Luang Prabang Tour 8 days: Authentic Experience

Arrival at the Luang Prabang Airport, our guide and driver will pick up and transfer to your hotel in city center.
Check in hotel and relax.

Located  in the centre of Northern Laos, Luang Prabang is recognized  as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its outstanding cultural, historic and architectural values and its harmonious relationship between the natural and built environment.

Have lunch at local restaurant ( your own account). After lunch, our guide will pick up you from hotel and start a half day city tour. The first destination is Royal Palace Museum where people kept a range of amazing artifacts. Then we visit the city’s oldest temple of Wat Sene and the impressive Wat Xiengthong showing classical Laotian architecture.
We finish short tour today with the remarkable stupa of Wat Visounand the shrine of Wat Aham.

We are transferred back to your hotel. Time free at leisure.
Overnight at the hotel in Luang Prabang. 

In the early morning, we begin our day having a closer sight at  a long line of monks collecting alms’s ceremony "the Take Bat", or the Buddhist monks' morning collection of food in Luang Prabang. You can also join in by giving food into the bowls carried by the monks. This daily morning ceremony is both peaceful and spiritual and gives you a good opportunity to experience an ancient Lao tradition.

From there we continue our trip today with the first destination is Royal Palace Museum where people kept a range of amazing artifacts.

After that our Tuk tuk driver will pick up you and drive directly around 30 to 45 minutes to reach one of the most beautiful Kuang Si Falls situated 30 kilometers of Southern Luang Prabang.

The Kuang Si Waterfall consists of a tiered many of turquoise pools put among the dense Laotian jungle where we will have plenty of time to refreshing swim in the pools and hike around the falls.

You’ll also visit the Kuang Si Falls Butterfly Park, one of the must-visit spots, a project that was newly opened on January 2014 studying about Laos butterflies, host plants and preservation.

We stop at one of the local villages before getting to Wat Siphouthabath to admire the sunset then find the way back to your hotel. Overnight at the hotel in Luang Prabang.

After breakfast, we take a local boat on Mekong river in 2 hours to reach the best famous and spiritual Pak Ou Buddha Caves, where we could have a look at confluence of the Mekong & Ou Rivers. Since the 16 century, the villagers built many thousands of Buddha images here.

Then we continue our trip today to drive 2.5 hours  to Nong Khiaw. We begin discovering the Phathok historical cave.
It is said that this cave was used as a bomb shelter by the local people during the “Secret War” which help to protecte villagers  from the dropping bombs in the village. It takes us only 30-minute walking from Nong Khiaw to reach Phathok Cave .

The knowledgeable and professional guide will be happy to clarify any of your concerns about the secretive parts of Laos history and the hidden cave. While the cave itself is historic, the view of rice paddies and valley from here goes beyond your expectation. In the the afternoon, we walk back to the town, passing through the magnificent scenery.

It is best time for us to enjoy wonderful sunset over the river is just perfect. Your dinner will be served by any local restaurants on the way.
Overnight at a hotel in Nong Khiaw.

We have energized breakfast to prepare for this trip to by starting a relaxing local boat trip on the peaceful Nam Ou River in which you have chance to look closer to the little Lao villages along the green riverside. Do not forget to bring camera to take wonderful photograph. You will be really interested in the villager’s way of living along the Northern Laos River. You should get some knowledge about the local villagers before you get a breathtaking adventure of “100 Waterfalls Trail.”

First found in October 2008, 100 Waterfalls are the extremely beautiful complexes. You will walk through the quite streams and beautiful rice paddies before set foot on natural masterpieces. When you’re there, commune with nature with only water, jungle, and songs of the cascades. While you’re closer to nature, the inviting clear pond urges you to soak in it. With the local professional guide’s support, we find it easy and safe to overcome the cascades.

The Lao-style lunch will be served among the green beauty. Everybody loves the falls as well as the extremely fresh nature.

There lies a little village trail on the peak of the 100 Waterfalls where to hike back down the valley, providing the spacious view of the  Nam Ou Valley. After that , spend your time on Nam Ou River village by learning more about the local life if time permits. The tour ends with the boat journey back to Nong Khiaw.

Today, we will pass through Vieng Kham to reach Muang Hiam which is considered  the most rural and least developed part of Laos . It is a bit risky to explore off the beaten track and discover the real Laos throught those back roads . We will catch very few other travelers, mostly rural inhabitants who are just as interested in finding out about our lives as we are of theirs.

We may get difficulty in driving on some parts of our journey due to poor road conditions; however the verdant and rugged mountain scenery combined with the colorful local population makes for a unforgettable experience.

Arriving in Muang Hiam, we will be free to relax or make a troll around this small town to stretch your legs, and explore the local life.

Overnight at a guesthouse in Muang Hiam.
 

After breakfast, we will visit the Nam Et-Phou Louey NPA (National Protected Area) via Ban Son Khua.

From here, you will explore the Nam Nern Night Safari and stay in a simple standard ecolodge which has been built and developed by the local villagers . We study about wildlife preservation, medicinal plants, traditional agriculture and the history of the Secret War from your knowledgeable local Khmu guide.

When we arrive at Ban Son Koua - an ethnic Khmu Village, our local knowledgeable guides and boatmen will welcome you and take you on a short tour of the village where you will study about the animist tradition of appeasing the village spirit. After that, we take a local boat on 1.5-hour journey to the park substation on the Nam Nern River, on the way we have chance to study about the upland rice cultivation and having opportunities to spot monitor lizards and bird life.

Upon arrival at the park substation, lunch will be provided by the local villager group. After lunch, we get a briefing by park staff about the on-the-ground efforts in protecting tigers and their prey. Around the middle of the afternoon we will leave for the night safari.

We continue to have a soft trekking into the forest. Our local guide, a profession al hunter and tracker, will show us how local people track deer and other wild ungulates. The guides notice evidence of wildlife, such a tracks or scat at the salt lick.

The boats will continue upstream to the dinner site, a sandy, flat bank, where  a picnic dinner will be served around a campfire. After dinner, our guides tell Khmu folktales and stories about dragons, wildlife, and ghosts. They teach you about the species of animals they may find out  during the spotlighting and explain the rules and expectations for spotlighting.

Basing on the amount of moonlight, we leave for the night spotlighting 1-2 hours after dark, floating down river with engines off with only one light per boat. Only guides use the light to avoid scaring the animals. The guides and boat drivers communicate via hand signals to avoid talking that might disturb the animals. The boat is very quiet so as not to disturb the animals. Animals that may be seen include Sambar Deer, Otters, and Barking Deer, various species of Civets, Slow Loris, Porcupine, and Owls (Hogbadgers, Asian golden cat and wild dogs have also been seen).

At the end of the spotlighting, the boats arrive at the evening camp. Before going to bed you will be able to check out a variety of insects attracted to the black light set up near the substation.
 

Before breakfast, our local guides will meet you and take you make a stroll around the jungle, show you learn about the use of some medicinal plants and give you information of the history of the site, which used to be a major settlement during the Secret War. After breakfast, the boats cruise back through the core zone at a relaxing pace with engines off, while the guides point out wildlife along the way.

Upon arrival in the village, you are invited to try earthen jar rice wine (lao hai).

We leave Ban Son Keua and head to Vieng Xai. On the way, we will have a short visit to the Standing Stone of Hingtang, whose purposes still remain the mystery. Then we  drive to Tad Saleuy, which is still fresh, and not popular to tourism. We reach in the town of Viengxai late afternoon, check in your basic guesthouse.

Overnight at a simple guest house in Vieng Xai.
 

The town of Viengxay has hundreds of caves which was considered as a shelter for local villagers and the country’s future leaders for a vital period in world history.

In the 1960s Laos was effected by the conflict known to the world as the Vietnam War. From 1964 to 1973, more than 20,000 people must to live in 9 long years  in a ‘hidden city’ they constructed inside the limestone peaks all around the area to try to survive daily aircraft bombing raids directed by US forces.

They were only able to farm or work at night, so inside the caves they created everything for their need to survive, including schools, hospitals, markets, a radio station and the headquarters of the Lao Patriotic Front – also known as the Pathet Lao.

We take the  tour telling about the story of the ‘hidden city’ through the history that created it and communicate with local people and discover the area’s beauty as well as its fascinating hidden history.

After the tour, we will transfer directly to the border of Nameo to cross the border to Vietnam (Thanh Hoa). End of services.