Luang Prabang

Checking into a riverside tented villa at Rosewood Luang Prabang ($1,100 USD per night), nestled beside a cascading jungle stream in the hills surrounding the ancient royal capital, felt like discovering an undiscovered jewel. Designed by Bill Bensley in celebration of French-Laotian explorer heritage, the villa had a wrap-around wooden deck and an outdoor wooden tub suspended over the rushing waters.

At 5:30 AM, before the morning mist lifted from the Mekong, I knelt quietly on a woven reed mat along Sakkaline Road for the sacred ritual of Sai Bat (morning almsgiving). In reverent silence, hundreds of barefoot saffron-robed monks filed past in a continuous line to receive balls of freshly steamed sticky rice placed into their brass alms bowls. The quiet devotion of this daily centuries-old tradition was humbling.

Later, I hired a vintage wooden longboat to cruise up the mighty Mekong to the Pak Ou Caves, where thousands of gilded Buddha statues have been left by pilgrims over centuries inside limestone caverns. In the afternoon, a private chauffeured vintage car took me to Kuang Si Falls (25,000 LAK entry). Cascading across three tiers into tiered travertine limestone pools of surreal turquoise water, swimming in the crisp jungle pools surrounded by tropical ferns was pure refreshment.

Evenings were spent strolling through the quiet Night Market, where local ethnic minority artisans sold exquisite handwoven indigo textiles and mulberry paper notebooks. At Manda de Laos, dining on wooden platforms built over UNESCO-classified lotus ponds, I enjoyed traditional Laotian delicacies like Mok Pa (steamed river fish in banana leaves with lemongrass and dill, 180,000 LAK) while vintage cocktails and floating lotus candles set a magical ambiance.