Elizabeth_S

We spent 4 nights in Luang Prabang in late January as part of 3 months in SE Asia/NZ and OZ - following is a "just the facts" trip report - i.e. hotels/restaurants/sights - and a link to our blog which has lots of photos and commentary.

(Note - I refer to it as "Lao" without the "s" as apparently the French added the "s" and the present day preferred name is "Lao" - also, the people preferred to be called "Lao" not "Laotian" - who knew?)

Air Travel

We traveled in and out of Bangkok to Luang Prabang (and to Siem Reap) using the Bangkok Air Discovery Pass - it was a great deal for our itinerary.

Hotel

I think I looked at every hotel in Luang Prabang - twice! The more expensive ones (Maison S, Residence Phou Vao et al) got knocked out due to price - we were away for 3 months and my budget was under $100USD per night on average.

I finally chose The Apsara - and we were so happy with the hotel....beautiful room and great location and $85/night including continental breakfast.

http://www.theapsara.com/index.html

Restaurants

We LOVED the food in Luang Prabang - a wonderful mix of french and asian but not simply "fusion".....our favourite restaurants were

- 3 Nagas - on the "main street"
- Cafe Toui - 1/2 block off the main street
- a restaurant on the river - for the life of us we couldn't find a name but there are pictures on our blog

Other restaurants on our list we didn't go to:

- L'Elephant and other french cuisine - we intended to go the the french influenced restaurants but loved the Lao cuisine so much we thought "we can have french cuisine anywhere - let's have Lao".

Sights

- we walked and walked all around Luang Prabang - be sure to go to the older part of town as well............the temples are beautiful
- we didn't take the cruise to the caves for a variety of reasons but we did take a ride on an elephant - which was GREAT fun. Found a great guide for that day - his contact information is as follows

Khamta (Ta) Keovongsy

[email protected]

And for the first time we shopped! Neither of us are shoppers but the silk scarves and garments are beautiful.....also found some furniture that we might have Ta ship to us now we're home.

Summary

When I was first planning our trip to SE Asia, Lao wasn't on the list - but I read about here and became fascinated by it......and added it to our itinerary. Then we spent about a month answering the following question:

"Lao? Why are you going to Lao?"

It was hard to answer that question before, but now it's easy. We fell hard for Luang Prabang and Lao - beautiful scenery, wonderful cuisine, but - most importantly - lovely people who are very welcoming.

As others on this board have experienced with Cambodia - we felt very connected to Luang Prabang and plan to lend support to a school we visited.

Here's a link to our blog

http://lizandrichardsa.typepad.com/2...ang/index.html

Happy to answer any questions

cruisinred

Thanks for sharing your blog. I really enjoyed your photos and comments (and canuck perspective).

Where to next year?

Elizabeth_S

cruisinred:

Thanks for your comments - re next year. A mere 48 hours after we touched down in Toronto from 3 months away I started booking next year!

Next year is a return to Europe, with a side trip to the Middle East. This year was the 3rd year we left Toronto for the winter - year 1 was Rome for 2 months; last year was South America for 10 week and this year was SE Asia/NZ/OZ for 3 months.

Next year we plan to spend about 6 or 7 weeks in Barcelona, then drive to Alhambra and other points in Spain.....and then fly to Cairo for tour Egypt for approx 2 weeks ....and I'm also hoping to go to Petra in Jordan at that time. A few more things from the life list!

Any experiences would be appreciated!

rhkkmk

great report and pictures...

i have forwarded them on the GWB for his review...

jenskar

Elizabeth -- thanks for posting all the great pictures -- especially enjoyed all the nagas.

watakeet

great pics! and we love luang prabang too. will be paying a longer visit next time.

just a note - we stayed at maison s. your pics in the blog are actually the massage parlour. we nearly had a massage there as we've never tried this spa group. but with the noise of the outside construction work and heat, we found it disheartening.

GillandTony

Loved your photos.

Yes, we can confirm that is the spa by the lotus pond at the Maison Souvannaphoum --not a room.

The food--such memories. Did you try the cookery school? That was the best food for us--a banquet.

Loved the description of the elephant ride.

Wish we were back in Luang Prabang.

Best wishes,

Gill & Tony.

Elizabeth_S

Well - I'm certainly relieved those aren't rooms - I guess we had a bit of a language breakdown when we spoke to someone at the hotel!!!!

eurotraveller

Thanks for the mini report! It just made me realize I never did post the rest of my trip report!

I left my heart in Lao! I am now involved in a grassroots fundraising organization to assist villages in Laos and Cambodia.

www.villagefocus.org helps build schools and birthing centers, drill wells and teach sustainable living for villagers. I love this organization and I am currently working on a brain child fundraising idea the they are backing!

I hope to be back in Lao in December to visit my remote village.