An Eventful Motorbike Journey
to an Uneventful Place.

We start the journey at our guesthouse as we rent the bike in the cover, heading down to the scenic river and boarding a vehicle ferry to bring us to the other side of Luang Prabang after some Khao Piak for breakfast. 

Alighting the ferry, we rode into a small village with a small riding path, which nestles many historical temples. 

We first hit up Wat Xiang Men, which, to be honest, is rather unassuming. The outside is filled with detailed engravings making the temple seem rather grand.

I am surprised by how well-kept this small temple is despite it being old as shit (built-in 1548). It holds a golden buddha inside, but the temple was not open when we were there.

We head towards Wat Chompet after leaving. We faced stairs, my mortal enemy. 

After defeating our mortal enemy, we found the temple undergoing restoration. The temple seemed smaller than Wat Xiang Men and less well-maintained.

We started chatting with a group of local tourists and having a picnic outside the temple. We were then offered some sticky rice cooked in coconut milk and sugar, which is sweet, savoury and f***ing good. Like it felt so good I almost peed more than the waterfall. 

Our final temple, Wat Long Koon, the only open temple we visited today.

Walking in, I can see that it is Chinese-influenced by the murals of guards outside the temples. The interior is very intricate paintings of landscapes and Buddhist art.

Finishing our temple hopping, we began our 20km journey to Green Jungle Park. We rode down a peaceful and quaint town, where we saw Laos’s greenery and felt immersed in the scene, seeing cows by the roadside and locals travelling in a unique type of car-lorry hybrid.

As we go down the road, the houses seem to get lesser while the mountains seem more. We stopped the motorbike, took photos of our surroundings (and ourselves) and let it all in.

We rode down admiring the beauty and soon reached Green Jungle Park. And disappointment hits. It’s bloody underwhelming like tasting Ichiran ramen first time. It’s boring, not as advertised, or looks like the picture the comments painted us. There is an underwhelming waterfall, paved roads, and a basic garden. Garden’s so basic that I am hearing “ I can’t even” when I stepped in.

Despite the place’s shortcomings, my takeback is that they have a great marketing team that can paint a boring place with a good picture. I got to give credit where it’s due, and we agree that the ride has better sceneries than the actual place. 30 mins later, we turned around and headed back to the main part of Luang Prabang. 

Halfway back, we drive past an unassuming small shack with locals inside. Our foodie radar shows up, knowing there would be good food inside. Not knowing what is served, we head in. All heads turned when we stepped in.

I felt popular, something I had never felt before. We know we are out of place by the looks of curiosity the locals gave us. The shy but friendly store owner greeted us. One customer of the shop who spoke English greeted us and told us what this shop sells. Pho and only Pho. We were given three options, Chicken, Beef or Buffalo. Not having tried Buffalo before, we went for the Buffalo.

After biting into the Pho, I had an orgasm. We got smacked by just how much flavour the soup is despite being clear.  The chewy noodles are al-dente and complement the soup well. Unlike the flat version used in Vietnam, this one uses thin noodles. Buffalo is surprisingly not as tough as we think, and we enjoyed the gamey taste of it. This bowl of Pho really made it on our Top 5 food we had in Laos. We slurped down this yummy bowl of goodness and had to pee in the bushes as the stall did not have a bathroom. We appreciated the scenery as we peed in the mountains high-fiving each other and washed our hands with water before heading back to the mainland. 

We bathed in the sunset as we enjoyed our last moments before ending this beautiful journey on our bike. We soon reached the river, knowing our journey had ended. As we boarded the ferry, we realised that this journey might be alright. We did enjoy ourselves, despite being an uneventful destination. We met people, tasted good food and appreciated beautiful sceneries. Life is all g, and we can’t ask for a better day there.