Luang Prabang by Bike

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Luang Prabang

There are two things that I credit equally with making travel such an addictive undertaking.  The first is the feeling of a new place where everything is exotic, and the world is full of possibility.  The other is that feeling that strikes out of the blue when you feel a sense of familiarity in a place you’ve never been.

Luang Prabang

For me, as an American living in Bangkok, these opposing feelings are nothing new.  It happens when we are seated on familiar wooden pews taking part in the familiar routines of a church service while the smell of spicy grilled fish wafts in through open doors.  Or when I’m in a taxi darting through Bangkok traffic when a familiar American song comes on the radio.

It is that exhilarating mix of both familiarity and newness that I loved about Luang Prabang.  Luang Prabang is a magical city, unlike any other place I’ve ever been.  But to trail behind Frank as we pedaled around this sleepy town was to feel strangely, yet completely, in my element.

Luang Prabang

I think that there is no better way to see Luang Prabang than from the seat of a bike.  Tuk-tuks are fun, and you can easily tour the entire city by foot, but there is something lovely about seeing it by bike.  We spent our second full day pedaling leisurely under crisp blue skies.
We stopped at temples, rode past wedding parties, waved to children playing in the street.
Luang Prabang
Luang Prabang
Luang Prabang
Luang Prabang

When we were hungry, we scouted out our lunch options on streets that were barely wide enough for a car. These crispy fried snacks of sesame-crusted seaweed came with spicy chili dip, and were light and addictive.  Frank rightly noted their saltiness and crunch would be perfect with cold beers.  We kept expecting the local sour sausages to resemble the sour rice-pork sausages that we frequently get in Thailand, but these had a more substantial, meaty flavor.

Luang Prabang

And of course, there was sticky rice.  (I may have eaten my weight in sticky rice over the weekend.)

After lunch, we stopped at the National Museum to feed the koi (“for good luck” a woman told us), and tour the National Museum.

Luang Prabang

And by then it was time for something sweet…it was vacation after all.  We parked outside of Joma to escape the mid-afternoon heat.

Luang Prabang

Several people recommended Joma for lunch.  I was certain all weekend that Frank would cave to the siren’s call of their well-advertised turkey sandwich with cranberry sauce, but we stuck with local Lao food for all our meals.  Joma was, however, a stellar place to grab an afternoon iced cappuccino and the best carrot cake I’ve had since I left the U.S.

Luang Prabang

By the time we got back to the hotel in the late afternoon, we’d been riding all day, but I was sad to say farewell to our little bikes.

Luang Prabang

I think Frank was too.  He rode right past our hotel and would have kept going up into the mountains if I hadn’t stopped him.

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About Jess Smith

Jess is the recipe creator and photographer at InquiringChef.com. She spent nearly a decade as the Chief Recipe Developer for the award-winning meal planning app Cook Smarts. Her colorful, healthyish recipes have been featured in popular online publications including Parade, Hallmark, and HuffPost.

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6 Comments

  1. Ooh I love the sticky rice presentation. Actually that’s one thing I loved about Thailand… all the different ways they served rice. Who knew something so basic could look so pretty!

    1. I totally agree, Claire! This part of the world makes me love rice much more than I ever did. How great are those sticky rice baskets though? They sold them everywhere, and in the cooking class we took, the teacher told us that most of them in Laos are made by prison inmates who make them in order to learn a trade.

    1. I’m glad we moved it up on the list…although there are still so many places you guys went that we still haven’t made it too. So much travel…so little vacation time. Miss you too!