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A worthwhile organisation devoted to encouraging literacy in young adults and children. Depending on sponsorship and volunteers, it welcomes tourists to help with English conversation and reading practice. You can just hang out and chat with locals about whatever you like. They publish and distribute books in Lao and English. Consider buying some books to take as gifts to village children if you travel through Laos. They have another branch in Vientiane. Two, 2 hour conversation sessions per day. Lots of nice locally-written kids' story books available to buy, starting from 50 cents for their A6 size books.
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Sai Bat
Monks at dawn collect alms of rice from kneeling villagers (and early-rising tourists). Ask your guesthouse host to assist you the day before in preparing if you'd like to get up and give alms in the morning. The alms giving ceremony is one which, while picturesque, is not without its detractors. Unscrupulous local merchants have used the eagerness of tourists to participate in this tradition as a means of making easy money. They sometimes sell unsuitable, stale and even unsafe food, resulting in monks falling ill after having consumed the offerings, Hence the growing resistance to continuing the tradition. The government, however, has made it clear that the monks must continue the custom or be replaced by lay persons clothed in saffron robes in order to keep up appearances, thereby maintaining tourist revenue. If you wish to participate in this ceremony, prepare the food or fruit yourself. Avoid giving food of dodgy quality. Another problem is the rampant photography: while a photo might look nice in your collection, think about how it must feel for the monks to have hundreds of tourists photographing them every day. Some lowlifes even stand next to the monks, blinding them with flashbulbs. Consider watching this old tradition from a distance instead of degrading it.
2 cruises on the Mekong with full meals. Pak Ou Cave cruise goes upstream, includes a visit to the "1000 Buddhas cave" (entrance fee included) and a whisky village, where passengers are given enough time to visit. Sunset cruise goes downstream, includes a traditional music and dance show.
ວັດຊຽງທອງ
The oldest monastery in town and one of the most beautiful.
A museum with one of the few remaining pre-colonisation houses. It also features an area to dress in costumes, learn different crafting technique and quite a good cafe for lunch.
It has 14 elephants. They are kept away from abusive work and cared by veterinarians, and seem well looked after and relaxed. Offers basic elephant rides, or 1 or 2 day mahout course where you learn the commands to control the elephant. You also get to wash the elephants in the Namkhan River which is a lot of fun.