Laos - Trunks and Monks
Not far from the Pak Ou village we spotted there was an elephant sanctuary. We’d WhatsApped them and agreed we’d turn up in the morning to be taken for a walk and feed the elephants.
We met the guide who said we were the first visitors they’d ever had in their own vehicle.
He got us kitted out in welly boots as it was going to be muddy and gave us a good dousing in bug spray.
The Luang Prabang New Elephant Sanctuary was only started this year. It is a community project where it was agreed the hills above the village could be used for the elephants and they offer tours to walk and feed the elephants. They have three rescue elephants and we were to meet Wat (a 28 year old female) and her son Bamboo (aged 4).
We crossed the main road and walked straight into the forest and were soon met by the two elephants and a ranger who is with them all day. It was a lovely experience to be able to get so close to these magnificent mammals. We were given bananas and sugar cane to feed them with which they made quick work of.
We continued our walk through the forest stopping when the elephants stopped to strip branches of leaves and also crunch their way through sticks. The guide and ranger were very attentive to us helping us on slippy muddy slopes and reapplying bug spray.
Wat is due to have another baby next month so if we end up coming back this way we’ll definitely be calling in again to see the new arrival.
We then had a 12km drive into Luang Prabang where we’d booked a central hotel for 4 nights. Finding somewhere we could park Lolly was challenging, but after checking and rechecking our hotel confirmed we’d fit.
As we approached the old town we hit our first hurdle as Google maps took us to a bridge that only motorcycles can cross. By the time we realised that, we caused havoc to do a three-point turn in the heavy traffic.
As we approached the area our hotel was situated we saw more foreign tourists than we’ve seen most of this trip. Many pointed at our number plate and gave us a thumbs up. When we reached the road for our hotel our hearts sunk - there was no way we’d fit down it.
Colin walked down to the hotel where the owner said ‘what’s your problem’ so Colin walked him up to Lolly and made it clear. ‘That will never fit in here’ he said. No s**t Sherlock! He said we should be able to park on the street outside another of his hotels so he whisked Colin off on the back of his scooter to check it out.
So we now couldn't believe our luck - we were parked on the footpath opposite our new hotel where we could walk straight out into the night market one way, onto the main bar/restaurant street the other way and down to the Mekong the other.
We had stayed in Luang Prabag on our cycling holiday 17 years ago, but we’d forgotten what a stunning place it is. It's super touristy and much more expensive than Nong Khiaw, but so lovely to mooch around. The first night we had dinner in the night market where we had very tasty rotis.
There were plenty of sites in and around the town to keep us occupied. The town is a UNESCO World Heritage town.
There are several ornate Buddhist Temples in the old town including Wat Xiang Thong with its sweeping roof and colourful mosaics, including the Tree of Life.
Walking up Phousi Hill in the centre of town is the thing to do for sunset for sweeping views over the Mekong and town.
We visited the Palace Museum which was right next door to our hotel, where Colin had to bring back his David Beckham look
We were up at dawn one morning to see the Monks collecting alms. While alms giving to monks in Laos is countrywide, the ceremony of it in Luang Prabang is something else. We watched them quietly file out of the Wat Xieng temple where tourists offer them sticky rice and crackers which they collect in bowls - not the most exciting diet. There were street sellers offering packages of these for sale, but we preferred to stand back and watch rather than sit with the noisy Asian tourists. We're fairly sure that 17 years ago we just knelt at the side of the footpath with our offerings.
The night market in Luang Prabang has a large food area, where as mentioned we went on our first night, and there are less touristy side street nearby for cheaper eats. The street near our hotel was full of stalls seling textiles and souvenirs which set up around 5pm - we made a few purchases from here.
We ate and drank in a few places on the restaurant street near our hotel, and also had dinner with Sophie and Martin down by the river. We were all trying to work out our forward travel routes and how to extend visas for us and tour vehicles in Laos and Cambodia.
For our final day in Luang Prabang we booked a tour to the Kuang Si waterfalls which is 30km south, but wouldn’t be on our onward route in Lolly.
Our first job that morning was to visit a dentist for a clean and polish. It was a modern practice where we just turned up and they saw us immediately - what a service for £10 each. Thanks to Sophie & Martin for the recommendation. It will hopefully give our UK dentists less work to do when we come back for our next check-ups.
For the tour we were picked up in a minivan to take us and three other tourists on the best road we’ve been on since arriving in Laos. We had a couple of hours to walk up to the top (including 542 steps ) where we had a refreshing swim, then made our way back down past the other busier pools which cascade down the hillside. They were lovely and we later realised we’d been here 17 years ago when we looked at our old Laos photos.
There is a bear rescue centre here too where we did see a couple of them.
Afterwards we were taken to a rice plantation for a short stop. It was very set up for the tourists, but in photogenic surroundings. I had a go at squeezing sugar cane juice.
We were then transferred to a boat to take us on a 2 hour cruise back to Luang Prabang which was very pleasant. The cold Beerlao was definitely better than the sugar cane juice.
We had a final dinner and stroll around the night market - we really like it here and if things go to plan we may be back here for Christmas on our way back to China.
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