Other things I did in Laos

I already wrote about a few of the things I did while I was in Laos, but there are a number of other things I did while I was there as well. In an attempt to be somewhat concise, here are some of the highlights from my time in Laos.

Mount Phousi

Mount Phousi is the best-known place to get a view of Luang Prabang.  I actually made two trips here--once during the day with a girl from CA whom I met in my hostel, and once again to watch the sunset with a girl from Germany, who was one of my hostel roommates for a few days.  It's well over 300 steps to the top, but once you get up there the view doesn't disappoint. Not only can you see the mountains in the distance, but you also get a view of the two rivers that run through Luang Prabang--the Mekong River and the Nam Khan River.  There is also a temple at the top of the temple, as there often are on mountains in Asia.

The Mekong River is on the right and the Nam Khan River is to the left. 

Going to the top of the mountain was an entirely different experience from going during the day--mostly because of all the PEOPLE! Watching the sunset from the mountain is one of the top things to do in Luang Prabang, which means just about everybody does it.  Once again I found myself surrounded by Koreans, who always seem to possess the fiercest determination to get the perfect pictures of themselves no matter where they go.  

Despite the huge crowds, the sunset was still really beautiful, even if it was a little cloudy the night we went.

The Royal Palace Museum

It's no secret that I love to go to museums--I was a history major in university afterall.  The royal palace was the residence of the King from the early 20th century until the communist takeover in 1975.  Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but it was beautiful and contained a lot of information about what each room was used for.

Royal Ballet Theatre

If you know me at all you know that not only do I love history, but I also love dance. Naturally when I saw the sign for the Royal Ballet Theatre, it got my attention.  This isn't ballet as we tend to think of it with tutus and tiaras, but a traditional Lao type of dance.  I wasn't really sure what the story of the performance I saw was about, but it was still interesting to see.  The movements that the performers did were generally very slow and controlled.  A lot of the movement was concentrated on the arms and hands, a big change from dancing as I'm used to it, but I could tell that every movement they did was incredibly precise and strategic. 

The Night Market

It's pretty typical for popular tourist destinations in Asia to have night markets. This is typically where you can buy mass-produced elephant figurines or cheap clothes.  However, I have to say that the night market in Luang Prabang impressed me.  Yes, there were still the mass-produced things (which probably aren't made in Laos at all), but there seemed to be more handmade things at the market in Luang Prabang than there have been at other markets I've been to.  The night market is set up along the main road each night and I found myself going to walk around (and of course doing some shopping) every night I was in Laos.

This baby was with her mother, who was working at the night market. SOOO cute...she even waved at us!

Yummy night treat.  I loved the little bowl made out of a banana leaf.  

The tents being set up for the night market. 

So many tents!

Another thing I loved about the night market was on one of the side streets there was a street where you could get food.  You took a bowl, filled it up with whatever you wanted and then gave it to a worker to heat up and add some spices to.  The best part of this was it was super cheap--less than two dollars. I was half expecting to get sick the first time I went, but I ate here at least three nights and was totally fine.

Other things

Apart from these activities, there weren't that many major things to do in Luang Prabang.  I met some other people who didn't like the city because it's not really a huge party place--the bars are required to close by 11 PM.  However, I was totally fine with just taking it easy and hanging around this lovely city.  On the days I didn't have anything major planned, I spent time at Big Brother Mouse, sat by the river, read, wrote, or walked around.  This was a really calm place to spend some time, and one of my favorite cities I've ever been to, especially since you can really see the influence of French colonization in different ways throughout the city.  Whether it's the architecture or the abundance of good pastries and bread at cafes, it was really interesting to see the confluence of European and Asian elements in the same city.

Luang Prabang's Old Quarter is so lovely!!

I found this nice restaurant right along the Mekong one day for lunch. 

Sitting by the mighty Mekong

Lao coffee and a croissant

Big Brother Mouse

One of the best things (if not THE best thing) I did while I was in Laos was spend some time volunteering at an organization called Big Brother Mouse.

Before I left for vacation I briefly read something about this organization, and when I was walking around on my first day I happened to walk by, recognize the name, and pick up some more information. I quickly learned this is an amazing organization and I was eager to come back.

Big Brother Mouse is an organization that aims to increase literacy and the availability of books in Laos.  When I was growing up I, like many other American children, had tons and tons of books.  Reading was entwined with my childhood in many ways, and it's hard for me to imagine that for so many children in Laos books are nonexistent.  Although education is improving in Laos, books are still scarce and many children simply do not have access to books, which hinders literacy and education as a whole.

Big Brother Mouse has been working to remedy this problem by printing books written in the Lao language and with stories that are culturally relevant to Lao children.  The organization sponsors book parties in rural Lao schools to introduce children to books and then leaves books at schools so children can spend time reading.  There are also two locations in Laos--one in Luang Prabang and one in Vientiane where people can come in and read books.  While I was at the Luang Prabang location I saw many people come in and sit down to read some books.  

The story of Big Brother Mouse is really amazing, and I encourage you all to read more about it HERE. 

Although publishing and distributing books is the primary purpose of BBM, they also hold English conversation sessions each day from 9-11:00 and from 5-7:00.  During these sessions local Lao people come in to practice their English with native speakers.  

Each time I went to BBM I had a different experience.  The morning sessions were typically full of younger novice monks from nearby temples.  Of course, nearby is all relative because two boys told me they walk an hour each way to BBM--this was on a morning where I was the only volunteer to go to the session.  Needless to say, I was happy I got myself out of bed that morning because they said sometimes they walk all that way and there are no volunteers there--kind of disappointing for a city that is filled with tourists. 

The evening sessions tended to have more college or working adults, but there were sometimes monks present at these sessions as well.  

Talking to the people at BBM was a great way to learn more about Laos.  Many of the people I spoke to came from large families--having seven or more siblings was completely normal.  Most of the novice monks I talked to were young boys in their early-mid teens.  They mostly came from the countryside and joined the monastery because it provides them with a better education. In the monastery the boys can spend the majority of their days studying a variety of subjects--English included.  For these boys, this lifestyle is the best option for them, but of course I couldn't help think--what about the girls?  I think I only saw one or two girls attending these sessions the whole time I was there, which was obviously an indication that educational opportunities for girls are even more limited than they are for boys.  

These boys I talked to were really spirited and had lots of questions about Korea and students in Korea.  They live far away from home and don't see their families often, but they are determined to study hard because they know how difficult it can be to have a stable future. Of course, they're still teenage boys, and one of my favorite days was when they were telling me they love to study biology because usually as monks they can't look at girls, but in biology class they learn everything.  

The college-aged and adult people I talked to were usually working non-stop.  The college students had classes in the morning then went to one job, then another, often skipping meals, only to be asleep by midnight or 1:00 AM and wake up and repeat the same thing all over again.  It was really inspiring to talk to people who worked non-stop and so hard, yet still had constant smiles on their faces.  It caused some serious reflection on my part to think about how I work eight hour days, yet still find plenty of ways to complain about it.  It's amazing how easy it can be to forget how fortunate we are to have leisure time to enjoy with our friends and family. For many people in the world leisure time just doesn't exist if they want to survive. 

Other topics I talked about with people in BBM included marriage (where I was told many people get married in their teens), religion (one boy was talking to me about animism in his village), bear hunting, and eating animal blood (apparently one animal that I can't recall has really delicious blood). I also learned that there are many different ethnic tribes in Laos, which all speak different languages.  Lao is the common language that everyone in the country speaks to communicate with each other, but not the first language for many people in Laos.  

Overall, I was amazed at how well the people I conversed with could speak English. Korea pours so much money into English education, but these people who don't have nearly the same amount of resources are able to speak English so well.  I'm sure this is due to the pure enthusiasm they have--especially since in a country that depends so much on tourism like Laos, learning English is essential for any of the better paying jobs.

One of my friends joked "You're on vacation from your job teaching English and you're teaching English?" True, this seems crazy, but it was really refreshing to be around people who really wanted to learn and gave me a lot of insight into true Lao culture--something you can't easily do when you're in a major tourist spot like Luang Prabang.

For anyone feeling compelled to do some good, I highly encourage you to donate to this cause to help improve literacy in Laos. You can check out how to donate HERE--even a small amount helps this mission!

Kunag Si Falls

One of the main attractions that brings people to Luang Prabang is Kuang Si Falls.  All you need to see is one picture of these magnificent falls and you'll know that it's a must-see.  I decided to go see the waterfall on my second full day in Luang Prabang.  My hostel had a sign-up to get a ride to the falls, which made it convenient because I didn't have to haggle with any tuk-tuk drivers to bring me there.

I got picked up around 11:30 at my hostel and got into a van that was full of people from where else but Korea of course, along with one French guy and one Chinese guy.  The ride was a little under an hour long and the majority of the time I was holding my breath because of the crazy driving.  I don't know how many times it felt like we were going to run over the bicycles and motorbikes on the road. Our driver also kept pulling out not just one, but two different cell phones while he was driving...gotta love that crazy driving in SE Asia. Although the driving nearly gave me a heart attack, I did get to enjoy the awesome music along the way, which included old school Katy Perry, Kesha, and the song "Barbie Girl."

When we arrived at the waterfall, we got dropped off at the largest waterfall.  What we didn't realize was that we were actually dropped off at the top. Although the large waterfall was beautiful, we all knew there was more to see than that, so we followed the signs that said "to the top."  I was walking alone with the Chinese and French guy from my van (the Chinese guy spoke great English and the French guy spoke very little to none).

As we walked along the path we saw that the path split into two ways, but we followed the signs the best we could.  The further we walked the steeper and narrower the path got. I had talked to a girl at the hostel who said she walked the whole thing in sandals, so I thought we MUST be going the wrong way because it was turning into a legit hike and I was definitely not wearing the proper shoes for this kind of a trek.  We decided that we had to be going the wrong way, so we turned around and went back to the point where the trail split and tried going the other way.

A very narrow path.

Lost in the jungle?

The only problem was, this path was even steeper.  After going up for a little while, we met a man who was coming down and he said he didn't advise we continue because it was so incredibly steep and slippery.  Taking his advice, we turned around and went back down.

Along the way we met a lot of people as perplexed as we were.  We knew there was more to see, but we didn't know how to get there.  It wasn't until we got to the very bottom that we realized that the van had dropped us off at the TOP.  We actually needed to go down to see everything else.

Finally, we were in the right place, and the views were worth waiting for.  There were so many different levels to the falls, and the color of the water almost didn't look real.

There were some places to swim at the bottom, but it wasn't really that warm out and the water was freezing, so no swimming for me! I'm kind of a baby when it comes to cold water.

There's not too much else to say about the falls--naturally there were tons of tourists, but that's to be expected.  Besides that, I think the pictures speak for themselves. Kuang Si Falls is one of those places that amazes you when you're there, but when you look back at the pictures it's still kind of hard to believe that you actually saw it in real life.

Amazingly beautiful.

Looks like a beautiful place to take a dip, but way too cold for me!