Welcome to Luang Prabang (meaning “Royal Buddha Image”), a colonial Unesco world heritage site!

 

The city

The best part of the city (according to our taste) is the old town. Once there, you can really smell the French influence: buildings are low and very “European”, and signs are written both in Laotian and in French. Actually, the city is literally full of French-speaking tourists!

This part of the city is not so polluted, only a few cars and scooters drive up and down there. But as soon as you are on the main streets, you can breathe only with your mask on.

In addition to that, compared to other places we have been in Asia, it is quite dirty everywhere and it smells bad: mainly garbage, followed by drains and grilled (burned) food. Everything is thrown on the street, garbage bins are useless… 🙁

In Luang Prabang, there are several temples, magnificent buildings, and every morning you can assist to the monks’ procession to collect alms.

The city buzzes of orange-dressed monks. It is funny and strange at the same time: almost every monk has alms in one hand, and a smartphone on the other hand. We didn’t expect that… Despite all, they are very devoted and you can feel this mystic atmosphere everywhere in the city.

Globalization has not invaded this city yet. There are no 7eleven or other big chain stores. On the contrary, local shops are very present, as well as manufacture and handicraft.

 

The people

We must say that here, or in Laos in general, people do not always look super friendly. It is an impression. They do not smile a lot, so they often look angry or disappointed even if they are not. Probably it also depends on the facial physiology, or maybe it is cultural. Or, it is also possible, Laos opened its doors to tourism not long time ago, therefore people are still not so used to tourists.

In hotels and restaurants, almost everyone speaks English. Local people at the market or in the shops, not always… this makes negotiations a bit harder as you have to take out all your signs’ skills! It can also happen that some young guys ask you if they can practice their English with you and that it is a project for school.

It is impressive to see how much time this population spends in front of the smartphone! At every free second, they look at it. Chat, movies, games… apparently, everything but useful things.

We had the impression that in Laos everyone works, even kids sometimes. They do whatever they can to earn some money. Many live by creating and selling their manufacture, others own guesthouses, and so on.

We stayed at the My Lao Home hotel, a colonial house restructured according to the UNESCO rules.

 

The food

Let’s say that Lao cuisine is similar to Thai cuisine. Among their traditional dishes, they have fried noodles, rice, curry, etc., but the taste is slightly different. There is a lot of meat, so for a vegetarian is sometimes difficult to find an alternative.

We found a vegetarian buffet with a big choice of dishes, at the night food market. There, you could fill your bowl with everything (as much as it fits in it) for only 15’000 LAK (1.80 $). You can eat at the unstable tables together with other people, or you can take it away. It is cheap, tasty and social!

Another nice restaurant to go to is Utopia. It is quite famous among tourists as it is a chill-out place, located on the Mekong, with pouffes, with a nice atmosphere. You have several fancy vegetarian options. Cool place for food and relax.

All in all, we must say that there is not a real culture for the eco-system: Laotian eat a lot of meat, all the waste goes on the floor, and it is burned to “disappear”.

 

Authorities

Authority seems not to be very present in the city, and in the country. We didn’t see police, soldiers, ambulances or firemen around. Maybe we have just been lucky that nothing major happened while we were there. There were only guards outside banks, to check who goes in and out.

 

Eco-sustainability

As mentioned, eco-sustainability is still not developed in this part of the world. But there is a minority who tries to improve and launch it, for example going around with an electric motorbike. Unfortunately, they are only a few, and the others do not take a cue…

Another good example we saw, is the Saffron coffee.

They sell organic coffee coming directly from local farms, supporting their great job and promoting an eco-sustainable culture. It is a really tasty coffee, the best we had in all South-East Asia so far 🙂

In addition to that, they also had this eco-friendly idea to recycle bamboo straws. They are strong enough to be used several times.

Just for information: plastic straws cannot be recycled, they do not biodegrade and they are among the most found trash in the oceans. It takes up to 200 years for plastic straws to degrade… This said I think we can do a lot to avoid pollution without too much effort.

As said, Laos is a rough country but there is potential to grow in this direction and develop in a more ecological way. Let’s see, maybe in a few years things will be better 🙂 I really hope so because Luang Prabang is a nice city, I liked it a lot.

Talk to you soon!