Hello Steemians!

I was planning to write a post about our time in Luang Prabang but I started trying to sort through the pictures and there were just too many for one post so I decided to split it into two, today will cover the city and the Mekong River and tomorrow will cover the waterfalls and the sun bears.

In spring of last year my girlfriend and I were backpacking across Laos from south to north and one of the places we visited was the beautiful city of Luang Prabang. This is one of the most famous cities in Laos because the entire city(or rather collection of villages) is a UNESCO world heritage site and is located in the central region of northern Laos. It is very well preserved both culturally and architecturally with a unique core to the city and beautiful nature surrounding the whole area, it really is a magical place and quite unique in Laos.

My girlfriend at Phou Si in the center of town, I swear this photo isn't edited just perfect conditions

There are so many Buddhist temples in Luang Prabang

Checking Out the Town

We stayed in Luang Prabang for four days and the first 2 days we spent just wandering around the town and enjoying all the beauty of the town. There are so many beautiful temples in town and every morning you can watch all the monks walking through the main streets. For the lazy afternoons there are dozens of small cafes that serve locally grown coffee in both European and Laotian styles, some of them even with tables along the river side. We spent one day on rental bikes(you can get them everywhere) just riding up and down all the streets in town before taking a break to head up Phou Si, a small but steep hill in the center of town. There are stairs heading up from all sides and ending at a shrine at the top and it also offers amazing views of the whole region of Luang Prabang.

Some of the beautiful temples throughout the town

A few shots of the unique style of the city, its quite different from everywhere else we visited in Laos

A shot of a golden statue on Phou Si in the middle of town

Biking through town!

*One of the cafes we visited had sections of wall all around the place telling stories about the farmers in the region *

*And their cappuccino skills were on point! *

Heading Up The Mekong

We decided to take a couple tours while we were there and one of them was a trip up the Mekong stopping at a small village and the famous Pak Ou caves before heading back to town. The tour was mainly about the boat ride, as it took two hours each way, and it was totally worth it, there is something special about being on the Mekong that I just cannot get enough of no matter how many times I get on it. The stop at the village was nice, although it felt kind of built around the tours, where everything was for sale but they sold homemade whiskey which I had to try so I picked up a bottle before we headed further down the river. The final stop was Pak Ou caves which is a set of caves that open near the river and are filled with golden Buddhas. There is another cave higher up that is beautiful as well but it was very dark and I couldn't get many pictures to turn out. After 45 minutes or so we made the two hour ride back to town and I have to say, while the tour was kind of boring in the conventional sense it really was nice to soak up the atmosphere along the famed river.

There was a bit of a traffic jam at the start

Cruising

We all wore life jackets for about 5 minutes before they came off

The countryside is beautiful through here

Another boat moving at a fast clip past us

How they produce their rice whiskey

It was cool to try but I am pretty sure you could start your car with it

The entrance to the caves

The people from this area come to pray everyday

A closer shot of the golden statues

A shot from the mouth of the lower cave

The golden statues outside the upper caves

My favorite shot of the day! My beautiful girlfriend @kamapan

The few days we spent loafing around were some of my favorite days in Laos, sometimes when you travel all the time it's nice to just slow down, enjoy your surroundings and just be there. We had a lot of fun on the boat tour as well and tomorrow I will write a post about visiting the sun bears and one of the nicest waterfalls I have ever seen! Thanks for reading!

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