Lao Pottery House — Local services in Luang Prabang

My favorite activity in Luang Prabang! We booked the half day experience with a tour of the village, pottery class and lunch and had the best time! Absolutely worth the money!

We booked via WhatsApp the day before. Thieng, the owner, met us at our hostel the evening before to collect a deposit, so he can shop food for the included lunch. The next morning we were picked up at our hostel. We crossed the Mekong on a ferry to get to the traditional pottery village.

Thieng took us on a tour around the village and explained the different kiln-types, the firing process and the traditional way of preparing the clay. Because our tour was on a spirit day, we took a quick detour to watch the preparations for cock fighting. We didn't want to see the fight though, so we left early.

After the tour the pottery class began. Everybody got their own instructor, who helped you turn the ball of clay into your desired shape. It's so much fun! Thanks to the instructors the end results look pretty good, even if you have no idea what you are doing. The drying and firing takes about 2 weeks, so you cannot take your pieces home right after. However, if you want to keep them, they will ship it for you. Otherwise you will get a small cup, that has been fired and glazed already to remember the experience.

After the class we got a traditional Lao lunch, with a soup, some fish, some eggplant, riverweed and fruits. It was easily one of the best meals we had in Laos. We ended with some souvenir shopping in their shop and were taken back over the river to our hostel.

Thieng is super humble, friendly, speaks very good English and tried to answer all of our questions. He is trying to keep the art of pottery alive and is really passionate about it. While most young people in Lao don't want to work in this field, he tries to spark interest for the tradition in those, who - for whatever reason - cannot leave the village. It's truly inspiring hearing him talk about his goals and the art of pottery in general. I highly recommend coming here and supporting...

To borrow a phrase: "Just Do It!" I have never been one to sign-up for a crafty tour experience. What have I been missing?!? The day was absolutely, hands down, one of the best days I have had out on a tour. The communication with Thiang, the family owner, was timely and informative. Pick-up at the hotel in a tuk tuk - on time. The ride down to the Mekong to board the boat - perfect. The short ride down river for about 15 minutes delivered me to Thiang's village - a world removed from Luang Prabang. Thiang helped place the context of pottery making for this village in its 400 year context. He walked us through the village showing us the various steps of molding clay into pottery. We also visited the ten other village families who remain pottery makers, a craft that is dying and a craft which Lao Pottery House is trying to revive. We then had the opportunity to work with some clay and also to use a pottery wheel to craft a small item - with some strong guidance and tutelage from a local potter. Did I make a glamorous bowl? Nope. Did I make my first piece of pottery? I can proudly say "YES." If you like, your creation can be fired, glazed (for a slight additional fee), and shipped to you (for a fee). And if you don't want to bother with that, no worries. If you want to find some wonderful pottery, Lao Pottery House is a needed stop. What is impressive is the effort that Thiang is taking to help this village continue a beautiful craft. It does take a village. The day concluded with a tasty lunch served traditional Lao style. All in all, a glorious day. I walked...

This is a must-do in Luang Prabang. Seriously the highlight of our trip. So, so worth $45 USD. We did the 8:30am 1/2 day tour. It was just my friend and I for the whole thing! They picked us up from where we were eating breakfast (they happily accommodated a last minute location change) and drove us to a boat. We crossed the Mekong and did an in depth tour of the pottery village. We could ask unlimited questions and learned SO much from our guide. Then, we each made 2 pottery pieces during class!! Our teachers were amazing. My teacher only spoke Lao but with hand gestures, we figured it out. You can choose to ship your pottery to you, take home a replacement piece, or get a discount at their beautiful store. When we said we didn’t haven’t room for our bowls, he gave us two free whiskey cups!! SO kind.

The lunch is a HIGHLIGHT! Omg. Best Lao food we’ve had here. Seriously delicious and so much food. You eat at around 12/12:30pm, after the pottery.

They drove us back to our hostel at the end.

There are opportunities to buy pottery from the local villages, so bring extra cash. There are little trinkets for 50,000 Kip each.

The payment is a bit weird - they’ll ask to pay 1 million kip in advance (the day before, for us) to lock in the tour. We were sketched out by this, but it was totally fine. He came to us to pick up the money. Completely not sketchy.

Overall, this is a must do. We had the best time and learned so much. They’re so so kind and it was really fun. We hope they one day start up a...