Before the sun is properly up, a line of monks in saffron robes walks barefoot along the main street of Luang Prabang, and townspeople kneel on mats to put handfuls of sticky rice into their bowls. The alms round, tak bat, is the daily heartbeat of the town, and it has been going on for centuries. Luang Prabang sits on a peninsula where the Nam Khan river meets the Mekong, ringed by green mountains, and for several hundred years it was the royal capital of the Lao kingdom of Lan Xang. The old town, with its gilded temples, wooden houses and French colonial villas, was listed by UNESCO in 1995, and it is one of the best-preserved towns in Southeast Asia.
Wat Xieng Thong, a temple founded in the sixteenth century, has roofs that sweep nearly to the ground and a back wall with a tree of life in glass mosaic. The former Royal Palace is now a museum, and Phou Si, a steep little hill in the centre with a stairway of several hundred steps, gives a view over the rooftops and rivers at sunset, together with a considerable crowd. The night market on the main street sells silk, paper lanterns and hand-woven cloth by lamplight, and fresh baguettes, a French legacy, appear at breakfast with strong Lao coffee.
The riding to get here is a pleasure and a trial. Route 13, the main road north from Vientiane, climbs through mountain forest with endless curves, steep sections and slow lorries, passing the karst country around Vang Vieng. In the wet season, from May to October, landslides and potholes can slow everything. Beyond the town, roads lead north to Nong Khiaw and toward the Chinese border, and the best day trip is to the Kuang Si waterfalls, about thirty kilometres south, whose turquoise pools drop in terraces through the forest.
Luang Prabang, with some forty-seven thousand inhabitants, has fuel, repair shops and plenty of guesthouses. The best season is November to February, when the air is cool and dry. From March to April, farmers burn the fields, and haze can hide the mountains.
Try the local river weed, khai pen, a crisp snack with sesame, and a bowl of khao soi, a noodle soup, at a market stall.