Hattie on Tour

We hire bicycles and go on a general explore of Luang Prabang.  We’ve found that this the cheapest and one of the best way of getting to see more than would otherwise be possible on foot and to do it at our own pace.  There is very little traffic anywhere in Luang Prabang, with only the occasional motor bike, cycle or tut-tut to contend with.  Cars are even less in evidence.  All of which makes cycling here a real pleasure. Our tour takes us to some of the less visited parts of Luang Prabang and across the river to a small village.  In the evening we try the street food market and have some delicious barbecued fish and chicken with sticky rice.  This bustling little street market is in a narrow lane just off the main street with food stalls along one side and tables and benches down the other.  Here a mix of Lao and tourists tuck into some tasty, cheap eats.

Not all of Luang Prabang has been restored particularly in the outskirts although many of what once were unsurfaced back streets have been paved and edged with brick kerbing.  Crumbling colonial houses – which wouldn’t look out of place in the French countryside – are interspersed among the more traditional Lao houses and shops.  The former often ramshackled wooden structures with bamboo lattice walls and corrugated roofs.  And then there are the neo-colonial houses which mix Lao and French styles with ground floors of brick and plaster and the upper floor walls of wood, many with balconies and most with shutters.

Our bike ride takes us passed a local market which is way off the beaten track and we buy some rather good coconut and banana balls.  Further out of town and after a few detours we stumble across the Old Bridge.  This is open to pedestrians, bikes and cycles only and crosses the Nam Khan to a village which sits in a bend in the river and is largely untouched by the tourism.  Here the road is dusty and semi-surfaced  with a few wooden houses and shops.  We take a turning down an unmade road following a sign for a restaurant, not expecting much in this unlikeliest of locations.  But  it turns out to be quite a sizeable village and after a few twists and turns we come upon a  restaurant nestled in the lush tropical vegetation.   Tiered wooden terracing built out over the steep banks of the Nam Khan overlooks the river below.  With low, cushioned seating and tables and a palm-thatch canopy, this is a lovely little hideaway in which to take a break.  As we tuck into lunch we watch a group of workers and monks building a small bamboo footbridge that will link this village direcly with centre of the Luang Prabang peninsular.  The restaurant owners also have a  bungalow in the grounds with equally good views out across the river.  This will be a lovely spot to stay once the bridge is finished.

We drop into the Tourist Information Office to pick up a map and spend a revealing few minutes reading the visitors book.  There are many comments complaining about  the high prices charged by tour operators and the lack of cycle hire.  Apparently until recently it wasn’t possible to hire cycles in Luang Prabang because ‘tourists cause accidents’.  Many cynical people seem to think that this was more to do with keeping the tut-tut fares artificially high.  Whether this is true or not, prices here are certainly higher here than anywhere else we’ve been in south-east Asia, which is ironic given that this is the poorest country in the region.