St Patricks Day in Luang Prabang, Laos

I had probably one of the most hilarious St Patricks day experiences while staying in Luang Prabang, Laos. 

After doing my thang during the day, wandering about and visiting a bunch of wats as per usual, I was invited to go watch a movie at one of the bookstores. 

We watched 'Her', which is slightly strange (the main character falls in live with his operating system) but still really well done. It was slightly surreal to be watching it in a room full of foreigners, but strangely enjoyable. 

I then went to Utopia bar with some people. Thank goodness I followed them, I would never have been able to find it otherwise! It's kind of snuck in some back alleyway, but is the 'hip' place to be. Understandably - it has a super cool and laid back atmosphere, and was blasting the Irish beats and playing some 'footy' on the 'telly' so everyone was into it. 

Laos has a sneaky country-wide curfew, however, which is enforced in Luang Prabang in particular since it is a heritage site protected by UNESCO and they don't want a bunch of backpackers partying to all hours of the night. 

Except for the bowling alley, which is the only place open near town that sells alcohol after the bars and restaurants close at 11pm. 

I was half expecting Utopia to stay open since it was PACKED full of people for St Pattys day, but they closed up shop as per usual, so I headed off to the bowling alley in the caravan of tuktuks. 

Turns out the bowling alley is just a bowling alley. It's not code word for 'dance club'. 

Also, turns out I'm an awful bowler. 

It was all in good fun, however, and the large crowd made the best of it. I have to admit that I've never quite celebrated St Pattys day in a Laotian bowling alley, but it was a hilariously good time. Although, I definitely paid for the late night the following day on my minivan ride to Phonsavahn. 

Yet, how do you say it, yolo?

You only live once, my friends ;) no regrets!

Luang Prabang, Laos

The first thing that someone told me as soon as I checked into my hostel in Luang Prabang was that the food here is amazing. 

I have to admit, it definitely did not disappoint! 

Luang Prabang Cuisine 

I had my fill of the amazing baguette sandwiches that make up a large amount of the street food here. 

They have this amazing spicy and sweet pork inside. 

Which is obvi made a hundred times more enjoyable when eaten along the banks of the Mekong River ;)

There was a ton of Laos BBQ as well. I tried some of the chicken-a-stick, not really knowing what to expect, and it had the most delicious marinade. 

So good! 

I also discovered a street just off from the night market where there are vegan buffet stalls set up and you can pile your plate as full as you can for 10,000 kip ($1.25). So good! 

I obviously went there every night. How can you refuse a $1.25 meal?!

I've actually noticed that Laos is a bit more expensive than Thailand, so every dollar saved is fine by me ;)

Hmong Night Market

There was also an awesome Hmong night market every night. It was the most enjoyable night market experience that I've had so far. There weren't quite as many people, so walking through the aisles was much less crowded, and the prices were pretty decent for the unique pieces being sold. 

There was obviously the usual touristy wares, but also a lot of unique things that I haven't seen yet, super refreshing! 

Big Brother Mouse

A really cool couple that I met on the slow boat, who are from New Zealand ('kind of like Canada, only better'), told me about Big Brother Mouse. 

It is a local Laotian organization started by a novice monk who wanted to change the norm that 'people in Laos don't read'. 

He started the initiative by publishing children's books that could be dispersed in the more remote villages, and has now published dozens of them for primary school children in Lao all the way up to university level in both Lao and English. 

They have an office in Luang Prabang where they invite English-speaking tourists to stop by and chat with locals in order to improve their spoken English. 

I had a great time chatting with a few guys who want to improve their English so that they can work in hospitality, and then was kind of guilted into doing someone's homework for them. 

Why don't you do it yourself? 'I don't have time' why don't you make time? 'I don't know if I can explain. Your life and my life, very different. I work with my parents on the farm all day and just had time to go home and change and come here. This is due tomorrow' Okay fineeee 

He felt bad about it, but by the end he asked me to tell all my travel buddies to come. 'We need to practice English so bad, we need more people like you to come help us'. So there you go. At least I had helped a little bit. 

Giving of the Alms to Local Monks

I never managed to get up in time, but there is also the giving of the alms ceremony every morning at 6am where the monks walk around and ask for food from shop owners. 

It's a bit of a shame since it has become quite the tourist attraction here in particular, although it happens in every place where there are temples. Which is everywhere.  

I was told that you should buy rice beforehand at the market and not from the hawkers in the morning, and to only give out offerings if you feel like it comes from a genuine place. 

Otherwise, it is fine to hang back and snap a few pics respectfully. 

I heard that some (okay, many) tourists were slightly disrespectful and only gave out rice purchased on the spot for a photo shoot, and would get right up in the monks' faces with huge flashes to get a picture. 

Pas cool, guys. 

I will hopefully get my act together one of these days to see it first hand, but I will most likely just hang back since I'm not Buddhist and feel like a bit of an imposter otherwise. 

Spicy Lao Backpackers Hostel

Last, but certainly not least, was my hostel experience in Luang Prabang at Spicy Lao, strangely also called Lemon Lao. 

It was a love-hate relationship. 

I loved the true backpacker atmosphere there, everyone hanging around the electronic charging station or the tables in the front yard. I met some pretty awesome people there, so that definitely made the experience worth it for me. 

I did not appreciate, however, the fact that there were no window panes in the dorms, and only a curtain over the doorway, so it was the loudest place I've ever stayed. Listening to people 'jam' til 4am gets a bit tiresome after a while. 

Oh, and it would be nice to have a functioning fan when it is deathly hot on the top bunk, which was so high it was like climbing down a mountain every morning. 

And the showers could definitely be washed a few thousand times more than they are. It's just wonderful when you come out of a shower smelling more like cabbage than you did before. Le vomit. 

Anywho, enough of my rant. I probs should have just changed to another guesthouse, but I just...didn't. Lesson learned: sleep IS important! 

Overall, I had a wonderful time in Luang Prabang and could have spent a lot more time there, but it was time to keep movin' on.

A la prochaine, belle ville sur le Mekong :)

Temples in Luang Prabang, Laos

I have to admit, I was a bit thrown off when I first arrived in Luang Prabang. 

I had heard that it is the second largest city in Laos, so I was expecting it to be a big and bustling city similar to those in Thailand. 

I was wrong. 

It is a quaint little town, with the old part of the city - protected as a heritage site by UNESCO - that juts out as a pinnacle bordered by the Mekong River on both of its two flanks. 

There are a surprising amount of temples, considering the size of the city. 

I wandered into quite a few of them, and actually ended up having a really nice long chat with some novice monks at one of them. 

I generally keep a respectable distance from monks, especially since women are not allowed to touch them. 

They were all grouped under a tree and doing homework since it was the weekend and one of them called out to me and said hello, so I went over to chat. 

'You have anywhere to be?' Um, no. 'Please, sit with us'. 

It was really nice to chat with them, I told them about Canadian living and they told me about themselves and what they were studying. 

One of them was sketching their friend, but when I looked over a bit later he was sketching me. So cute! All of a sudden, he added a Beer Lao bottle to the picture. 

Hey, this is water, not beer! 'But you like Beer Lao, no?' Okay fineee. 

One of the novice monks that I was chatting with lived at this temple and told me it was the most beautiful wat in all of Luang Prabang.

Obviously I had to check it out for myself ;) 

It was preserved in 2008, so the detailing is spectacular on the various pagodas and temples on the premises. 

There was even a huge carriage kept in one of the temples, with impressive dragon figures on the front. 

Wat Pa Houek

'You have not truly been to Luang Prabang unless you have been to Wat Pa Houek, I think'. 

Good advice from the novices, yet again! 

It is located at the top of a hill in the middle of the old city, with 310 steps leading upwards. 

It was supposed to be the best place to see the sunset, so I made my way there at around 5 to beat the crowds. It got pretty busy, but the funniest part was that the sun actually disappeared (no joke) behind the misty smoke before it even set behind the mountains. 

Most underwhelming sunset ever!

It was a really nice view of the city, however, and turns out it is much bigger than I thought. 

Royal Museum and Pha Bang Buddha Statue 

The previously-used royal palace is now open as a museum of Lao artwork. It has a magnificent throne room, with walls covered in intricate scenes of Lao history made entirely of shiny Japanese glass. 

You aren't allowed to take any pictures inside. I know this since I tried to sneak some and thought I had gotten away with it when a lady came up to me and said, very firmly, 'you delete now' and then proceeded to watch me as I deleted them. Sad face. 

Anywho, I found it very interesting. There are some great art pieces, you can see the king and queen's old bedrooms, which are very stark and whitewashed but were supposedly very avant garde one hundred years ago. 

The temple in the same enclosure holds the most sacred image of Buddha in Laos - Pha Bang, for which the city of Luang Prabang was named after. It is a small Buddha statue made of solid gold. The temple is blocked off and only the king and high Laotian dignitaries are allowed inside on special occasions. 

You can see all of these sights in one day if you want, since everything is walking distance. Just remember that entrance fees will be 20,000 kip each ($2.50).