Luang Prabang: the small Lao town on the Mekong

It’s 5:51 a.m. and a line of saffron-robed monks is walking, single-file and silently, down the main street of Luang Prabang on the morning tak bat — the alms procession. A handful of locals are kneeling on small mats by the side of the road, putting sticky rice and bananas into the monks’ bowls. The morning is cool and slightly misty over the Mekong. The Wat Xieng Thong temple at the head of the peninsula is just starting to catch the first light. There are perhaps a dozen visitors watching, quietly, from a respectful distance. By 6:30, the procession is over and the monks are back in their temples. The town goes back to making coffee.

Why I keep coming back

Luang Prabang was the royal capital of the Lan Xang kingdom for six centuries and then the seat of a French Protectorate. The combination produced a small town of about 50,000 with 33 working Buddhist monasteries, 700 surviving wooden colonial-era buildings, and a setting at the confluence of the Mekong and the Nam Khan rivers that is one of the most beautiful in Southeast Asia. It became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1995, and the listing has, with some pressure, mostly preserved the architecture.

The town is also the gateway to the slow boat down the Mekong to the Thai border and to the smaller villages of northern Laos.

Where to base yourself

The peninsula, between the two rivers, anywhere. The town is small enough that it doesn’t really matter which street.

Heritage boutique hotels — the small French-colonial-era restored hotels are where to stay if budget permits. Maison Souvannaphoum, 3 Nagas, Satri House.

Guesthouses are clean and cheap if budget is tighter.

What to actually do

Witness the alms procession respectfully. The monks walk every morning between roughly 5:30 and 6:30 a.m. Tourist presence has, in recent years, become a problem; some monasteries have stopped processing on busy days. The rules: do not stand in the monks’ path. Do not photograph with flash. Do not engage the monks in eye contact or conversation. If you want to participate, buy sticky rice from a local seller (not the cynical tourist-rate vendors at the main streets) and kneel quietly. If you only want to watch, watch from the opposite side of the street, sitting, silent.

Climb Mount Phou Si at sunset. A 328-step climb to a small hilltop temple in the centre of the peninsula. The view over the rivers and the town is the postcard. Crowded at sunset; nicer at sunrise.

Visit Wat Xieng Thong. The 16th-century royal temple at the head of the peninsula; the most beautiful single building in the town. The mosaics, the gilded reliefs, the carved doors.

Take a boat to the Pak Ou caves. Two hours up the Mekong by long-tail boat. The caves contain hundreds of small Buddha statues, accumulated over centuries by pilgrims. A half-day trip.

Visit Kuang Si waterfall. 30 km south, a series of turquoise tiered pools and a 50-metre main fall. Swimming allowed in some of the lower pools. Half a day.

Visit the night market. Sissavangvong Road, every evening from 5 to 10 p.m. Hmong textiles, lacquerware, lao-lao rice spirits. The food alley behind the market has the cheapest meals in town.

Take the slow boat down the Mekong. A two-day journey from Luang Prabang to the Thai border at Huay Xai. The slow boats stop overnight in Pak Beng. Touristy on the standard route but a memorable journey.

Where to eat

Lao food is similar to northern Thai but with more sticky rice, more bitter herbs, and the fermented fish sauce (padaek) replacing nam pla.

Manda de Laos — Modern Lao in a garden setting; the or lam (slow-stewed stew with sticky-rice-flour thickener) is the signature. Tamarind — A long-running Lao cuisine restaurant with tasting menus; book. Khaiphaen — A training restaurant for at-risk Lao youth; the khao soi Luang Prabang (different from the Thai version, the Lao kind has fermented soybean) is the local soup. The buffet alley at the night market — 15,000 kip (about US$1) for an all-you-can-pile plate; the broken-rice ramen broth is excellent and cheap. Saffron Coffee — The French-Lao patisserie heritage; the croissant and Lao coffee combination. L’Elephant — French-Lao fusion in a colonial building; the special-occasion option.

When to come

November through February is the cool, dry season — pleasant days and cool nights.

March and April are the burning season in northern Laos and Thailand; air quality is unhealthy. Avoid.

May through September is the rainy season; less crowded, more lush, occasional river-level disruptions on boat trips.

Lao New Year (Pi Mai, mid-April) is the biggest festival; water fights in the streets, three days of national holiday. Accommodation books months ahead.

Practical notes

• Visa: Most Western passports get a 30-day visa-on-arrival or e-visa.
• Money: Laotian kip; US dollars and Thai baht widely accepted; cards in tourist establishments.
• Transport: A new high-speed rail link (the Chinese-built Boten–Vientiane railway) connects Luang Prabang to Vientiane and the Chinese border in 2 hours. Daily flights from Bangkok and Hanoi.
• Alms procession etiquette: The single most important visitor rule. The procession is a daily religious obligation, not a tourist show. The tour-bus companies that bus passengers in for photos have eroded the practice in recent years. Be the visitor who is part of the solution.
• The night curfew: Officially, the town has a midnight curfew; most bars close by 11:30 p.m. The ‘bowling alley’ on the outskirts is the locals’ late-night spot.

A final thought

Luang Prabang is one of the small towns of Southeast Asia that has, against the odds of mass tourism, preserved its essential character. The monasteries still function as monasteries. The monks still walk in the morning. The Mekong still flows past at the same gentle pace. The architectural fabric — the cluster of teak and stuccoed-brick wooden buildings along the peninsula — is largely intact.

The pressure is real. The new railway has made the town more accessible. The alms procession is increasingly contentious. The architecture is being adjusted by careful and not-so-careful renovations. The future is not guaranteed.

Go for at least four nights. Walk the peninsula. Witness the alms procession respectfully (if at all). Climb Phou Si at dawn rather than sunset. Eat at the night market. Take the boat to the Pak Ou caves. Drink Lao coffee with a French croissant. The combination of Southeast Asian Buddhist piety, French colonial architecture, and Mekong-river daily life produces a small town unlike any other in the region. Visit while it’s still itself.