Luang Prabang is a French influenced town on a peninsula between the Mekong River and the Nam Khan River. The banks of the two rivers are lined with mountains covered with lush vegetation, the setting for the town is simply beautiful!
The town site of Luang Prabang has a lot of character and charm with its French and Indochinese architecture. The town is lined with beautiful buildings which have been converted to cafes, restaurants, and boutiques. With the French influence you can find a delicious baguette in any restaurant or cafe in town, add that to the delicious coffee Laos is famous for and your set for any meal or snack.
In addition to the wonderful setting of the town, Luang Prabang is very rich in Laos culture. The town houses the old royal palace along with several buddhist temples. The most famous temple in the town is Wat Xiang Thong.
Wat Xiang Thong is on the tip of the peninsula between the two rivers and is unique from many temples we have visited in SE Asia in that it has not been restored. The temple was built in 1560 and remains as beautiful as it was originally. The details of the roof, the paintings, and carvings are stunning.
Buddha at Wat Xiang Thong
In the centre of the town is Phou Si, one of the mountains in the area, a sacred hill with a temple at the top. We climbed the few hundred stairs first thing in the morning to try and get a view of the sunrise. Although it was too cloudy to see the sunrise, the view from the top of the hill was spectacular!
Another wonderful sight in the Luang Prabang area is Kouang Si Waterfalls, about 37 km outside of the town site, obviously we wanted to go see the falls. Up to this point in our Luang Prabang tour this we had done a lot of the usual attractions, and as usual wanted to do something a little different…and since we have been itching to ride bikes for some odd reason, we decided we would bike to the waterfalls! Shockingly this was Jarrett’s idea…
The Bike Ride
So first things first, we had to find decent bikes to head out a 37 km bike ride and luckily found a shop in town with mountain bikes. After we got bikes we decided to head out at a decent time in the morning to try and avoid the heat of the day.
So turns out 37 km is a fair distance….something we maybe did not think through before setting out on our excursion, after looking it up later it turns out to be close to the distance in a full on triathlon and as many of you back home know, is not exactly our cup of tea. To make the bike ride even more challenging it was uphill for about 80% of the time (makes sense since we were going to a waterfall), it started pouring rain for the last 10 km, and it was bush burning season…Jarrett had the added stress of popping Pepto Bismol the entire time.
Jackie Cruising On Her Sweet Ride
Kouang Si Waterfalls
In the end it turns out our somewhat torturous bike ride along side wild water buffalos was worth it. The waterfalls were absolutely spectacular. The falls consist of terraced aqua pools of water spilling into each other, with one massive waterfall off the mountain. Sucky for us, it poured the entire time there, so we didn’t get to go swimming.
The big waterfall at Khoung Si
Due to the torrential downpour and our butts not allowing us to get back on the bikes (numb ass), we opted for a tuktuk back…thank god!
ha ha Jarrett riding a bike. He never rode one for a long time and wasn’t that good at it as home video would attest. He much preferred to skateboard. wild water buffalo seems like the asia version of elk island park just give them plenty of room. what amazing condition for such an old temple. incredible craftsmen probably using primitive tools compared to today. looking forward to the videos. it was great to chat again today and you both are looking well. jackie how did you let Jarrett talk you into biking – good thing a cab was available. where did you put the bikes? well another adventure to add to the itinerary.