Luang Prabang: Three options

There are pretty much three think you can do when visiting Luang Prabang: drink, see the city, and get out of the city.  After six nights there, we did pretty much everything.

Loa Loa whiskey from the source

As with most places in southeast Asia, drinks are cheap and abundant.  That doesn't mean, however, that there are a ton of places to drink.  LP was way to relaxed to have a good bar scene and this was the only place that the midnight curfew seemed to be enforced; which made watching World Cup matches difficult. Loas does have a few unique brews and LP is a great place to experience them.  For beer, Beer Laos was pretty much standard and not too bad when cold.  What is even cheaper is lao loa whiskey that can be mixed with anything.  5,000 kip ($0.62) was standard for a shot or simple cocktail of Loa Loa.  The secret to LL is that it is more like a glorified moonshine made in the jungle.  This keeps cost down and varieties plentiful.  We were lucky enough to be taken to a vendor on our elephant tour.  We got to try several "flavors" of LL however, the basic is the best.  Besides using different types of grains for flavors, other ingredients would be added to mix up the palate or add herbal remedies.  Snakes and lizards aside, the "jungle" option included twigs and grass that tasted terrible and it took several basic shots and a cola to dull the aftertaste.


If trying the local brew doesn't fancy you, then a jaunt around the city can be interesting.  The whole town isn't so large that you cannot walk it, but a loop around the city does take a bit of up and down through the hills.  Renting a bike is a pleasant option as the streets are generally free of traffic.  We rented beach cruisers for 20,000kip ($2.44) for 12 hours though mountain bikes ran a bit cheaper.  Around town there are more than half a dozen vats to visit, though after you have seen one, you feel like you have seen them all and paying an admission fee started to add up.  The best vats were also close to the main street atop hills, so transportations isn't necessary to visit them.
Climbing to the top of Vat Phousi was worth it for the view and sights alone.  There are also three different vats on the mountain along with Buddhist shrines and Buddha's footprints; all were included for one price.

Getting out of the city allowed us to ride elephants, visits waterfalls, and see the cave of 1000 Buddhas.  Of the two waterfalls in the area, only one was flowing and that was included in a day tour that included elephants and a cave for 250,000kip ($30.44).  I'd say that swimming with the elephants and the beautiful waterfall pools were the best part and worth it alone.  The drives were under an hour to get outside of the city and the scenery made up for any lull in action.

FYI, our tour guide used to train elephants and we went to his family's elephant business.  He said that they have four elephants, but only two work at a time while the others are off eating in the forest.  The tours are easier on the animals as they would otherwise be dragging logs or falling trees all day.  The family makes more money training elephants for tours than for manual labor, so the pachyderms only work several hours a day each rather than all day.  Plus they get to go play in the water every now and then.