Voulez-vous un croissant?

We were planning on continuing to Luang Prabang by boat as I had read how spectacular the scenery was along the river, but when we saw the hordes of people at the boat landing, we chickened out and decided to take the bus instead. We didn't miss out completely on the scenery as the road followed the river for a large part of the ride and it only took 4 hours instead of 7 on the boat, and at half the price.

In Luang Prabang we didn't have much luck finding a decent hostel, but since it was hot and we didn't feel like carrying the backpacks around the entire afternoon we picked the least terrible one we could find just for the night. Walking around the city looking for a better place we bumped into Michel and Gisela, the Swiss couple again! They were leaving the next morning but at least we had diner with them at the local market. And we even ended up staying at their guesthouse for the rest of our time in LP.

The royal city of Luang Prabang, designated a UNESCO Heritage Site in 1995, seems like from a different world. So far we have only seen the north of the country with its villages so poor that the only thing the kids have in them to play with is dirt by the road. And now we arrived here, to this city full of temples and French-Indochinese architecture, with its busy cafes serving proper butter croissants, its villas so beautiful that you might think you traveled through a space hole and ended up in some small charming French town.

Wat Xieng Toung, the oldest monastery in town

Luang Prabang has style

Montmartre-like

We can understand why people get to stay days and days here, because despite the continuous influx of tourists it is still a serene place and a great destination to unwind and still have all the comforts one needs. Sometimes it felt a little bit out of our league as the prices are obviously much higher and the atmosphere much posher than anywhere we have been so far in Southeast Asia, but we enjoyed it nevertheless just getting lost in its tiny backstreets or watching the sunset by the Mekong.

Buddhist laundry in Luang Prabang

The mighty Mekong

On our last day we hired a scooter and went to see the Kouang Si waterfalls, about 30 km out of town. This multi-level cascade spills into many turquoise pools below where you can swim on a hot day.

Kouang Si waterfall

Jump in!

Right next to the access to the waterfall there is a bear rescue set up by an Australian woman in order to protect Asiatic bears from the illegal wildlife trade.

I drove us back to the city and around it to see some more temples before the sunset and got us home safe and sound. I think I'm getting the hang of this scooter thing!

Let's go for a ride!

It's time to say goodbye to this dreamlike place and continue our journey south, towards the party animals' paradise of Vang Vieng. How scary.