The prettiest city in Asia
Luang Prabang is just that. It’s hardly even a city – just a rural town really, and not a large one at that, but it’s peaceful, attractive, and has much to offer. The entire town has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site, which is fabulous as it not only protects the existing treasures but prevents construction of new/ugly buildings, especially important as this town’s tourist profile has soared through the roof in recent years.
Anyway, Luang Prabang is sort of two towns in one. The first is as the religious heart of the Laos, with countless historic Buddhist monasteries, including the country’s finest, dotted around town and monks walking the streets at all hours of the day. The second is as the prettiest colonial city in Asia, with nearly all buildings in the centre of town dating from the French colonial period a hundred years ago. Away from the main streets, there are numerous little alleyways containing beautiful old houses (many of them now guesthouses) and delightful little gardens. What’s also remarkable is just how small it is: you can look out from the peninsula that is the heart of the city over the two rivers that converge here, and just on the other side of either river you see crop fields and jungle.
It’s a pretty touristy place now (Ted says it was ‘too far gone’ when he visited three years ago), but I don’t think it detracts too much – there’s no new construction and the tourist restaurants / internet cafes / travel agencies etc are pretty much limited to one street.
Outside of our city exploration, yesterday afternoon we rode by tuk-tuk to some nearby waterfalls and climbed among the cascades, and this morning we went to see a cave on the Mekong containing hundreds of little Buddha statues – both were interesting and worthwhile excursions. We’ve also been extremely lucky to have three gloriously sunny days in a row. Strangely, each day has begun completely overcast, but by about 10am every single cloud has disappeared and none are seen again for the rest of the day.
We’re going to spend one more day here tomorrow (and thus one more night at the 50 cent street buffet), visiting the last major monastery in town that we haven’t seen yet, and also perhaps taking a short boat trip across the Mekong to see the view of the city and its Buddhist stupas in the late afternoon.
Tags: Asia, Laos, Luang Prabang, Southeast Asia, Travel, waterfall
Nick