I was lucky enough to secure a photo shoot in Luang Prabang, Laos recently. I’d been expecting a nice enough town with a few temples and perhaps hordes of tourists, along with the tacky shops that inevitably spring up to cater for such an onslaught of westerners. However, I was genuinely surprised by the peaceful street life, abundance of tree-lined, river-hugging streets, striking Indochinese architecture and fantastic food especially from the likes of Tamarind and Café Toui.
I decided to do a bit of exploring and hired a bike, headed across the river on a local ferry and rode north along dirt roads past tiny villages. I’d intended to travel all the way to where the Mekong looped around again but only made it half way sadly, when the dirt roads became more like dirt tracks and, with a recent rainstorm or two, almost dirt streams. I encountered smiling children, lone buffalo, hilltop temples and a classic karst mountain landscape.
Would also highly recommend Kuang Si waterfalls, a huge complex of waterfalls and naturally formed turquoise pools about a 40 minute ride from the town. I arrived later than most of the bus loads of tourists and was able to enjoy the relative calm and space.
I’ll be back soon to explore more of the surrounding areas and the rest of this stunning country!
