Luang Prabang

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Luang Prabang

The last time I was in Luang Prabang, Laos was seven years ago.  At that time, an Australian couple told me, “you should have come ten years ago – this place has already been discovered.”

We were in the back of a rain-soaked rusty truck, sliding down a muddy jungle path.  It did not feel discovered to me.

Luang Prabang

Little felt as if it had changed while Frank and I were there over the weekend.  Certainly, there are more tourists, and a few new guest houses.  Maybe there is a new restaurant or two, and I was surprised that many places now take credit cards.  But Luang Prabang is a city that is beautifully resistant to change.  It won’t always be the way it is now, but its status as an UNESCO world heritage site helps to keep development slow and intentional.

Luang Prabang

The city is a blend of traditional Lao and colonial French architecture, and its placement at the juncture of the Nam Khan and Mekong rivers in the middle of the mountains makes it really breathtaking.

Luang Prabang

The people are lovely as well.

Luang Prabang

And then, of course, there’s the food.  One of my favorite meals was this one at the Apsara restaurant.  That’s local beer, spring rolls, a crisp cashew salad with dried pork and herbs, and buffalo sausage.  (More restaurants should chop their spring rolls into pieces like this – perfectly portioned crispy bites.)

Luang Prabang

The tuk-tuks make getting around extremely easy – for about $2 USD we could hop on the back of one and get anywhere in town…

Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang

Our second night we stopped at 3 Nagas for drinks and to watch people gathering for the night market.

Luang Prabang

We didn’t buy anything, but the night market takes up much of the main road and is full of colors and people and lots of food.

Luang Prabang

The food is reminiscent of Thai food in some ways, and great food being prepared on the street is just as prevalent here as in Bangkok.

Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang

There are so many beautiful places to stay in Luang Prabang.  We stayed at a boutique resort on the outskirts of the city called, Satri House.

Luang Prabang

The resort was a collection of French colonial houses, all with hard wood floors, tall ceilings, and tile roofs. The building in the picture above was once the home of the prince of Laos.  I loved our room and the super soft canopy bed that I wished we could have brought back with us to Bangkok.  Frank loved the antique telephone – he kept inventing reasons to call reception.

Luang Prabang

Satri House is in the heart of a neighborhood.  Most of the time it was quiet, but in the early evening we could hear the sounds of neighbors – kids playing, and laughter from a well-trafficked pétanque court.

Luang Prabang

In short order, I was reminded of everything I loved about Luang Prabang on my first visit.

I’ll post pictures of the two best ways we spent our Luang Prabang vacation, but if you’re planning a trip to Southeast Asia, this would be a great city to add to your list.

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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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7 Comments

    1. Heather – you MUST go. That place is just begging for you two to get in there with your cameras and go to town! 😉

      1. International travel is on the list, but I think the next few years will keep us in the states thanks to the vintage trailer project. (Apparently our photo blog is down at the moment or I’d toss in a link.)

        1. Frank’s been following it closely, Heather, but definitely share a link when the site is up. I’m so impressed you guys are tackling that!

  1. What a beautiful place. I would have made excuses to use the phone too.

    You’re right about the spring rolls. That would make them so much easier to share and no double-dipping in the sauce!