Luang Prabang - beautiful, peaceful, relaxing

After spending two days in Luang Prabang, I can already say that I quite like it. It is still a fairly touristy city, but it is quite beautiful to look at (with French colonial influences) and has a relaxed rhythm.

There is a night market every evening with good noodle soups or even a buffet (for €1.50 each), as well as many cafes with good cappuccino and cake and what not...

In particular, I missed the good coffee in the Laotian cafes, where you could only get instant coffee...here I am enjoying some delicious coffee (while also setting up my Wi-Fi network in the meantime🤓)

In my accommodation, breakfast is included (usually banana pancakes with fruit and a fruit shake for me) and a bicycle is provided as well, so I have been exploring with a bike yesterday and today.

I visited the main attractions in the city (the two rivers Mekong and Nam Khan, the oldest Laotian temple Wat Xieng Thong, the National Museum, which used to be the royal palace, and Mount Phousi, a small hill with a nice view) with the bike yesterday and today. It was nice, but I like the relaxed atmosphere and the fact that you can find a French-influenced café on almost every corner the most!😄👍

I also visited a hairdresser in the meantime. I did disturb the Figaro during his nap, so he wasn't really in a good mood. He didn't even touch a pair of scissors, he just completely shaved off my wild mane with a machine! Although I was getting a bit nervous in the hairdresser chair, it turned out quite well in the end!👍 (Cost: €5 including tourist fee)

Tomorrow I have rented a scooter and will explore the surroundings of Luang Prabang, as there are supposed to be some worthwhile waterfalls here.

On Thursday, I have a planned elephant tour...I actually wanted to do that in Thailand, so it's about time. In the afternoon, I will fly from Luang Prabang Airport to Hanoi in Vietnam.

There are definitely some more interesting places to see in Laos, but the distances are quite long and due to the poor road conditions, it would be quite time-consuming😬

Although I still have some time in Southeast Asia and have been quite fast-paced so far, I am getting a bit annoyed with the same routes that backpackers take...I have also seen some familiar faces here. Sometimes that's pretty cool...yesterday, I celebrated the farewell from Asia with Skandi, a guy I met in Chiang Mai...but it can also be a bit too much, for example, I have already met a few girls that I met in my hostel in Chiang Mai twice in Pai and eventually here again😂

That's why I want to go to Vietnam as soon as possible, arrange for a motorbike there, and explore some places before heading to the Philippines (for now). That's the rough plan...the implementation will follow!✌️😋

Update:

Today I was riding a 125cc scooter...it was quite fun. Now I can also understand why everyone drives SUVs here. The roads are not really good and have huge potholes 😬

Today I visited the two most famous waterfalls, one of which (Tad Sae Waterfall) is man-made, not really exciting, and more like a "fun swimming spot for the whole (Chinese) family"😄 The journey there was pretty cool though, not only on the scooter but also on a small boat 🚣

After visiting Tad Sae Waterfall, I wanted to grab something to eat and accidentally passed by Luang Prabang Stadium, where I did some sports yesterday (it was already dark then). In any case, it's a cool old stadium where I ended up taking some sweet photos for the social media channels (you all know what I mean😋).

Then I went to eat quickly (and by "quickly" I mean it was way too slow and relaxed) and then left too late to visit the other "real" waterfall (Kuang Si). The travel time was indicated as 1 hour and 20 minutes, and it did take forever, in the end, I arrived at 4:40 pm, just 20 minutes before closing time😑 At least I got in for free, took some quick photos, and then rode the scooter back to Luang Prabang, of course in the dark and with various critters in my helmet, eyes, mouth, nose, and ears.

That's it, I quickly made a detour to the night market to get some "dinner", did some sports in the room, and that's it.

Tomorrow, I'll get up early for an elephant tour, return to the guesthouse for a quick shower (hopefully there's still time for that), pick up my backpack, and then take a TukTuk to the airport. There is no online check-in, so I have to be there 2 hours before the flight, which could actually be a bit tight. But it'll be fine...✌️😀

Update:

The elephant tour was great, although I was a bit under the weather. We walked around with two elephants in a small group (1 French couple with 2 kids + another French couple + me), we washed and fed them. Nowadays, there are only 800 elephants left in Laos, the "Land of a Million Elephants". The elephants I was with used to be logging elephants who have been working as "draft animals" all their lives. Although I am not known as the biggest animal lover, I made an effort to book the most animal-friendly tour operator. It was harder in Laos than I thought...in the end, I was quite satisfied with my choice.

However, I felt like shit...Montezuma's revenge hit me on my last day in Laos!😬 Although at this point, I also hoped that it might only be a "slight discomfort", it turned out differently in the following days😑

I still managed to catch the flight to Hanoi, everything went quite smoothly!👍