Luang Prabang in northern Laos, surrounded by mountains, rivers and beautiful pastures, is full of incredible things to do. Here are some of our favourites.
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This was our first time to Luang Prabang — our first time to Laos. And even though we did and experienced a lot, it feels like there’s so much more to see here.
We loved the town with its easy-going pace of life, its fascinating heritage and its riverside location. For more on all the things to see and do here in the cultural capital of Laos, click here.
But this story isn’t about what you can do in Luang Prabang, it’s what the beautiful countryside has to offer.
This is part of the Laos by Rail itinerary with InsideAsia Tours. This itinerary takes us through three incredible parts of Laos (which we’ve written about here), riding on Laos’ new high-speed rail line, which we’ve reviewed here.
You can also find more detailed stories on each of our destinations in Laos here.
What To Do In The Countryside Of Luang Prabang, Laos
Most of these things are pretty popular with tourists coming to Luang Prabang. The difference is, having InsideAsia Tours organise things means your guide and the timing of the activities are on top of everything.
Exclusive entry, the best tables, not to mention insights from a local who’s also an experienced travel guide.
Check out the rest of our itinerary around Laos here.
Living Land Farm Experience
Not far out of town, the Living Land Farm Experience takes you through the complex and labour-intensive processes involved with growing, harvesting and processing rice.
This is a hands-on experience, so expect to get muddy! There are several separate practice paddies at different stages of the rice-growling cycle so you get a full understanding of (and appreciation for) where the rice on your plate has come from.
Our guide Johnny first shows us how to plant seeds in the water-filled rice paddy, gently sprinkling them onto mud mounds. Next is harvesting seedlings.
We move to an untilled paddy field, where a water buffalo yoked to a hand plough joins us. We take it in turns to ‘drive’ the buffalo, shouting ‘hoy hoy’ to make it go and, more importantly, ‘yood yood’ to make it stop.
After that, we plant seedlings and cut fully grown sheafs with a sickle. Inside the homestead, we thresh the sheafs, mill the rice and many other processes. It’s a fun way to learn about Lao culture, but we’ll also never take a bowl of rice for granted again.
Kuang Si Waterfall
These beautiful falls, about 30km from Luang Prabang, are one of the most popular attractions of the area.
To get to these stunning cascades, which fall 60m down the limestone cliffs into the blue pools below, you have to take the electric cart up the hill to the entrance. This is part of your ticket.
You’ll also find the Asiatic Black Bear Sanctuary here. Rescued from poachers as cubs, these bears cannot be released into the wild and so live happily in the specially built sanctuary.
There is also a restaurant — Carpe Diem — near waterfall that’s very much worth stopping at. Positioned over the tumbling stream as it continues down its course after the main waterfall, it adds a unique and beautiful aspect to a tasty lunch here.
Laos Buffalo Dairy
Also in the area, we visit the Water Buffalo Dairy Farm. This social enterprise is the brainchild of two women — Susie Martin from Sydney and Rachel O’Shea from New York State.
Essentially, this ingenious endeavour ‘rents’ buffalo from locals in a form of agistment, milking them for various dairy products.
Deeper than this though, when the buffalo go back to the local families, they’re healthy and vaccinated, and they get a new, healthy calf as well. Locals also learn about best practice for animal care, which many have never had before.
Visiting this farm, we see how the buffalo are cared for, but we also learn how to hand-milk one of them. It’s a disturbing yet oddly satisfying process. We also get to wash and feed some of them, and we discover how affectionate and gentle they are, in spite of their intimidating horns.
We bottle feed some young buffalo and then check out the piglets the farm is raising as well as the rabbits and their kits.
Later, we get to taste the products from the diary. Brilliantly crafted in house, the different types of cheese – mozzarella, blue, curds, ricotta and marinated feta — as well as the ice cream (black sesame is wonderful) and the indulgently rich cheesecake.
MandaLao Elephant Conservation
The only no-ride, no-wash elephant sanctuary in Laos and one of the few in Southeast Asia, MandaLao Elephant Conservation is an incredible project that holds the needs and welfare of these Asian elephants as their ultimate priority.
Many of the elephants here — MandaLao currently has 12 (11 cows and one bull) — have been rescued.
Upon arrival, we chat with the impressive Prasop Tipprasert, a Thai man who has worked with elephants for many decades and is the project manager here at MandaLao. Then we climb aboard a longtail boat and pop across the river.
Waiting for us are two beautiful elephants ready for a feed.
We hand-feed them bananas, which is the only direct contact that visitors are allowed. Even their mahouts — their handlers — are supposed to touch them occasionally, and there are no hooks or hammers used here, an ugly feature in many elephant centres.
From there, we hike into the woodland of the sanctuary, where the elephants are free to roam and enjoy natural behaviours like eating (they eat around 18 hours a day and some 300kg of food per elephant), scratching and going down to the river to drink and bathe.
It’s wonderful to watch these giants in as close to their natural environment as possible. To see them happy, to see them thrive.
There are two types of trip you can do here: a half day, which is what we did, or a full day. Full-day participant numbers are limited to four people and each group will not exceed eight people.
This is an amazing place. If you want to see Asian elephants, it doesn’t get much better than this.
For more information on how to spot an ethical elephant sanctuary in Thailand, click here.
