on sale. Laotian embroidery is very geometric and is unlike anything I’ve seen elsewhere in SEA.I made the requisite climb to see the sunset from Mount Phousi, but made sure to come down before dark as I didn’t want a repeat of the hair raising trip down from Phnom Bakheng. The visit to Pak Ou caves was ok to while away an afternoon , and it was nice to be on the river, but I felt it was just ok.

Dara (like many of my guides in SEA) seemed to be deeply religious and was very passionate about all things Laotian. She spoke up a lot in an attempt to maintain things as they should be. We came upon a novice monk sitting alongside a young female tourist and this was when I saw Dara become very upset. She forgave most tourist slights (tank tops, short shorts in the temples), but she was particularly angry in this case because she said certain Asian tourists set out to sleep with monks as they believed this would make them pure.

I was quite shocked when I saw how many tourists behaved. When waiting to make merit during the morning procession of monks, some tourists began to eat the food they had brought to donate. During the procession one tourist spun one of the younger novices around to pose with him for a picture. Their guides were present but did nothing to correct the behavior. It saddens me to see what the tourists bring with them, but the money they bring is helping to dramatically improve the lives of the Laotian people.

We visited a couple of ‘villages’ but the commercialism made these stops rather disappointing. I was surprised that they weren’t as orderly as I expected. Highly interesting though, was a random stop we made at a rice field as Dara could see from the road that locals were threshing rice. The people were very boisterous, chanting and singing, and they had devised a game in that whoever made an error had to drink a measure of ‘fire water’. It is very hard, physical labor and they do everything possible to lighten the mood. I no longer take rice for granted, and have developed a lot of respect for what goes into the process of getting it to the table.

My favorite activity of all was the elephant ride put together by Tiger Trails. Their employee acted as my guide for the day, and I had the greatest time feeding the elephants after my ride. Because I was alone I could spend as long as I wanted with ‘my’ elephant, and the only male, a two year old called ‘Naughty Boy’. I was too late for their bath, but there is an onsite lodge for people who would like to spend more time with the elephants. When I told Dara later that I was a bit worried at the downhill part she said I had good reason. A few weeks before and elephant had stumbled on a rock in that area and the mahout and passenger had gone flying overhead!

We also paid a visit to Tad Saey waterfall which wasn‘t too far from the elephants. I thought it was very nice, but Kuang Sy waterfall was far more impressive. It was definitely better to see the smaller Tad Saey first, because although beautiful in its own way, it would have been a let down after seeing Kuang Sy. There were large cages by the entrance to Kuang Sy. I couldn’t find the tiger, but the bears looked pretty happy.


Author: Femi
Date: 12/31/2007, 09:47 pm
I had arranged with my travel company ahead of time to make a donation to whoever had the most need in any location on my trip, and they chose an orphanage on the outskirts of LP. There are a total of 327 children that live and attend school on site. They were split into classrooms according to their level of learning and so there was a broad range of ages in each class. There was even a toddler in one of the more advanced classes, the teacher’s daughter was being baby-sat in the front row.

The headmistress said it was best if I went around and handed out the exercise books, pencils and pens that had been purchased so that the children could see who had made the donation. I hadn’t planned on this, and it was rather nerve-wracking to come up with a speech right there and then, but Dara helped improvise. I had also brought some crafts and toys with me, but Dara said that as I had not brought enough for everyone it was better to give those away at another location.

It was definitely humbling to see how polite the kids were considering their circumstances. I was also very impressed to see the advanced levels of chemistry, math (calculus and trig.) and other subjects that they were learning about.

Although I booked almost a year in advance La Residence was sold out for my fourth night in LP, so I moved over to Maison Souvannaphoum. Gpanda’s description is pretty accurate, and I can’t remember now, but I think I did brush my teeth with the tap water. I think the only place I used bottled water was in Sapa because of the posted warnings, and in Bac Ha because…, well you can pretty much guess why.

The Maison also had nice gardens on a smaller scale, and I had a pretty good water buffalo burger at the there. I felt quite guilty about this considering how attached I’d become to water buffalo. While the Maison Souvannaphoum was nice, and it had the advantage of being within walking distance to the town, I preferred the ambience of La Residence, and I assume the prices are commensurate. Also there was more traffic noise (both pedestrian and motorized) at the Maison because of the proximity to the town.

I think four nights was just about right for this tour, although I do wonder if there are more activities within range of LP that I am not aware of as I wouldn’t mind a return visit.

I'll be the dissenter about hiring a guide in LP, just so you get a variety of viewpoints.

We spent a week in LP, loved wandering the streets, visiting wats, including those off the tourist track. We enjoyed the markets and loved going to the weavving co-op outside of town. We did hire a driver for one day. He took us to the two waterfalls, to the weaving co-op and, since we were there during Hmong New Year. to a nearby Hmong village to see some of the celebration. We also hired a boat to take us to the Pak Ou caves.

For me, experiencing LP was about the slowing down, the quiet, the falling into the pace of the life there. For me, having a guide would have spoiled that part.

So read people's descriptions and see what fits your travel style.

Thanks everyone.
Heard from Luang Say Lodge and it's 8 hours up and 8 hours back -- so that's just too much boat time -- but they respond quickly to questions. I think it would be interesting to do this trip from Chiang Rai area then continue south. I always want more time (who doesn't ??)
Wrote to Ta -- quimb -- sounds like you're using him right before we would be there and reserved awhile ago -- he may already be booked :( I think re: Kathie's slowing down thoughts, I'd just want a guide/driver for one day anyway -- mr jenskar and I like wandering around on our own discovering things.
Thanks for links to trip reports. It sounds like getting out for a day to the waterfalls/weaving coop (found that web site too) and a half day up river via boat will work for us. I am very much looking forward to just wandering around the town and having some quiet buddhist moments.

I was in Laos in February. After 4 nights in L.P we took a small boat which took us to Pak Ou caves then to an over night tented camp - very exciting. The tents were fixed and had proper beds, clean linen and a basic toilet and shower. Food was cooked at the camp and was very tasty. We were taken to a nearby village where we saw local life and the school.

The following morning we were collected at 10am by the Luangsay cruise boat (which had left L.P earlier that morning)and travelled along the Mekong to Luangsay Lodge -arriving approx 4.30pm. The lodge was very comfortable set on the hillside overlooking the river. A wooden walkway leads to the individual chalets - all with river views.

I would have liked to have spent a full day here relaxing but the next morning we left at 7.30am on the Luangsay cruise boat which took us to the Thai/Laos border were we were collected and transfered to the Ananatra in Thailand Golden Triangle.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34762799

Here's the link to my trip report. I haven't posted it in awhile because it's getting a bit old, but most of it should still be relevant. We loved LP, and agree with Kathie that a guide there is not at all necessary.

I stayed at a beautiful place called Chan-a-Mar a few years ago. It's north of Luang Prabang. I stayed there 2 nights, but you could also go for a day trip.

You can read all about the Green Heart Foundation, the owner's family, and their accomodations here:

http://www.greenheartfoundation.org/about.html

The owner is known as an expert on the textiles of Laos and Bhutan.

http://www.bhutantextiles.com/

This would be a good choice if you're looking for an interesting and meaningful off the beaten track experience.

mealea,
thanks for that link. it sounds really interesting! perhaps i need to revise my itinerary ;-)