Our Utopia in Luang Prabang

After a two day boattrip we’ve arrived in Luang Prabang and checked in to our hostel. After a walk around in the city we found a night market. You cant realy call it a nightmarket though. We had heared rumours about Luang Prabangs curfew and that everything closes down around 11 o’clock. Because the whole city is on the heritage list of unesco this rumour sadly enough was true. But there were 2 upsides to this story. The first was a bar called Utopia. This place was a backpackers haven after doing daytrips in and around the city of Luang Prabang. Everybody knew that the bar had to close at 11 so that meant that every backpacker came here to drink and talk with eachother. When the bar closed down it was time for the second upside to this story. After Utopia everybody went to the bowling alley just outside the city. And there lies the reason why this is an upside. Because the bowling alley was outside the city and no longer on the heritage list of Unesco, it was open all night long and had music playing very loud. So it actually was a bowling alley / discotheque. Sanne and I went there with the people we met on the boattrip, a group of 9 people wich grew to a group of 15.

And you know me, i have to win at every game that i play so i gave my all for sure! I had a slow start but at the end i had a good score of a whopping 121 points haha. I won in my lane (Sorry Ben) but of the whole group Carlos had won it al with 141 points (I gotta respect that).

Bowling with Carlos & Josh

Winning!

Next day we rented a bike and cruised to the Kuang Si waterfalls. The ride towards these falls was amazing. The scenery is like nothing i’ve seen before. And i know I’ve said this in my last post too, but Laos is a country with breathtaking countrysides. At the falls we we’re happily suprised again, because we had been to a few places before where it looked better on picture then in real life. But this time it look exactly the same (and i mean that in a positive way). There were little lakes with little waterfalls into the lakes and the colour was turquois and so bright. I wish i could say i got into the water but i cant, all because of a tiny little wound on my knee that decided to heal very slowly. Sanne did go into the water, knee deep that is. Apperantly the water was a bit chilly haha.

Last but not least there was the big fall, Kuang Si Waterfall. Let me tell you this first, where we come from (flat country called Holland) we dont have those things. So i was realy impressed to see my first actual waterfall with my own two eyes. After this daytrip we went back to our “haven” Utopia for drinks.

Kuang Si Waterfalls

Our third day in Luang Prabang we got up way to early for someone thats on a “holiday” but this had a good reason. The city of Luang Prabanng is also know for the alm ceremony, this is where the buddhist monks walk the streets at 05.30 in morning to receive food from the people. I have to be honest, i had something bigger in my head but its still good to see how some religions work. So im glad that we woke up so early to see that.

Alm ceremony in Luang Prabang

After the ceremony we tried to find another fall but failed. We couldnt get directions because no one spoke english. And thats no problem because we are in Laos but it did mean we had to turn around and go back to our hostel. But that night Canada day was celebrated in Utopia, so i was up for some partying. We had alot of fun had a few drinks and played some volleyball (the bar had a volleyball court inside). It was a good night but i have to say , sorry Canadians, Queens day or now Kings day is way better then Canada day. What can i say im a chauvinist ;).