lazy days in luang prabang

After several bustling days in Thailand, Caitlin and I headed to Laos.

On tiny Laos Airlines.

On the once a day flight from Chiang Mai.

overlooking the area around Luang Prabang

We landed in Luang Prabang and were hustled into a shared taxi van off to our Villa Ban Lakkham, our home for three nights.

Like the rest of Asia, Laos was HOT.

But unlike so much of Asia, Luang Prabang was so laid back, with little for the "have to do" list.

Which was awesome.

loving the innovative planters.
#usewhatyouhave

It was so green and lush in Luang Prabang. And everyone was so friendly. And adorable.

We relaxed and wandered the town.

bamboo bridge.
we did not cross it...

We shopped. We ate. We lounged at local cafes. (Utopia does actually exist here!)

#truedat

#child labor
If you can't sell your wares, maybe your child can guilt the tourists into it. 

We watched the monks walk the street to collect alms.

#rainydays

We did venture out of town to visit the KuangSi waterfalls, but we'll have to wait for Caitlin to share some pics from her GoPro. I didn't take my camera. We knew that everything would get wet and there wouldn't be storage to keep any extra stuff safe.

Just outside of town, this was fairly common. Rubble and a food stall. 

We learned about the tradition of Laos weaving and Hmong handicrafts. Check out Ock Pop Tok and Passa Paa. I bought soooooo much stuff.

This work was amazing, but a little beyond my budget.

a local residence

We helped the local economy with all the purchases we made.

Gorgeous designs from Passa Paa. 

Found this on our first night in town and decided we wouldn't bargain with anyone.
We'd pay what they were asking. 

life in Luang Prabang

And then we met an American named Michael.

His story to come in a separate post because it led to our most favorite experience of our trip.

Traveler tips:

While in Luang Prabang, we ate here, here (more than once!), and here. And some other places too, which apparently were less than memorable. : P

We stayed at Villa Ban Lakkham, linked above. Taxi service at the airport was shared. Grab a ticket from the desk. Price was quoted then, but I can't remember when we paid.

Visas for Laos were done at the airport. We waited in one long line to hand over the forms we received on the airplane, a photo and to pay. I think it was $36 (USD). Totally random amount. Then you wait some more for your visa to be put in your passport. After you get your passport back, you wait in another line to go through passport control and have your passport stamped.