Luang Prabang & the Mekong River

Our destination after Chiang Mai was Laos. We headed north on a bus for about seven hours (stopping to see the White Temple) to the border town of Chiang Khong on the Mekong River. We stayed in a nice hostel run by a very energetic Thai man. The next day his sister would help us get into Laos.

There was no bridge into Laos. We had to cross the border in this boat.

USD $35 and 45 minutes after landing in Laos, we had our visas processed and were ready to see more of SE Asia's least developed nation. Our next destination was Luang Prabang, Laos' second largest city with a long imperial history. To get there we took a slow boat down the Mekong River (a two day journey).

Four 'slow boats' docked on the Mekong. These boats are much faster than their name suggests.

The Mekong

I think we met more Americans on the boat to Luang Prabang than in Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore combined.

A Lao village on the Mekong

LUANG PRABANG

We arrived in LP in the evening, along with seven other slow boats (about 35 people per boat). Finding a hostel to stay the night took most of our energy.

Sunset behind a wat

Laos is a very traditional culture that has only recently become a tourist destination. This has created somewhat of a clash between traditional and tourist culture. In Luang Prabang there is a curfew enforced at midnight to ensure the buddhist monks will be well rested for receiving alms at 6 am.

A friendly reminder of the laws in Laos

Tourists, please refrain from blinding the monks by exposing your pasty white skin

Luang Prabang was a beautiful city. Modern Laos was created when the French merged three kingdoms, one of which had its imperial capital in Luang Prabang. During the colonial era, LP was an important city in French Indochina. Most of the architecture in the city reflects these two periods. No modern towers spoil the views in this city.

A Lao wat

Typical buildings in LP

A building in the national museum complex of Luang Prabang