6D5N Houay Xai - Pakbeng -Luang Prabang

From 07:30AM until 08AM at latest, meet our English-Speaking team at the Chiang Khong immigration office at Thai side. We will help the guests to exit Thailand and get the shuttle bus to Lao border including luggage handling. Right after, Guest will meet our local guide at Lao immigration at the shuttle bus terminal and he could assist guests to apply for their visa on Arrival. After passing Lao immigration, guests will take a sharing minivan to the slow boat pier to embark on the boat around 09:30AM at latest.

During the morning, Quick lecture about Do’s and Don’ts in Laos and fun facts will be presented by our guide. Lao traditional Lunch set is served on board.

After lunch, we will prepare a short cooking class experience and teach our passengers how to make local dessert: KhaoTom muk Khouay (Banana with coconut milk and sticky rice rolled in a banana leaf).

Before reaching Pakbeng,we will stop to visit a local village (Ban Pak Sith), a tiny cozy place which host about 60 families. Travelers will learn about rural lifestyle and how to make Local Rice alcohol in a very remote area. The boat will arrive at Pakbeng before the night. Overnight in hotel in Pakbeng.

Dinner on your own. Overnight at hotel.

The boat will leave Pakbeng at 08am. Enjoy the beautiful nature and jungle during your journey. In the morning, our guide and cooker will make a short demonstration on how to make local homemade drinks made with butterfly pie flowers and lemon. A Lao traditional Lunch set is served on board.

After lunch, the boat will stop at the Pak Ou Caves (Tham Ting) and its over two thousand Buddha statues. It is one of the most important Pilgrimage places for lao people. The boat will arrive in Luang Prabang before 4:30pm.

Transfer to hotel in town for check-in. Time at leisure

Dinner on your own. Overnight in hotel.

An optional early start gives you the fantastic opportunity to participate in the daily morning alms giving ritual to saffron clad monks. This tradition is unique to Laos, being the only Buddhist nation still preserving this procession. Stop and visit fresh local markets and back to hotel for breakfast.

This morning, depart to visit Wat Visoun, the site of impressive Thad Makmo stupa. The rounded dome is stylistically more Sinhalese than Lao.  Continue to visit Wat Aham. Next, visit to the most photographed temple, Vat Xiengthong. Located at the end of peninsular closed to the confluence of Mekong and Khan River. Then move to Wat Sene Souk Haram or literally “Temple of a 100 000 treasures”, one of the most beautiful temples in Luang Prabang, singular by its restored painting of a deep ochre colour, flamboyant and glittering with gold.

This afternoon, continue to former Royal Palace, now the National Museum. Visit Wat Mai, a temple renowned for its golden bas-relief. During Pimai, the Lao New Year, the Prabang normally housed in the Royal Palace Museum is brought and put on public display in this temple.

Nighttime is for your own discovering Luang Prabang night market

Meals on your own. Overnight in hotel.

After breakfast at the hotel, you will be picked up from hotel to the venue located inside a small village overseeing rice field to participate in the Bamboo Experience (join-in). You will be explained on usage on bamboo to make various items and also given experience to play their childhood games with metal balls, crossbow arrow, …. Participation in a bamboo weaving course with the guides of an expert teacher. Try with a knife to cut the bamboo into several pieces and then weave them for about an hour to complete your own mat that you will take with you as a keepsake. Then, enjoy great time learning about using bamboo in cooking, such as: bamboo shoot soup, bamboo shoot with banana leaf with sticky rice … Afterwards, savor your creations in the traditional Laotian house (Pavilion style).

In the afternoon, transfer back in town and ferry to other side of Mekong to visit Ban Xiemienne village.  Enjoy a walking tour along the village to Wat Long Khoun temple, located in the jungle. This monastery historically had important ties with the royal family of Luang Prabang. From its beginnings Wat Long Khoun served as a retreat center for spiritual revitalization. It was traditional practice that the new king-designate spend three days there in ceremonial bathing and meditative retreat.

Back to hotel and time at leisure.

Dinner on your own. Overnight in hotel.

After breakfast, spend the morning exploring the rice culture and farming experience with some hands-on activities along the way. Be welcomed by the hospitable farmers who will show you how rice is grown and harvested. You can plant rice in the rice paddy together with the farmers while seeing the buffalos plough the rice paddies. Discover what rice can be used to produce different products.

This afternoon, driving through green rice paddies and farms. On your arrival at the Kuang Si waterfall, enjoy your short walking on trails of falls to visit the bear rescued centre. Enjoy spectacular views and surrounding of orchids inside the park and falls cascade over many calcified tiers and down several hundred feet into a series of cool, turquoise pools. Return to Luang Prabang.

Meals on your own. Overnight in hotel.

Breakfast at hotel. Free time until your transfer to Luang Prabang airport for your international flight.

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