Luang Prabang is a world heritage site and it is situated in the northern part of Laos. Luang Prabang is the best place to get the influence of Laos culture. I booked a day tour to PaK ou caves, elephant village and Kuang Si waterfall from my hostel at Luang Prabang. Our day tour started at around 9 am. After a 2 hour bus ride we visited a small Laos village. It was a great place to buy lots of hand made souvenir from Laos and also to try animal whiskey. Snake and lizard whiskey are very famous in Laos where they put whole snake or lizard inside the whiskey bottle.
After a brief stop at the village we reached the pier. We did a 1 hour long boat ride along the Mekong river in order to reach our next stop Pak Ou caves. The caves shelters historic and culture values of Laos. There are thousand Buddha sculptures inside the cave. The size of the sculptures ranges from few centimeter to human height tall. You need to climb lot of stairs inside the cave in order to see all the places.
After the visit to Pak Ou caves we ride the boat to visit elephant village in Laos. The elephant village was a huge resort and they also provide elephant riding. Laos is famous all over the world for its elephants. The elephant riding lasted over 1 hour and we went over different types of terrain including forest, grass land and swampy area. We had our lunch at the elephant village before moving on to the Kuang Si waterfall.
Kuangsi waterfall is around 30 km from Luang Prabang. There was lots of food stalls selling barbecue meat near the waterfall. The waterfall was very scenic and it was a very large. There are different sections of the waterfall and you can also hike to the top of the waterfall but this hike is only recommended during good dry season. Some sections of the waterfall is restricted for swimming. Overall it was a great day trip and we covered lots of places. I would advise not to book any day tours in advance. You should always book the tours from your hostels or hotels.
During my 2nd day at Luang Prabang I decided to explore the small town. The town is very small and most of the tourist places are located close to each other. You can explore the place by walking or by bicycle. The main tourist attraction is the Sisavangvong road. The road is around 2km long and all the major tourist attraction is situated here. There are lots of museum and Buddhist temple along this road.
Royal palace was built in the early 20th century during the colonial era of France. The palace is located very close to the Mekong river in order to facilitate easy transport for the king. The palace is turned into a local history museum.
There were lot of other Buddhist temple on the main road of Luang Prabang. You can visit Wat Xiengthong, Wat Sene, Haw Pha bang, Wat mai and other museum or pagodas.
The last stop for the day was the trip to mount Phousi. The mountain was located at the centre of luang prabang town. It was only a 100m high mountain and it takes around 30-minutes hike to reach to the top of the mountain. The place is very crowded during the sunset time but the view from the top was worth all the hype. Alternatively, you can also visit the place during the sunrise time. Wat Chom Si Buddhist temple is situated on the top of the mount Phousi.
I visited the night market after the trip to mount Phousi. The night market usually starts around 7 pm at Sisavangvong road. You can purchase lots of homemade souvenir from the night market. It’s a great place to try local Laos street food.
Laos was a great country for a week-long tour. I loved Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang. Laos people were very friendly and the country is very affordable to travel around. Laos is still a underdeveloped country with bad infrastructure. I hope tourism will bring enough revenues for Laos so that the lives of people can be improved.
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