Sakkaline Road Dining @ Luang Prabang

Sakkaline is the main road which runs through the center of Luang Prabang, the same one where they set up the night market. The majority of the places along here are European in style however offer traditional Laotian food also. Here's a couple I stopped into in search of a WiFi connection and bite to eat.

 I'm not sure how smooth of  name "Restaurant Luang Prabang Bakery & Guesthouse" is, but they had the most blatant advertising on the street, with signs hanging down with  'PIZZA' and 'HAMBURGER' typed in shiny gold lettering. Sadly, It was enough to tempt me to try their burger out.

Outside @ Restaurant Luang Prabang Bakery & Guesthouse 

Random Photos of Luang Prabang

Here's some random photos I've taken in and around Luang Prabang over the duration of my stay:

Chomphet District @ Luang Prabang

I read a couple blog posts mentioning a hike across the river from Luang Prabang in the Chomphet District, it looked much more interesting to me then checking out the temples in town so I decided to go for it. I hopped on a ferry right down the street from my hotel, and within a couple minutes I was on my way to hunt down temples.

Ferry across the river

Elephant that road the ferry

Ton Kham Wan @ Luang Prabang

After one of my hikes I ate on the east side of town at Ton Kham Wan on the edge of the Nam Khan River. Unlike the neighboring restaurants along this river, Ton Kham Wan offers the same low priced drinks and food you can find in town and provides the same beautiful water front view. While I feasted on pork basil, fried spring rolls and a dark Beerlao; I watched other tourists float past me toward the Mekong in rented inter-tubes.

Ton Khan Wan

Mount Phousi @ Luang Prabang

Nearing the end of the day today I decided to check out Mount Phousi, the mountain top temple which Luang Prabang is built around. It was nearing sun down so I rushed to see if I could get up in time to see the sunset. Apparently I was only one of like 500 people who had the same idea, because by the time I hit the top a large crowd of camera wielding tourists had already amassed on the south western side of the temple. After the sunset I looked around from all angles down onto Luang Prabang and I I have to say that visiting this temple is a must. I talked with tourists earlier in the day who shrugged off the idea of going up here like they were above this type of touristy shit, but after seeing the view myself I think that going up here really ties together the whole experience of visiting this city.

Big Tree Cafe @ Luang Prabang

One of the places I checked out yesterday was Big Tree Cafe, its an art gallery and a restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating on the edge of the Mekong. This could be a cool place to kill time if you ended up spending an extended stay in Luang Prabang and you don't want a distracting atmosphere ruining your focus. I ate their fish burger which felt more like a fish salad in a bun then the greasy fried fish I was expecting.

Bar Hopping on Kingkitsarath @ Luang Prabang

Since most of my time in Luang Prabang so far has been spent west of Phousi Mounain, I walked over to the east side of town last night to see what type of dining/drinking was available on Kingkitsarath Street. I was drawn into Aussie Sports Bar in hopes that I might find a VB or Coopers there, my dreams of drinking an Australian beer fell apart quickly, however the menu didn't disappoint. The combo I got of beer battered fish, chicken wings and meatball soup was a pleasant reminder of my time in Sydney, as were the 70s music videos playing on the TV in the corner.

Outside Aussie Sports Bar

Kuang Si @ Luang Prabang

This morning for the first time in a long time, I was awoken by the sound of a rooster crowing.  I ended up in this guest house near the edge of the Mekong river after walking the several blocks last  night asking for each guest houses rate. Due to the chinese new year, something like a billion people have decided to travel around asia this week making it more difficult then normal to nail down a good deal. The wifi at this guest house is dodgy as hell, so for breakfast I located a restaurant on the mekong offering free wifi in order to research my options for the day. While eating a dish of something called Oklam Pork, I zeroed in on some ideas and got some price ranges to work with for transportation.