RTW Trip Day #42: The Living Land Farm Rice Experience in Luang Prabang

andrewsco3
Nov 10
3 min read

9 November 2025

Steps: 4,147 (but we did plough a field)

Today started with a nice breakfast in the centre of Luang Prabang, before checking out of our hotel and getting a Tuk Tuk to the Living Land Farm Rice Experience, where we took part in an interactive rice planting tour and then had dinner and stayed at the homestay overnight.

The Living Land Farm Homestay Accommodation

another view of our hut — Our hut for the night

The accommodation is a basic but lovely thatched hut right next to the rice paddies where we did our tour later in the day.

The room has one double bed and two beds on the floor for the girls, all covered with mosquito nets, which the girls think are fantastic.

They aren't the most comfortable beds we've slept in on this trip, but for one night it was a fun experience.

the view from the balcony — The view from our balcony

The balcony is beautiful, with a peaceful outlook over the rice fields and the sound of running water. After our tour, we spent some time just relaxing on the balcony and reading a book.

Lunch at the Farm

Before the tour started, we had lunch at the restaurant, which was a set tasting menu. It was delicious but far too much food for us, as the girls don’t each much. If we’d known it was going to be a banquet, we would have skipped breakfast!

We each got a pot of sticky rice, which was of course the star of the show, along with a lovely salad, a pork broth soup, a chicken and vegetable stir-fry, and a chicken and potato curry that was a bit like a mix between yellow curry and massaman. Everything was delicious, but the salad and the curry in particular were amazing.

The Living Land Farm Rice Experience

After lunch we joined two other couples on an interactive tour of the rice fields that included learning about and trying out the 14 steps to making sticky rice (the 14th step is eating it)!

view of another rice paddy with a hut in the background

The first step was watching how to separate rice seeds from the empty husks for planting, and then going knee-deep into the muddy rice paddy in thick, clay-like mud to plant the rice seeds ourselves.

After that, we had the option to go into a field with a water buffalo to help plough the soil. It was a lot of fun but hard to stay upright as it was so slippery. I was impressed that Jess wanted to have a go - she did great!

Johnny our guide in the mud with the buffalo

We then learned all about the various stages of growing rice, from planting out the seedlings and weeding around the rice, all the way to cutting and harvesting the fully grown plants.

Thankfully, there were some great washing stations to clean our legs and hands afterwards. I asked Johnny, our guide, and he said someone slips and falls into the mud almost every day, so it’s definitely not the place for anything white or your favourite T-shirt. Thankfully, there were no slip casualties in our group!

the cleaning station — the leg cleaning station

After that, we learned how the rice grains are separated from the plant, the rice removed from its hard shell, and then sorted and prepared for cooking using bamboo baskets to steam the rice.

We also got to make our own sugarcane juice using a traditional buffalo-powered press - except today we were the buffalos! The juice was served with a squeeze of lime and was delicious.

Some of the retired villagers were weaving bamboo and showing us what they make with it, and we were even given a small souvenir to take home.

our platter of rice products, including sticky rice

Finally, we all sat down to try the sticky rice, served with a few other rice-based dishes and a sweet rice wine that tasted a little like sake.

What impressed me most was learning how every part of the rice plant is used in some way. After the rice is removed from the stalk, the remaining parts are fed to the cattle, the hard outer shell is used to make rice wine, and even the water used to wash the rice becomes a natural shampoo.

Sleeping at the Living Land Farm

The main building where the restaurant is

For dinner we had another lovely meal - a chicken and vegetable stir-fry that was a little spicy, along with a whole fish (not sure what type). After dinner we played cards and relaxed before heading back to our hut for the night.

The beds were a little uncomfortable for us adults, but it felt very much like camping, with the sounds of frogs and crickets coming from the rice pond beside us and the occasional gecko call too.