Village visit: Bamboo weaving and bamboo cooking class

Immerse yourself in Laotian culture at The Bamboo Experience, located in a small local village in Luang Prabang. The bamboo workshop is housed in a rustic pavilion inspired by a traditional Laotian house. It is in an incredibly beautiful and picturesque location surrounded by green rice fields.

The Bamboo Experience is a place that provides insight into local culture and traditions, with particular focus on the use of bamboo in everyday life and in crafts. You will learn about and participate in various bamboo-related activities, and you will conclude with a traditional cooking class where bamboo shoots are used as an important ingredient.

You will be picked up at the hotel, and the drive will take no more than 12 minutes. Upon arrival, you will be welcomed, and while sipping your welcome drink, you will be given an introduction to the importance of the bamboo plant to Laotian culture. Afterwards, there will be activities such as walking on bamboo stilts and bamboo archery.

You will then see how bamboo weaving is done. Once you have a rough grasp of the weaving technique, you will try your own hand at it. You will, in fact, make your own little glass coaster using a technique that has been practiced for many generations.

Afterwards, an exciting cooking class awaits, where you learn how to make Laotian dishes with bamboo shoots as the main ingredient. You will learn how to make bamboo shoot soup, steamed bamboo shoots in banana leaves, bamboo dip etc. Finally, you can enjoy your home-cooked meal, which is obviously served on a bamboo tray.

The day ends with a musical performance with the ‘hmong khén’ instrument, which is a traditional musical and wind instrument consisting of bamboo canes of different lengths and creating different tones. You will then watch a performance of the traditional ‘kamu’ dance, also known as the ‘bamboo dance’, which involves the use of long bamboo poles, which the participants hold and move rhythmically, while the dancers step in and out between the poles in time to the music. The dance requires great agility, coordination and sense of rhythm, as the dancers must avoid getting caught up in the moving bamboo poles.

After an exciting day, you will be driven back to your hotel.

On this excursion, you will help support the local village, and you will also help support the preservation of bamboo while promoting the use of bamboo in both crafts and everyday life.

Duration: approximately 4.5 hours.

This trip may be conducted together with other participants than TourCompass’s own guests.

We recommend that you book the excursion when booking the tour.