Luang Prabang

Matt was excited to arrive in Luang Prabang because he was keen on doing some trips into the jungle. We were both surprised at how off the pricing in the Lonely Planet guide was compared to the current prices in the town. It did mention that prices have been sky rocketing and that was surely true. Of course in comparison to Canada or another developed country it was still on the cheap side but not what you would expect for a small city in the middle of nowhere. This has been the most expensive city we've visited in Laos and they don't really seem to like to bargain. We sat down and had a serious talk about spending (I tend to fall into the category of raging cheapskate) and decided to loosen the purse strings a bit and live a little. We promptly booked a day trip to trek through the jungle, see some villages and the waterfall and then ride an elephant and a Laos cooking class for the day after. Both cost roughly $30 US/person but looking back, it was money well spent since we had a lot of fun.

Luang Prabang is a pretty place but I probably wouldn't spend as much time there if I was doing this trip again. We ended up staying a few extra days since we were both feeling ill (good old traveler's diarrhea) but it meant that Matt was able to study and I was able to eat a lot of delicious baking at JoMa's Bakery/Cafe. Divine. If you're in Laos you must go there and have the chocolate pie. You can find it in Vientiane and Luang Prabang.