May 1-3, 2025
After a few days of enough sight-seeing in Siem Reap of Cambodia, we took an hour local flight to Laos. The first stop was Luang Prabang. There was only one flight per day by Vietnam Airlines, so we had no choice but to take this evening flight and arrived after dark. Luang Prabang was a small town but where the old palace located, and also was the center during civil war. We learnt all that only when we visited the National Museum in Vientiane.
Our hotel (Mano boutique sun shine) was a small hotel located at the center of town, but some distance from Airport. Unlike most airports usually located at middle of nowhere, Luang Prabang Airport was small and near the town. We could hear loud music from nearby Karaoke when we were waiting for our taxi by Loca (the best taxi mobile app to use in Laos).
Our taxi took us to a traditional-looking hostal, with an elder host lady who could barely spoke English. The heavy wooden furnitures and white clean interior reminded me of my Vietnamese friend. Our room was not big, but had a comfortable big bed with clean soft sheet, and strong A/C.
Luang Prabang was much cooler than Siem Reap, but still very hot & humid during the day. After checked in, we wasted no time walking towards the night market. It was like 10-15 min walk. Along the way, there were many tourists walking towards the same directly, also many cars jammed along the way. There was live music festival that night. Some local singers singing love songs and the crowds were excited, but we were more excited with the night market. This was my most favorite night market in this whole trip. There were many booths selling different designs of cotton clothes made with beautiful traditional patterned fabrics. They were very attractive, colorful, low-priced and nicely handmade. For standard Asian size like me, I could almost wore anything sold over there. Also, there were endless booths selling handmade souvenirs, like wooden/bone combs, wooden decorations, paintings, bags… It was heaven for tourists like me. The night market was so long that it even passed through some temples, ended at the restaurant streets.
When we got back, we noticed that all the shops and restaurants closed at around 10pm, so we had no choice but to have a quick dinner (just duck meat & rice & fried egg rolls) at a local restaurant in front of our hostel. It was extremely cheap, simple and tasted good. I should note that the restaurants & street foods in Cambodia and Laos were so clean that we never had bad stomach even once. We saw that their wok or iron plate were more shiny that the ones in my home, and the fruits and raw foods were always fresh and stored in fridge or cooler box.
At Luang Prabang night market, we found a noodle shop and a fruit shake booth that we loved so much that we visited repeatedly. Also, there was very long and interesting morning market streets, where we found the best coconut waffles that we missed so much. Morning market were full of fresh fishes, meat, vegetables, snacks and all kinds of foods. It was a bit dirty and bloody, but definitely worth the visit.
We also visited the former Royal Palace in Luang Prabang (National Museum of Luang Prabang), watched dance show at the Royal Ballat Theatre just next to the palace, and hiked to temple on the hill across the street from the palace. Daytime we rested a lot in cafes and restaurants, because it was simply too much sun, so we enjoyed the night market the most. One afternoon we walked to the riverside. The view was amazingly peaceful and relaxing.
Also, it was very convenience to buy train ticket online in advance with the LCR mobile app. We bought first-class tickets because it was less crowded. It was just about an hour by train from Luang Prabang to our next destination, Vang Vieng.
