Laos: Hotels, Eating, Drinking and Shopping by Richard Waters
Featured Hotel in Luang Prabang
Amantaka
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Where to Stay
Sala Done Khone, Don Khon village, Si Phan Don.
Tasteful colonial style villa and gardens with designer interiors that take you back to the days of the colons. Yards away, life on the river putters by with fishermen in pirogues.
Little Eden, by the boat landing, Don Dhet.
Run by Belgian chef Mathieu Verborg and his Lao wife, Noy; Eden, as the name suggests, is lush, peaceful and has the best views on the island. Not a snake in view.
Inthira Hotel, Rue Annou, Thakhek.
Converting a couple of colonial-era trading houses, Inthira has created the most fashionable haunt in town, the centrepiece of which is its New York-style bar and restaurant. Well placed too with a street cafe opposite the handicraft night market.
Tha Khek Travel Lodge, Route 13.
On the outskirts of town near the bus station, the lodge is a hidden gem. Every room is different and the playful staff are happy for you to select your flavour. They also rent mopeds- essential for doing the loop to Kong Lor cave.
Hotel Beau Rivage, Fa Gnum Rd, Vientiane.
The place to stay for sophistication and escapism combined. Its fabulously bespoke rooms – decked in oriental screens, exposed brick and terrazzo floors – are beautiful, with riverside views and a sanctuary out back to read in.
The Aspara, Kingkitsarath Rd, Luang Prabang.
Situated on the old peninsula, this renovated French villa aglow with Chinese lanterns, Asian-fusion cooking and indo-chic, has capacious rooms; with turquoise linen, sparkling bhuddas and romantic little bureaus. The rooms upstairs have colonial-style balconies and riverfront views.
Three Nagas by Alila, Sakkaline Rd, Luang Prabang.
With its wood-blade fans, elegant bar and ambient-lit restaurant, Three Nagas by Alila has long been the first word in style. The larger suites nearest the river are divinely chic with swallow-you-up four posters and Bedouin-style mosquito nets.
Where to Eat/Drink
JoMa Bakery, Setthathirat St, Vientiane.
Redefining the term bakery with a smorgasbord of homemade brownies, pastries, fresh salads, bespoke subs, and to die for coffee grown on Laos' Bolaven plateau- welcome to air-cooled carb heaven.
Le Provencal, Nam Phou, Vientiane.
One of the originals and the best: Provencal has seen CIA spooks, Russian advisors and Communist leaders come and go. But it's still here alchemizing tasty Gallic dishes over a wood-fire. You may have to pinch yourself to check you're not back in France.
The Spirit House, Fa Gnum Rd, Vientiane.
This aptly-named watering hole is a shishi slice of Manhattan infused with a sense of eastern exotica; its spectrum of cocktails will make your liver glow and the river-view sunsets of the Mekong are stunning.
Tum Tum Cheung, Sisavangvong St, Luang Prabang.
The most authentic eatery in a sea of pretenders, Tum Tum's atmosphere of paper lanterns and gold-stencilled ox blood walls, almost rivals its defiantly Lao menu. The food here is based upon the original sorcery of the last royal chef (before the royals were ousted in '75) and it's one of the best places to try laap.
Hmong night market
Beyond the fairy-lit gauntlet of tribal handiwork (outside the gates of the old Royal Palace), there's dozens of braziers glowing with fried bananas and skewers of meat. I was never sick once... honest.
After your mid-evening snack head to the uber cool Hive Bar, on Kingkitsarat Street ten minutes walk away; a funkily down-lit dive with cool tunes, warrens of shadowy niches to canoodle and a candlelit garden beneath the stars. You'll find it beside Lao Lao Garden.
What to Eat
Baguettes with pate are a local speciality as is laap – minced meat with onions, mint and chillies. Delicious – and all for less than two pounds.
Where to Shop / What to Bring Back
In Luang Prabang, keep an eye out for the indigenous mulberry paper, fashioned into lanterns and diaries. The Hmong tribe make particularly colourful blankets and tapestries and you can pick these up at their night market by the Royal Palace every evening. In the antique shops you'll find timeworn opium pipes, betel nut pots and antique Naga (dragon) statues.
Jewellery: the Akha tribe make lovely jewellery, as do the Hmong. Pay between £3-10 depending on your haggling skills.
Pashminas can be bought throughout Luang Prabang and you should expect to pay at least £8-10 for decent silk.
Satri Lao, Setthathirat St, Vinetiane, is an Aladdin’s cave of silk scarves, scented soaps, kitsch seventies print skirts and bespoke jewellery.
Orange Tree, Khem Khong St, Luang Prabang, has to be the most eclectic emporium of Asian curios in the whole of the city: colonial vanity cases, art deco clocks, revolutionary Mao plates and local handicraft; the perfect place to pick up a keepsake of the Orient.
Want to hear more about Richard Waters's travels around Laos? Read an extended account of his trip in Journey up the Mekong.