Luang Prabang: how ';real'; is it?

Hi,

I%26#39;ve done a lot of independent travel in Africa, but have never been to Asia so am very excited to be planning my first trip, for this coming November.

I only have 2 weeks and am planning to spend a week in Bangkok/Chiang Mai, and then am trying to figure out where to spend the next week: either flying between Luang Prabang and Siem Reap or spending the week in just Laos or just Cambodia.

My main question concerns Luang Prabang: it is the ';magical'; city lost in time that I%26#39;ve heard it described as, or is it a sort of Asian Disneyland with new agey shops and eco lodges and staged Buddhist traditions and so forth? In reading this forum and others, I can%26#39;t seem to get a handle on it. The city is certainly more expensive than other surrounding Asian cities, which has me worried that it%26#39;s not been overtaken by foreign influences. Please set me straight!

Any advice appreciated. Thank you!

Leslie

Luang Prabang: how ';real'; is it?

Hmm. I don%26#39;t understand this post at all. Luang Prabang is a town with a very large number of Wats, some of which are quite old and beautiful. The architecture in the town itself ranges from classic French colonial to Lao to ,(unfortunately), some modern tack.

The landscape is very attractive with waterfalls, interesting hikes etc. Incidentally I do not find LP more expensive than other towns.

No it is not ';a magical city lost in the mists of time';. If you ever find that place, let the rest of us know, because Shangri La exists only in Hollywood filmakers%26#39; imaginations. But LP is a very beautiful city, well worth a visit. Why would it be World heritage listed if it were not so?

Luang Prabang: how ';real'; is it?

Laos is landlock country with border Thailand, Vietname, Cambodia, China and Mynmar.

Luang Prabang is one province of Laos, Luang Prabang is small town situated with two conjuction of Nam Kan river and Mekong river, center of town there is small hill which you can clam up with 328 steps to town view and sunset.

Luang Prabang is land of Kingdom and used to be capital city of Laos, There are more than one hundred temples in town.

For more information, please feel free to contract me vanh@visitasiatravel.com or phivanh@hotmail.com

Okay, I guess I could have been more direct: is it overrun with tourists?

Yes there are many tourists there, just as there are in Angkor Wat, Kathmandu etc etc etc. This does not mean that LP is spoiled. Indeed the Laos Government is taking steps to try to preserve the heritage of the place as much as possible. One recent inititative for example was the banning of smoking from all public places in an effort to a) prevent damage to historical sites, b) make life more pleasant when eating, sightseeing etc.

Okay. We were in Luang Prabang for a week at the end of January 2007, which is peak tourist season. There were many tourists there, thank goodness, because tourism provides much-needed income to Laos. It was far from ';over-run'; though, and apart from the main street it is quite usual to walk around the township without seeing any other obvious visitors.

The night market seems a little fake, with vast numbers of identical products, but there are also genuine craft pieces, textiles in particular.

Luang Prabang is a beautiful place and although it does have some modern bars, and a fairly new-agey bookshop, it is a real town with real people, temples and houses. I would love to spend more time there.

Thanks, Tpandav, I think your response is what I was looking for.

Of course it%26#39;s good tourists are there because they%26#39;re invigorating the economy, but it%26#39;s also good to know you can get away from them too.

Has anyone taken the slow boat from Thailand? I%26#39;ve heard mixed things about it, that it gets ';boring'; after a day, but I%26#39;m not easily bored and it seems like a lovely and relaxing way to enter LP.

Majnuni:

I read your post to my husband and said ';finally, someone is asking the exact question we have had about trying to decide how much time to spend in Luang Prabang. A couple of the later posts are helpful responses.

We did Bangkok, Chaing Mai, Chiang Saen, Chaing Rai last year and were tyring to decide this year how much time to spend in Luang Prabang, Siem Reap or whether to venture out from Luang Prabang into Nam Tha or Muang Sing and stay just in Laos.. I%26#39;m not sure if Nam Tha and Muang Sing will be too ';remote'; or if Luang Prabang will be too ';touristy'; for us. We are still trying to decide between dividing our two weeks between Laos and Camboidai or only doing one country in the two weeks. Let me know if you figure out more.

Thanks

I visited LP a couple of years ago and though I found the place to be very aesthetically pleasing I didn%26#39;t really get the sense I was in Laos as the whole town is full of tourists. It was disappointing to go to the restaurants in town only to dine with other tourists and no locals. This is a shame as the few locals I did meet not working in the tourist industry were really friendly and interesting to talk to.

I would definitely recommend hiring a motor-cycle though so you can get away from the centre and go exploring the outer edges of the town.

LP is a beautiful place but I didn%26#39;t feel at all I was in Laos. If I had the choice to visit LP or Vientaine, the capital would win every time for me.

Cardiffnoddy, the reason you don%26#39;t find many locals eating in restaurants is :

a) Laos culture suggests that eating at home with the family is preferable.

b) Laos are generally too poor to eat at restaurants.

Even in Vientiane you will only rarely see Laos dining at restaurants, particularly the ones westerners frequent.

@Rufuscat

I understand your point entirely about LP, but for me it was disappointing to sit in restaurants with only tourists and as the OP was asking if LP was a%26#39;magical city lost in time%26#39; or an %26#39;Asian Disneyland%26#39; felt the comment about restaurants in LP a helpful one in their decision to visit or not.

As for your comment about restaurants in Vientaine, well I can only imagine you must dine in 5* luxury as the capital%26#39;s restaurants are full of local people!