Luang Prabang & the North

Luang Prabang, known in early times as Muang Sua and later Xieng Thong, was the seat of the Lao principalities of the upper Mekong long before it became a royal city. In 1353 Fa Ngum founded the kingdom of Lan Xang here, and the town took its present name from the Phra Bang, a Buddha image brought as a symbol of the dynasty's Theravada faith. King Setthathirath moved the capital to Vientiane in the 1560s, but Luang Prabang remained the religious heart of the north, and when Lan Xang split in the early 18th century it became the capital of its own kingdom, which later paid tribute to Siam.

The uplands were a patchwork. Xiangkhouang was the Phuan principality of Muang Phuan, fought over by Lao, Siamese and Vietnamese rulers, while Tai, Khmu, Hmong, Akha and Yao peoples settled the hills of Phongsaly, Luang Namtha and Bokeo. In 1887 Chinese Haw raiders sacked Luang Prabang, and the French envoy Auguste Pavie helped the king escape — an episode that led to the French protectorate. The royal family kept its throne in Luang Prabang throughout the colonial period.

The 20th century was hardest on the east. The Plain of Jars was a key battlefield of the Secret War and was bombed repeatedly, and the Pathet Lao ran their leadership from caves at Vieng Xay in Houaphanh. After 1975 the monarchy was abolished and the last king, Savang Vatthana, was sent to a re-education camp in Houaphanh, where he died. UNESCO listed Luang Prabang in 1995, the railway reached it in 2021, and the Plain of Jars was listed in 2019.

The north is the most ethnically mixed part of Laos. Lowland Lao and Tai Lue communities farm the valleys and keep the Buddhist calendar, while Khmu villages occupy the middle slopes and Hmong, Akha, Yao and other peoples the higher ground, each with its own dress, language and spirit beliefs. Hmong New Year, held after the harvest in October or November, brings courting games of ball-tossing, new clothes and embroidered silver-hung costumes to Hmong districts.

Luang Prabang is the conservative centre of Lao Buddhism. Dozens of monasteries still house novices, the dawn alms round of tak bat passes along the main street, and visitors are expected to watch quietly, at a distance, without flash. Pi Mai celebrations here can last more than a week, and the town is known for its Nangsangkhan beauty pageant. At the end of Buddhist Lent in October, boats decorated with flowers and candles are floated on the Mekong.

Crafts are strong, especially textiles, among them the embroidered story cloths of the Hmong. Manners follow the national pattern of soft voices, covered shoulders at temples and shoes removed at the door.

Luang Prabang is the region's main town, a small place of a few tens of thousands whose old centre has become largely a world of guesthouses, cafés and monasteries, while residents live increasingly in the new suburbs. Phonsavan is a modern town rebuilt after the war, and Muang Xay in Oudomxay, Luang Namtha, Huay Xai and Sayaboury are market towns on the main roads. Phongsaly and Sam Neua in Houaphanh are remote provincial capitals in the hills.

Much of the north lives from upland rice, maize and livestock, but China's pull has changed the economy. Rubber and banana plantations cover former forest, Chinese traders run many shops, the railway has turned Boten into a border boomtown, and the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone in Bokeo, with its casino, has drawn criticism for illegal wildlife trade and trafficking. The Xayaburi dam on the Mekong in Sayaboury province sells power to Thailand.

Days start early: markets open before dawn, monks collect alms at sunrise, and villages go quiet by nine at night. Tourism dominates Luang Prabang's economy, and rising rents and heritage rules shape life in the old town.

Luang Prabang has the most refined cooking in Laos, a legacy of the royal court. Or lam is a thick stew of meat, eggplant, dill and wood-ear mushroom flavoured with the peppery wood of sakhan and thickened with sticky rice. Jaew bong is a sweet, smoky chilli paste made with dried buffalo skin, eaten with sticky rice and vegetables. Khai paen are thin sheets of river weed from the Mekong, pressed with sesame and garlic, dried and fried as a snack. Sai oua, herby pork sausages with lemongrass, are grilled at every market.

The local breakfast is khao soi in the northern Lao style: flat rice noodles in clear broth topped with a spicy minced pork and tomato sauce, quite unlike the curried Thai dish of the same name. Khao piak sen and grilled Mekong fish are staples, and the night markets sell buffet plates of noodles, vegetables and grilled meats.

Phongsaly is known for tea grown in its hills, Hmong villages make rice and corn spirits, and lao-lao rice whisky is poured at every celebration.

Luang Prabang holds most of the region's monuments within a short walk: Wat Xieng Thong with its sweeping roofs and glass-mosaic walls, the former Royal Palace with the Haw Pha Bang shrine that houses the Phra Bang, the climb up Mount Phou Si for sunset, the night market and the dawn alms round. Boats run up the Mekong to the Pak Ou caves, filled with hundreds of small Buddha images, and the Kuang Si falls, about 30 kilometres south of town, spill through turquoise pools.

North of Luang Prabang, the Nam Ou leads to Nong Khiaw, a riverside village among limestone cliffs with hard climbs to viewpoints, and on by boat to Muang Ngoi Neua. Luang Namtha is the base for trekking and homestays in the Nam Ha protected area among Khmu and Akha villages, and Phongsaly's ridges lead to tea villages near the Chinese border.

In the west, the Mekong slow boat leaves Huay Xai, across the river from Thailand, and takes two days to reach Luang Prabang, overnighting in Pakbeng. Also in Bokeo, the Gibbon Experience takes small groups into the forest by zipline to stay in treehouses high in the canopy. Sayaboury province has an elephant conservation centre.

The east is marked by the war. Around Phonsavan, the Plain of Jars sites hold large stone jars, some several tonnes, set among bomb craters; the Mines Advisory Group cleared unexploded ordnance from the sites now open to visitors. In Houaphanh, the caves of Vieng Xay, where the Pathet Lao leadership lived and worked during the bombing, can be visited with a guide.