Times flies — especially since my daughter started primary school in Singapore last week — but I have been meaning to post photos from our time in Luang Prabang, Laos in mid-December. Finally culled down and edited, finally ready, and some of my favorites from our travels.
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Rice crackers drying in the sun at a temple in Luang Prabang, Laos.
After two and a half years living in Southeast Asia, friends in the States often ask me for my favorite destination. I can highly recommend destinations in Vietnam, Thailand, Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, and Hong Kong but I still am hesitant to encourage someone in the States to fly on a plane for 25 hours and deal with a week of jet-lag unless they can spend a month here. But even with less time, Laos should be at the top of the list along with an easy hop to Vietnam.
Temple novices and Baby Lemon enjoying each other's company in Luang Prabang, Laos.
Luang Prabang, the ancient royal capital of Laos, is a beautiful town and is a UNESCO World Heritage Centre. It is a very friendly and relaxing place for visitors with little of the small-time corruption and headaches of many other Southeast Asian destinations. For example, you can walk down quiet street without being run down by mopeds or hassled by someone trying to fix the cracks in your sneakers with crazy glue whenever you stop walking.
Temple at the entrance of the Royal Palace in Luang Prabang, Laos.
Luang Prabang is simply a town of many temples set alongside the Mekong River with dozens of quaint restaurants and very affordable prices, such as legitimate massages for US$7 per hour. As with the rest of Laos that we saw, there are no chain stores. No Starbucks and, rare for Asia, not even a 7-11.
The people are very friendly and everything felt very safe. In fact, the only criticism I have heard is that, with every other building transformed into a guesthouse, Luang Prabang feels more like a museum than an authentic Lao town.
It was hard to get worked up over that possibility as the kids and I sat one morning in a cafe eating wonderful croissants with good coffee and hot chocolate. Sometimes authenticity is overrated.
Temple grounds, Luang Prabang, Laos.
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We spent five days there which was just enough time to see the sites, relax and for the kids to both come down with a very bad stomach bug. I came prepared with a thermometer and antibiotics and also knowing that we would have to leave the country if anyone got sick.
Laundry day.
Even though Luang Prabang is a major destination, the tourist accommodations are just a thin veneer on a developing country with little infrastructure. You can sit outside on a beautiful patio overlooking the Mekong, but your food is being prepared in a shack across the street. There are no hospitals or doctors in Laos that you would want to risk visiting if you expect modern, hygienic medical care and authentic medications. It does not happen often but you can die waiting for basic medical care and I knew that if I waited to confirm that the kids were truly sick, the baby could then be at risk of dehydration.
Dinner out with the kids in Luang Prabang, Laos.
The evening before we were to head into the northern countryside, the kids had diarrhea and a fever at 6pm. By 9pm — one hour after I had given them both ibuprofen — they each had a fever of 104.3°F (40.2°C). The baby felt like he was on fire and I held him under the shower, the poor little guy screaming his lungs out at 3am. My daughter woke up long enough to throw up from the antibiotics and tell me with horror that there was a monster-man standing behind me in the bathroom missing part of one arm. She was half-awake, hallucinating.
With the help of a friend online in Hawaii, I booked flights out the next morning to Singapore with a layover in Bangkok in case we needed to get to a hospital sooner. It took us 15 hours to get back to Singapore and we went directly to a hospital for a new round of antibiotics. A day later, both kids were fine.
The view of Wat Senesouk from our hotel balcony in Luang Prabang, Laos.
I would go back to Laos next week if I could and it would be nice to go with Elysia before we PCS to the States this coming summer. First we will just need to pick up a new supply of antibiotics.
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Previous blog posts from our trip to Laos:
A Month in . . . Laos!
Laos: The Ng-Baumhackls Have Landed
Hello Laos, Hello Cluster Bomb
A Little Tooth Goes A Long Way
Leaving Vientiane, Laos…
I’m Too Sexy for This Temple
Headed North from Vientiane
Exploring Caves in Vang Vieng, Laos
The Laos Vomit Comet (Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang)
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Looks beautiful there! Are you planning any trips this spring/summer? It will be just me in Japan with both boys, so just curious to know if you had anything planned. Have you been to Australia? I’m tempted to go, but tread the flight with a a then 9 month old and 2.5 year old. Any suggestions? What do you recommend seeing in Japan? Clearly, I have yet to have gone anywhere!
Hi Jenny. We have not been to Australia though…in that direction we did go to New Zealand for about two weeks in December 2010 with Elysia. Not cheap but had a great time in a campervan. You can get cheap flights to Australia on JetStar. In Japan we have only been to Tokyo! Would love to see more but we’re also thinking that it’s easier to get to Japan from the States and maybe we’ll even get posted there some day. I would imagine that there is a ton to see and not terribly hard to get around with little kids. I also have recommendations for places in SE Asia but it might be rough right now at that age and traveling alone. Still…my feeling is that kids are often not that much more difficult when traveling than they would be at home (unless they get sick). If they’re going to throw a tantrum, it’s the same no matter where you are.