Casey Space

After talking to a few well-travelled people about their favorite places, Laos came up every time. The town of LuangPrabang was always mentioned specifically. So, of course, we had to go. We had a week off for Tet, a big holiday in Vietnam celebrating the lunar new year.

We had never heard of LuangPrabang before, and didn’t realize Laos was such a popular travel destination. It is situated in the center of Laos, between the Mikong River and Nam Khan River, and surrounded by mountains. It was the home of the King of Laos before he was exiled in 1975.

The overall vibe of the city is chill, peaceful and ancient. The city center is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Mikong River Trip

The Mikong River has been used for centuries to transport people, goods, supplies, and ideas to and from Thailand and China to Laos. These days, you can still book a trip to Thailand, but mostly they offer short trips and dinner cruises to tourists.

Our destination was the Pak Ou Caves, a 2 hour boat ride up the river. The caves are filled with a collection of Buddha statues that started in the 17th century and continues to grow today as anyone can donate a new statue to the cave. My favorites were the teeny tiny Buddhas placed in every nook and cranny available. During Laos New Year, in April, volunteers bring down every single statue to wash it and then all are put back.

Monk Attractions

Though Laos has monks and temples everywhere, LuangPrabang is a favorite destination for mostly Thai tourists to give alms. Hundreds of tourists line the street before dawn, sitting on tiny stools with provided rice and snacks they purchased from a local vendor.

The orange-robed monks walk out of the temple barefoot with big canvas bags. There is way more food than they could possibly consume. They offload their full bags into provided bins along the road, to be taken back to the temple, or given to those in need in the community.

Many of the monks are boys who left their family that could not provide for them with the hope for education and the ability to provide for their family when they get old. Many of the men I asked how they learned English told me they learned it in a monastery as boys.

When we were flying out of LuangPrabang, there were a couple of monks on our flight. I enjoyed watching many of the workers come for blessings, and then leave with a little pep in their step. You can also see how monks play into boarding priority for the airplane.

Temples

This town is full of gorgeous temples. Every street seems to have some kind of ornate building for prayer and meditation.

Baci Ceremony

This whole trip was booked with a travel agent in Hanoi, so many of the events and attractions were kind of a surprise to us. We read the itinerary before confirming and paying for the trip, but did not do in depth research about anything.

The biggest surprise was the Baci Ceremony. I thought we were going to some kind of show put on by the locals to exhibit some kind of traditional ritual for tourists to watch. These kind of events generally make me feel conflicted because I am travelling to be exposed to different cultures, but it also feels weird to see locals do something everyday for tourists that is usually reserved for special occasions. I wonder if it diminishes the ceremony when they do it for real for themselves.

Turns out, the Baci Ceremony was happening in someone’s home, and it was just for me and Josh. This of course made me anxious, having a family to put on a big to do just for us, foreign strangers briefly visiting the country.

Our tour guide assured me the ceremony can be conducted to welcome guests and that’s what we are so it is totally appropriate to have this ceremony for us. He also gave me a heads-up that we would be expected to sit on the floor, eat some snacks and take a shot of moonshine rice wine with the shaman. I informed the tour guide that I cannot drink alcohol and made triple-sure that was going to be ok for the ceremony and the hosts, and made him promise to tell them in advance so I wouldn’t appear rude when I refused their offer.

I still think it is a little cringe for us to have taken part in the ceremony, not knowing what anyone was chanting, not knowing about the spirits nor the true purpose of the ceremony. Also, I’m sure we paid them to bless us which is also a little weird. However, Josh and I absolutely loved taking part in the experience. We enjoyed being inside a typical home, sitting on some rugs, watching 4 generations interact with each other.

We each have 5 white strings tied on each wrist, which we were told traditionally should stay on for a month but we could remove them after 3 days. Both Josh and I were like, we are not messing with blessings, so we are keeping them on for a month. However, one of mine fell off in the shower but I tied it to my backpack to keep the mojo. (And, to be honest, I still have a red/yellow string from my yoga teacher training, plus a red string and yellow string from a Buddhist monk at a temple, so right now I am sporting 12 bracelets. #BeBlessed)

Waterfalls

There are a few waterfall attractions, and we only went to one, Kuangsi Waterfall. The natural beauty of this site looked manmade it was so perfect. Each level of the waterfall on its own would be worth going to see, but we just kept walking up the trail to another opening of gorgeousness.

This relaxing setting is also a conservation area for the Asian Black bear. We stood and watched them for about 20 minutes. These poor creatures are almost extinct because of poaching and extraction of “Black Bear bile” which some Asians believe works like Viagra. We think they put the bears in this high traffic area to change people’s ideas about how the bears should live.

Elephant Conservation Center

A 2.5 hour drive from LuangPrabang brings you to the Elephant Conservation Center, a large land area for domesticated Asian Elephants. These elephants used to work in the logging industry, but for one reason or another, found themselves at the center.

A couple of times a day, the mahouts (handlers) lead the elephants to certain areas for us tourists to see them. We got to hear all about the drama between elephants such as an illegitimate pregnancy between a domesticated female elephant and wild male elephant, how one elephant kicked another elephant’s baby, so a couple of days later, the mother tried to drown her in the pond…wild stuff.

The rest of the day without tourists leave the elephants time to socialize and forage for food.

The mahouts were almost as interesting to me as the elephants. As long as people have used elephants for work and war, there have been mahouts. Each elephant has her own mahout, and some naughty elephants have 2 mahouts. Not just at the center, but everywhere there is a domesticated elephant. Some mahouts are impatient and aggressive, and others, the kind the center wants, are gentle and use positive reinforcement. They also seem to be very good at Bocci Ball.

At the center, we got to stay the night in provided accommodations. Most people stayed in bungalows, but Josh and I somehow got a little house with en suite bathroom and a front porch. Very nice. I would have stayed there for days even if there weren’t elephants around.

Worth the Hype

I absolutely loved spending a week in LuangPrabang. Partially because of the old charm of the town, but also because of the quiet serenity it provides as a contrast to the noisy chaos of Hanoi.

For decades, Laos has been isolated from the world, but has slowly opened up to visitors. There were times when our tour guide, who is my dad’s age, would say he didn’t know the answer to our questions or he didn’t remember what it was like before or immediately after the government changed from a monarchy to communism, but what he really meant was he couldn’t talk about it. He would make reference to government repression, but never say anything directly.

Being in LuangPrabang felt so peaceful, and it feels like Laotians just want peace, and of course to be able to provide for themselves and their family.