Ban Xang Hai

Ban Xang Hai means the village of the jar makers, and it has been distilling lao-lao, the local rice spirit, for long enough that the name is now attached to the drink rather than the pottery. Sticky rice is fermented and run through simple stills in the yards behind the houses, and the results are sold in bottles along the riverfront, some of them containing a snake or a scorpion, which is a tourist product rather than a village one. Every boat between Luang Prabang and the Pak Ou caves stops here, which shapes what the village now is.

What you actually see

• The stills - simple pot distillation in the yards, running on fermented sticky rice.
• The jars - fermentation vessels stacked along the houses, the village's original trade.
• The riverfront stalls - bottled lao-lao, textiles and souvenirs facing the boat landing.
• The tasting - small measures offered at the stalls, at whatever strength the batch came out.

When to go

November to March is the dry season and when the boats run most reliably. Mornings are quieter than the middle of the day, when the Pak Ou trips arrive in a group. Distilling continues year-round.

Honest expectations

This is now a stop built around boat traffic rather than a working village you have discovered, and the stalls are the main thing you will see. The textiles sold here are often not local. Lao-lao is strong and unregulated in strength, so the tasting is not a formality.

Nearby

The Pak Ou caves are further upstream, and Luang Prabang is an hour or so down the river.