Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Tiger Beer]

What are the best things about Luang Prabang in Laos?

[crazylemongirl]

The caves and waterfall,
The many nice cafes,
The watts,
Mountain biking and kayaking around the rivers.
Elephant riding (I be a cheesy tourist)
The old royal palace.
The morning alms.
The night market.

Not
The vast legions of middle-aged european package tourists.

[HapKi]

Buying tapestries at the night market.

Playing cheesy circus games like pop the balloons with a dart and tossing coins onto a board at the night market.
Being surrounded by all the local kids sharing in the fun. Winning a bottle of Red Bull. Sharing my wad of Laos Kip with the local kids.
I have not had so much fun since.

Talking with the monks at sundown at the temple on top of the hill in the middle of town.

The variety of restaurants along main street.

The 5 hour bus ride to Vienteinne. Beautiful.

Not
The sound of the motor on the boat up to the Buddha Caves.
The strength and taste of the alcohol some waiter offered me. Paint thinner, all the way.

[thewolf]

i am considering a trip to laos in early august....any tips re: cheap flights?

[hogwonguy1979]

[HapKi]

I flew from Chiang Mai to LP, and took a bus to Vientiene. From there, a one-way ticket back to Bangkok. Please don't ask me about flights or prices, but I remember there were plenty of travel agents in Vientiene to deal with, and at least 3 airlines going into Bangkok. 2 were $90 or so and 1 was about $15 dollars cheaper.

[Tiger Beer]

Luang Prabang article in 3/8/07 Bangkok Post

Might cross reference with Lodging price boom posts form first of the year and Julie L's take on Laos

TRAVELLER'S TALES

Luang Prabang loses its soul
DON ROSS

Repeat travel might not be all it is cracked up to be. Some travellers cannot have enough of a destination while others find that the second and third visit just fails to live up to the first-time experience.

Expectations always run high for visitors to Luang Prabang, an historic town on the banks of the Mekong River in the heartlands of Laos. Tagged a World Heritage town by Unesco, its residents are proud of the fact that they are part of a living heritage, rather than spectators viewing ancient relics or ruins. Siem Reap may have the world famous wonders of Angkor Wat, but Luang Prabang has a thriving Buddhist culture lived out daily in its temple courtyards, many of them dating 800 or more years.

Who would not be enthralled by sight of hundred of monks walking silently through the town's mist-cloaked streets? They present an endless line of saffron robes who snake through the narrow lanes, past temples and along the river bank. Families reverently place sticky rice in the bowls carried by the monks. This act of making merit has not altered in centuries in this former royal town. If you have stood just once on the balcony of a small boutique hotel or guesthouse and captured this moment on camera, you will wish to return to the same spot today. But the magic unfortunately has been marred by subtle changes possibly introduced to please tourists. I recall the hotel's driver giving us some very serious hints on how to behave the first time we visited Luang Prabang and tumbled out of bed at dawn to the town's long main street to "sai bhat" or offer alms.

"You place sticky rice, just a small portion in each bowl, the line is so long, but when your basket is empty retreat respectfully, leaving space on the pavement for others to make merit." I wasn't quite prepared for the endless line of monks that walked silently down the main street. It was led by the most senior monk who the guide said was in his 80s. He stood remarkably straight for his years leading hundreds of his cloister colleagues from all of the town's temples in a simple but poignant illustration of a living heritage.

"What about the curries, packs of milk, tinned sardines and canned fruit," I asked the guide, as I stared down at the small basket of sticky rice.

He explained that residents took all provisions and curries to the temple directly, which sounded a very practical way to lighten the load of the bearers and helpers who usually accompany monks.

Now as you return to this World Heritage town you will see the first signs of commercialism creeping into a ceremony that we all recognise as distinctly Luang Prabang. Tourists are told they can be different and buy other items to give to the monks. They are jostling with the residents, taking over their pavements, standing on their mats and generally devaluing what was one of the region's prime examples of a living heritage that has survived time, wars and political intrigues.

A tourist, who is standing nearby, deposits a US$10 note in a bowl possibly confident that his donation can feed a family for a week. But his cash didn't belong in a monk bowl. It was not quite the same as the first visit. Are there just too many visitors pushing the tiny town's hospitality and carrying capacity beyond the limit? Just how many visitors can a small heritage town welcome before the edges of its delicate culture wear thin?

No one quite knows, where that thin line should be drawn, other than to note that once five-star international chains move in to heritage towns, the small village style boutique guest houses perish and whatever revenue the locals once earned by hosting travellers is lost forever. So guess where I am this week? I'm soaking up the charm of Luang Prabang, noting that it is not cool to stand on someone else's mat, hog the pavement or poke a digital camera in the face of a revered monk. The adage that we should leave nothing behind on a beach other than our footprints should apply to heritage towns.

A couple of beachcombers in tents can comply, but the arrival of 35,257 tourists on Luang Prabang's doorstep in 2006, makes it a little more complicated to manage footprints. Unesco put pavements down giving the town a smart, rustic appearance. Yet the pounding of tourist shoes on temple courtyards in just a few years does more damage than was accumulated over centuries.

Places like Luang Prabang face a dilemma. Tourism officials, who do their homework, know that the 35,000 tourists will treble in no time at all and the little planes of Bangkok Airways will eventually be replaced by larger jet aircraft.

As for Road 13 that links the capital Vientiane and Luang Prabang will ultimately be improved to cater for convoys of luxury buses ferrying group tours from China in the north and Thailand in the south. Landlocked Laos is wedged between China,Vietnam and Thailand and as checkpoints and roads open, the three countries alone can supply enough wealthy tourists to swamp this tiny jewel in the Mekong region.

If pleasing tourists means there has to be modern spas, multi-million dollar resorts, golf courses, beer bars and fancy restaurants then ultimately the spots that fascinated us on our first trip to the Mekong region destinations will disappoint us in the future. Perhaps that is why some travellers insist on never visiting the same place twice. They know what happens to the " Wow" factor the second time round.

[hogwonguy1979]

somebody I work with said he thought LP was already spoiled by tourists, i kind of didnt think so last summer but when I was there again in Jan, I kind of thought it was getting that way. Also it seemed there were a lot more high end tourists there in Jan.

There is a definite carrying capacity for the town, if the airport gets bigger and the highway improves it will be ruined.

[ilovebdt]

Hi Guys

I was thinking of heading to Laos in September when my contract is up.
I was just reading that September is rainy season in Laos and that lots of flights are cancelled.

Does anyone have any experience of being in Laos in the rainy season. Is it possible to get around or will I be stuck in one place?

ilovebdt

[itaewonguy]

[TiGrBaLm]

The weed

We were staying in a guest house and the owner came into our room with a humongous bag of mary j and said "5 dolla?"

Good times

[ilovebdt]

I just looked at the Thai Airways website and they quoted me 732,000 return Seoul- Laos for Sept 1st.

Is that a good price?

ilovebdt

[sojourner1]

[Tiger Beer]

Looking at LP guide.. looks like all kinds of international restaurants have hit Luang Prabang?

Or does it only seem that way reading the LP.

[hogwonguy1979]