There are lots of places to eat along the river as well so we stopped for one of my favourite treats, spring rolls, these were made of bamboo and quite crispy!
Enjoying the view...
Since the town is located in a valley it is also surrounded by many hills so it is a lovely setting everywhere we looked...
Laos has a strong French influence since it was ruled by France on and off since the 1700s before it was declared an independent country. The influences can be seen everywhere even in the schools which are bilingual, Lao and French.
Also in the architecture...
And lots of French cafes...
Every little alleyway and street demanded a picture...
This is the Main Street...
So It is easy to see why this is one of the most visited towns in Lao and has a fair number of expats living and working here mostly in the tourist industry. However it stills retains the Lao culture with lots of places for tourists to eat, stay and visit.
Lao is a Communist country but still has a king, the Lao and Communist flags fly side by side...
The Royal Palace...
The throne room...
In order to get a good view we climbed up the mountain in the Center of town...
It was hazy as is a lot of places in SE Asia because of the burning of the forests, here they call it "Burmese Fog".
We had a nice guesthouse owned by an American and his Lao wife and it was well located near the Center of town..
It was right by the Morning market, though it was noisy early when right outside our windows they start to cut up the meat to sell in the market. People here start early and work hard for very little.
The produce here is unbelievably fresh...
They even sell puppies....
This lady was getting her soup ready to sell...
There is also a Night Market every night which is one of the largest we seen thus far on our travels and is filled with goods for tourists not the locals...
So many beatiful textiles...
We did try the food at the market which was served buffet style, fill up your bowl for 2 dollars. We didn't really know everything we were eating, but some of it tasted good!
We also went out for Lao BBQ with our new friends that we had met on the boat. They open up a hole in the table and put in a bucket with charcoal...
Then a metal container is put on top, filled with broth for the veggies and chillies to cook and the strips of meat are grilled on top. All of this is then eaten in a bowl like a soup, it was very flavourful and enjoyed by all!
Here in Luang Prabang we walked, stopped, ate, drank and generally relaxed but we did take the opportunity to visit the OXO Visitor's Center which outlines one of the greatest challenges that Laos faces and that is how the unexploded bombs that were dropped in the Vietnam war are dealt with.
Many of us may not know that Laos per capita is the most heavily bombed country in the world and it was never officially in the war! The US government bombed this country in secret for years as it tried to stop the Vietnamese from using the Ho Chi Minh Trail. It also indiscriminately unloaded excess bombs over the countryside before returning to base! Now up to 30% of these cluster bombs lie in the fields of Laos still waiting to explode!
The cluster bombs were filled with what the Laos people called bombies, small bombs that were inside the larger bomb, up to 400 that scattered over a wide area as the larger bombs opened. These small bombies are different shapes and are now buried in the ground all over the country.
Small children pick them up thinking they are toys, farmers strike them when they are digging in their fields or they explode when villagers light fires on the ground. The results are devastating and lead to death or life changing injuries!
This UN supported organization funded by the Austrailan government with help from others works with Lao Nationals to find and clear the fields so life can return to normal for the people of Laos, though even after years of work only a fraction of the land has been cleared. This is such a sad and disturbing story!
My final day here was spent inside as I dealt with my first bout of gastro on this trip...don't know what caused it, might have been the 2 for 1 Lao cocktails I shared with Sarah called " tomorrow never comes" or the wild buffalo meat or just my body saying you need to slow down and rebalance your system! Unfortunately that meant we never got out of town to see the many wonderful waterfalls, I didn't get my earrings at the Night Market or my Spainish tapas we were going to try on our last night, but I had a good rest! And Don had a day to explore the town on his own which I think he very much appreciated some solo time, so all is good!
Luang Prabang was one of our favourite places so far in all of our trip and we were happy to have spent four days here and could have been longer for sure, but the next day means we are moving on to the capital of Laos, the city of Vietiane. Laos is a big country with poor infrastructure so we are not looking forward to the 12 hour bus trip.
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