Essay writing in Laos: Spring Festival 2025

Essay writing can either be no problem, and something I can just get on with, or it is a pain in the neck and makes me ready to kill someone. Sadly, this time round was the latter.

I figured, if you have to write an essay somewhere quiet, it might as well be somewhere nice with decent food and beer. So I hopped over to Laos and set up camp in Luang Prabang. 

I have been here before, so I wasn't too concerned with sightseeing or completing a tourist list, and I have a decent idea of what is available and enjoyable.

I found a nice-looking hotel just outside of the main area that looked otherwise me to be a quiet and suitable place to work on the writing. It turned out to be even better than expected, as the place was nearly deserted. Staff left me alone to write what I needed, but ran over every time the beer levels got dangerously low. Beer Laos is one of my favourites of the South East asian beers, and now that China has decided to brew it in Banna and changed the flavour, it is far less enjoyable. 

Luang Prabang is a small, quaint, sleepy town with an abundance of bars, cafes and restaurants ideal for chilling and relaxing. My system was to write all morning, take a break for lunch, a few more hours of writing and then out for a late afternoon walk, usually with a beer and something fantastically tasty for dinner. Laos food is criminally underappreciated and misunderstood. 

I found a fantastic restaurant which had taster plates with all of the different regions and flavours. The staff at the restaurant would explain all of the food, how to eat and its origins before they would let you start eating. 

I spent a fantastic 10 days camped out writing my essay and thoroughly enjoying myself.