Features of Luang Prabang

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Luang Prabang is a city where old things are still visible. We can see the Lao temples and their architecture from that time with our own eyes. Also, the street buildings built when the French conquered Laos can still be seen in Luang Prabang. Luang Prabang has two major rivers, the Mekong River and another. The main tourist area in Luang Prabang is a delta between two rivers. As a city, Luang Prabang is a very rich city in terms of people and their entertainment, as well as architecture and natural beauty. There is also a special tourist vibe created by the food and tourism industry in Luang Prabang City.

How to get to Luang Prabang.

Luang Prabang is the most popular tourist destination in Laos. You can also go there directly by plane. There are direct flights from Vietnam and Bangkok in Thailand to Luang Prabang. Now, you can reach the Lao capital Vientiane from the China-Lao Railway and Luang Prabang from the Chinese side by train. You can also reach Luang Prabang from Vientiane, the capital of Laos, by bus or shared taxi, as in the old days.

Accommodation, food and drink

There is hardly a tourist city like this in Sri Lanka, which is close to us. There are many fun activities prepared especially for tourists in Luang Prabang, such as hotels, restaurants, massages, clubs, etc. Luang Prabang is a great destination for those who are looking for things to see and those who are looking for a rest.

Temple on the mountain

The temple on the mountain is a beautiful viewpoint. When you climb up there, you can see the Mekong River on one side, the Mekong River on the other side, and another river on the other side. You have to buy a ticket for a few days. We went to temple. Even though it was raining at that time, there were a lot of tourists. Tourists flock to this place to see the wonderful sunset and sunrise.

A temple

Even though it is a temple, there is no rule that you have to take off your sandals or wear them long. If you want to go inside the temple, you have to take off your sandals. But there is no problem with sandals to go to the temple grounds. And the white people, the white people, had come there wearing shorts.

Even though they are Buddhists, each country has its own traditions. Although there are similarities, there are also some differences. In any case, we, as Buddhists by birth, went there and worshipped and came back as Sadhus.

 

Enter Luang Prabang

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The capital of Laos used to be Luang Prabang. There was a king there. Later, the capital was moved to Vientiane. I think Luang Prabang has a scene like our Kandy in Sri Lanka. Luang Prabang is the most popular place among tourists.

Station and accommodation
We got off at Luang Prabang and went to a shop to have something to drink before going to the airport. We asked for a watermelon, which cost seven to eight hundred rupees in Sri Lankan money. Why would we drink watermelon for that much? We selected a random juice and drank it.
It was delicious.

After drinking something from the stall outside the station, we went back to the station to get a taxi. I heard that Laos is a budget taxi service. They took us for a reasonable price. It was a high-roof dolphin taxi service right at Luang Prabang station. The price was reasonable. Also, since it was AC inside, the dust from outside didn't fall.

But it was like an oil tanker. It was time to leave. Four groups of people going to the city got on like us. Four groups got off at four different places. We got off at the end. This is one of the few places on the China-Lao Railway that is a bit far from the city center from the station. It was about a kilometer from the station to the city center in Luang Prabang.

Hostel accommodation
This time we had booked a hostel. Even that was getting used to. It was too hot when we left. We left that trip with our bags and went for a walk. First, we looked around, exchanged some money, and looked for a place to buy something. We found a place right by the river. We stopped there because we could eat while looking at the river. That river was the Mekong River. We had seen the Mekong in southern Laos before..now we see the Mekong, but there is a distance of more than eight hundred kilometers between those two places. It must have been even more. The river does not flow in a straight line, right?

Snake wine and food
After ordering the food, two people came and brought two bottles of wine from the shop. They were a type of whiskey infused with snakes and lizards. We only saw them and took pictures, but we didn't go to drink them. But our friends were a little surprised when they saw the place.

Next, we went to see the boats on the Mekong River. They charged 400,000 Kip per hour for the boat trip. The boatman explained to us with gestures and a little bit of a laugh that he would show us around here and there. We got off at 3 o'clock again. But our friends didn't seem to be very interested in the boat trip. A jockey came and asked for a small boat for two laks. I was happy to go on one leg. But our friends were a little scared to go on the small boat without a jacket on the steep road. That trip was a waste of time.

When we walked back to the accommodation, we saw a temple. Knowing that we were in Sri Lanka, the ticket office at the temple was happy. It was a monument, or rather, an old temple near the royal palace, and tickets were sold for it. So when we went there, I was shocked to see that my glasses and hat were missing. I had forgotten them. I went back to the village and brought them back, and I had forgotten them where the snake whiskey I had drunk earlier was.

When we got back, we saw people busy getting ready for a night market on the main road where we had booked our accommodation. As soon as the sun had risen and the sun had set, the people were preparing big box tents and setting them up on the road, getting ready for the night market.

 

Breakfast at Vang Vieng

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Eating breakfast at the hotel is fun. There are delicious food and delicious views. Sleepy people staying at the hotel come to eat in shorts and even in their night clothes. We can see not only the surrounding scenery, but also the food while eating breakfast. Also, since there is a buffet, we get the opportunity to eat fried rice and fried chicken. So we ate as usual.

To the train station..

I don't remember how it went. But I remember a scene I saw at one train station. We were in line to enter the station. Before entering, they checked our tickets and passports. For the Lao people, they probably showed their identity cards. So, the place where they checked is where an outsider has the opportunity to see someone entering the station. This is a two- or three-hour journey, but before the railway was built, some took seven or eight hours. Even on the train, there are also five or six-hour journeys in Laos.

Sensual vision

In our house, there are two pairs of sandals that my father used to wear to work in the garden. Sometimes, when they get dirty, my father himself fixes them with two pieces of rubber lace zippers. There was a mother wearing a simple dress like a cloth top and wearing two sandals, coming into the station. She also carried a small bag. The daughter, who had the same face as her mother, was holding her mother's hand with a very calm face. A little further away, there was a boy who could be suspected of being her mother's son-in-law.

So, that must have been the moment when that mother said goodbye to her daughter. If you look a little deeper, there is a good bond between a mother and daughter, no matter where they are in the world. After that, when the daughter grew up and settled in her own place, the mother could only come and see her. The daughter could not go back to hanging on her mother's arm like before. They both had to hug and cry for a while. The son-in-law also came and comforted the daughter.

No matter how big the newly built concrete floors and the creations are, such human scenes are more impressive than anything else.

The queue to enter the station was like a refugee queue. Western tourists going from one tourist destination to another with big and small bags hanging from their hands, Chinese who had returned to their motherland by train, Laotians who had come to travel from one city to another in their own country, etc. Many colorful faces were seen in the station queue.