We arrived in Luang Prabang, touching down in the ancient capital of Laos around lunchtime on Wednesday. We lined up to get our passports stamped and my visa checked. Shawn was still on his Malaysian passport so enjoys visa-free travel through most of Asia, one of the few benefits his passport provides. 

The airport is small, kind of like a regional airport in Australia (think Geraldton) so our luggage was waiting for us by the time we got through. I exchanged some US dollars for Laotion kip, with three of my $20 notes being rejected, I think because of some minor tears. The exchange rate between Australia and the Lao was about 1AUD to 13,000 kip, which was a bit of a hard one to calculate. Meanwhile, we’re in the midst of slide against the US dollar, plus the insanity that’s coming out of the so-called mind of Trump, made conversions between Australia, Laos and the US more difficult and worrying, especially as it’s happening in real time. The storytelling experience we went to is normally 120,000 kip or 6USD, but the day we visited it had changed to 140,000 kip (but still 6USD). 

Armed with about a 1.5 million kip, we were then ready to get to the hotel. I hadn’t arranged transport through the hotel, so we got a taxi. The usual rate to the city is about 100,000 kip but when the driver saw where we were going (which was out of the way and not in the city), the price jumped to 250,000. Apparently “the road is bad”. 

Not knowing any better we went with him and while the road was a bit bumpy for a small stretch, the ride only took 15 minutes. Really, though, the ride came to less than $25 and while it’s expensive for here, it’s cheap for back home and really, we can afford it so what does it matter? Years ago I haggled with (and eventually walked away from) a tuk tuk driver in New Delhi who was trying to charge 50 cents for a ride when it was normally 20. Strange that feeling of not wanting to be “cheated”.

I’d booked us into the Namkhan Ecoresort which was about 15 minutes out of the city and indeed down a partially bad road. The Chinese built a good road out to massive power station offices and it stops at the edge of their property. From there it’s a gravel and dirt road for a way until a paved road appears and it’s smooth sailing to the hotel.

The hotel is by the river and set in manicured forest. Originally, a friend had suggested staying at the Kiridara. I’d booked it but about two weeks before, they cancelled due to renovations. I since heard that they’re closed until November so definitely wasn’t going to be able to stay there. I was worried that I’d booked us somewhere so remote that it would make everything difficult, but in the end it worked out nicely.

After getting dropped off, we were taken in an electric buggy up to our room, passing along the edge of the river, the outdoor yoga room and gym, the river beach huts and up through the on-site farm. Our room was a standalone cottage with a king size bed and bathroom and – most importantly – air conditioning. It was also set across from the restaurant, which made getting breakfast really easy.

Once we’d off-loaded our luggage and had a shower, we went for lunch in the restaurant, which had local produce and some local foods in it, including this nori-like dish called river weed. It looked and tasted a lot like seaweed but was instead made from scraping weeds off the river stones. It’s delicious and it was like crack. Couldn’t get enough.

The hotel had a shuttle to the city and back six times a day, and we made good use of it. Catching the 3pm shuttle, we were dropped in town and went walking along the edge of the river to find a boat that would take us along the Mekong and catch the sunset. 

We didn’t settle on the first cruise operator we encountered, nor the second, third, fourth, fifth, six… Prices fluctuated between 150,000 and 300,000, depending on service, inclusions, boat. There were a LOT of boats along the river, giving an indication of how busy the place must get during the peak season, whereas the town was very quiet and the operators were keen to get us on board.

It was getting overwhelming, spoilt for choice and consistently having to say no to people made us pick up the pace and demure from making a decision until after we’d gone to the temple.

This was the only temple we went into. Lots of gold inside and out, a giant peacock (I think), and these beautiful mosaics on the walls. One of the mosaics depicted people getting decapitated, beaten, stomped on by elephants… We’re not quite sure what was going on but it was giving White Lotus opening credit vibes.

With departure time for the cruise rapidly approaching, we returned to the path along the river and went with the second guy we spoke to. His opening offer was 250,000 but we said we’d pay 150,000 and that was that. We boarded the boat and sat a table and were soon joined by a lesbian couple from the US. They’d wanted the bigger boat in front but because there weren’t enough people, it wasn’t going out. Meanwhile, they’d spotted us, clocked on that we were family, and joined us on the boat.

The four of us, plus the driver, set sail up the Mekong, past the confluence where the Namkhan joins it, and soon struck up a friendship. The big bottles of beer we ordered helped. They said we’d lucked out with the weather as it had rained the day before and prior to that the smoke haze had blocked the sun for a while. Fortunately, we got to see the sun and the mountains. I enjoyed our hour and a half floating around, especially as we had good conversation while some of the busier boats floating by had loud music or live performances. Cultural, but less intimate.

We docked back around 6/6:30 and the four of us walked through the night markets, stalls selling lanterns, clothes, knick knacks, toys and the like, repeated over and over down the length of the main street. At the end was an outdoor food court where Shawn and I bought fried enoki, murtabek, roti, and noodles. It was delicious. We ate and chatted, every now and then saying no thank you to the kids who stopped by the table to sell bananas.

Unfortunately, the four hour time zone change between Melbourne and Laos meant I was fading early. Shawn would have loved to kick on to one of the bars and enjoy more of the night, but I was keen to catch the 9:30 shuttle back to the hotel. Fortunately, Ki and Alexis also had to call it so they could pack for their onward journey.

We then got some tiny coconut pancakes from a street vendor – delicious – and said our goodbyes. Shawn and I walked around for a little bit more then caught the tuk tuk back to the hotel. Just as a note, we’d originally been driven in style in the air-conditioned van from the hotel to the city so then to see the tuk tuk – open-air truck – for the return took us back a bit. We think that because there was someone else on the drive out who continued on somewhere that we’d just been lucky. 

The return drive to the hotel, at night, along bad roads, was terrifying as it felt like the driver was going 100kmh. We survived, of course, but I did keep wondering/worrying if I’d die out there.