Laos Travel Guide

HANDICRAFTS, TEXTILES & ANTIQUES

Fibre2Fabric
Tel: 254761 - Add: 71 Ban Wat Nong Street
This non - profit curates three exhibitions annually and promotes textiles from the diverse ethnic minorities of Laos. The quality is superb and the products are an education in Lao culture themselves.

Kopnoi
Add: Vatmou-Enna Street.
It target the discerning  shopper with east-meet-west clothing in natural fabrics and dyes, designer jewelry, homewares and handicrafts, book on Lao cuisine, architecture and craft.

Naga Creation
Tel: 020-7775005 - Add: Th Sisavangvong.
Specializing in jewellery, it procedures individual masterpieces using a variety of precious stones and silver. All items are hand crafted and you can see the jewellers at work in the store.

OckPoptok
Tel: 254406
Th Sivavangvong offers naturally Lao silk and cotton, custom-tailored clothes, household decorative items. Fabric can also be purchased.

Pathana Boupha Antique House
Tel: 212 262 – Add: 24/9 Ban Visoun Street
In an impressive old French mansion, it carries antique statuary, jewellery, silverwork, royal Lao government currency and photos, mostly from the Lao owner private collection

Thithpeng Maniphone
Ban Wan That.
This crafted silverware for Luang Prabang royalty before 1975. It has 15 apprentice silversmiths but still does the most dedicate work himself.

MARKETS

Handicraft night market
Add: Corner Th Sisavangvong & Th Kitsarat
Opening hour: 5am - 11pm
Every evening this market assembles along Th Sisavangvong from the Royal Palace Museum to Th Kitsarat, closing this section of the street off to motor vehicles. It’s one of Luang Prabang’s biggest tourist lures. Low-lit and quiet, it’s devoid of hard selling and is possibly the most tranquil market in Asia. Tens of dozens of traders sell silk scarves and wall hangings, plus H’mong appliqué blankets, T-shirts, clothing, shoes, paper, silver, bags, ceramics, bamboo lamps and more. It’s incredibly cheap and because you’re injecting currency directly into the local economy you have to feel good about spending dosh here.

Fresh produce market
Opening hour: 5.30am - 4pm, Sat - Mon
A colorful market that fills the street between Th Sisavangvong and the Mekong in Ban Pakam. You can watch locals stock up on leafy greens, eggs, dried shrimp and live frogs. It’s very photogenic and best in the early morning.
Talat Phosy is a huge warehouse like structure built by the Chinese, encompassing the biggest market for fresh produce, meats, herbs and just about any other basic requisite of Lao life.
There’s also a Chinese market, opposite the Luang Prabang Provincial Stadium on the outskirts of town, selling dry goods, textiles and hardware.