Laos - Luang Prabang

Our first stop in Laos was Luang Prabang. This little town in the north of the country captivated us.

Everything can be explored on foot and so we used the first day to stroll through the village and discover some beautiful temples where we could watch the bustling monks.

When you walk along the river, you come to a bamboo bridge that has to be rebuilt every year after the rainy season. Therefore, if you want to walk across the bridge, you also have to make a small donation, I think about 50 cents.

Impressive how the not quite sturdy-looking structure made of bamboo manages to hold up. On the other bank, a cute restaurant was waiting for us with a little refreshment.

Evenings in Luang Prabang are spent strolling through the night market. It's so charming that we were there every evening and it never got boring. Beautiful tents are set up on one street, which are nicely illuminated and, above all, you are not constantly bothered by the sellers. In addition to lots of art, fabrics, and other great handmade things, there was also delicious food at very reasonable prices on the night market.

Unfortunately, one evening here we also experienced the poverty of the country. We had gotten a full plate from a buffet for €1.50 and while we were eating, we noticed a little boy watching us. When we got up and there were still a few leftovers on our plate, we turned around and saw that the little boy had pounced on our leftovers, hungry. How can it be that in today's time a child has to be so hungry and desperate that he pounces on the leftovers of others - and at these prices. In any case, we went back and bought the little boy his own full plate from the buffet, which he then enjoyed very shyly. Something like this wakes you up and makes you think.

On our second day in Luang Prabang, we spent a day at the Elephant Village. I want to say right away that we did extensive research on which organizations really treat the animals well and do not allow any cruelty for tourism. The Elephant Village has bought elephants, among others, from farmers who had a very hard life, had to work very, very hard, and were severely abused. Now they live freely in the jungle near the village and every morning the mahouts (elephant whisperers ;)) walk into the jungle and call for the elephants. Then they come trotting and it goes to the village. They are only there until shortly after lunchtime and then they go back into the jungle. In addition, the elephants are only ridden without the painful saddles and are never tied up at any time!

Before we started, we got a small mahout training and learned the most important commands in Lao so that the elephants can walk, turn right, turn left, stop, etc. I can only say as much as that as soon as I sat on the back of the elephant, I forgot ALL the commands because I was so excited. I was the first one to hoist myself onto the back of an elephant and take a test ride. Since I had forgotten all the commands and was busy holding on tight, the mahouts laughed themselves silly and let the elephant do whatever he wanted. What does an elephant do at 38 degrees? Right, he looks for water and takes a good shower! So there I was, like a wet poodle, clinging tightly high up on the back of an elephant and everyone had their fun :). Then we went through a river and most of the time we were really alone on the back of these impressive animals. After a short break, we went for a refreshing swim with the elephants in the river. This day was one of the most beautiful in our lives so far and the feeling of sitting directly on the back was simply indescribable. They are such beautiful animals! We will never forget this experience.

On our third day, we rented a scooter and set off early in the morning to the Kuang Si Waterfall.

After an hour's drive through Laos' beautiful nature, we arrived and were pretty undisturbed and alone with a few other tourists.

Incredibly beautiful how the individual turquoise water pools line up in steps! When we reached the top, we saw the actual waterfall, which is also very impressive. We then decided to climb a mountain next to the waterfall to be able to look down on it from above. Oh man, how we missed our sneakers lying in the stolen scooter at that moment. The ascent was very steep, long, slippery, and sweaty. When we reached the top, the view of the waterfall cascading below us was obstructed by trees, but the nature up here was also very beautiful and we were the only ones who had dared to climb so early in the morning. So we could jump into a natural pool to refresh ourselves. In this pool there were small fish that were apparently very hungry. Do you know the fish that are sometimes in small basins in spas and nibble away the calluses from your feet? That's how they behaved! I didn't like it so much, but Luki diligently put his feet in the water and enjoyed a free foot treatment. After the very slippery descent, by now the crowd of tourists had arrived and was wide awake. We simply enjoyed the cold water a bit more and then made ourselves comfortable on the way back.

On our third day, we strolled through the city again and in the evening ventured up a mountain in the city center, Mount Phousi. When we arrived at the top, we had a beautiful view of the city. After our nightly stroll through the night market and a delicious meal, we returned to the hotel to pack. The next day we were supposed to go to our next stop in Laos - the capital Vientiane.

Luang Prabang - You are a beautiful, cozy little town and we would love to visit you again at any time.