Discover all the secrets of rice growing in Luang Prabang

Take advantage of your stay in Luang Prabang to discover all the secrets of rice growing. It’s an exciting activity to discover all the secrets of the most consumed cereal in the world, of which we rarely know all the efforts it requires to be cultivated and consumed. This is a fun and interactive activity for young and old, which also takes place in a magnificent setting.

About rice

Cultivated for thousands of years in Asia, rice is now consumed throughout the world. It is also the basis of the diet for about half of the world's population, such as in Laos, where it is present at every meal, whether for breakfast, lunch or dinner. In Laos, sticky rice is almost exclusively consumed. Cultivated for nearly 4,000 years, sticky rice is just one of the many species of rice that exist and is not sticky as the adjective might suggest. After soaking for several hours, traditional cooking is done by steaming in a conical woven bamboo basket over an aluminum jar filled with water. When the rice is cooked, it is placed in round woven bamboo baskets. It accompanies salads, fish, meat, etc. Sticky rice is also used as a base for some Laotian desserts such as the delicious sticky rice with mango on which coconut milk is poured.

A captivating activity, at the heart of traditional rice farming

For half a day, Living Land and Lee 7 Farm invite you to discover all the secrets of rice farming. Although rice is the most consumed cereal in the world, we rarely know how much effort it requires to be cultivated and consumed. Nestled both in calm and beautiful tropical landscapes bathed in green rice fields, Living Land and Lee 7 Farm invite you to participate in a dozen interactive and fun workshops that will allow you to learn everything about rice farming. A local guide will explain all the steps necessary to turn a seed into a grain of rice to consume.

After showing you how to select the seeds, the guide will show you how to sow them. From one plot of rice paddy to another, he will show you how to plow a rice paddy using a buffalo. This is a very fun workshop where you will try to lead the best companion of the Laotian farmer with mud up to your knees.

After plowing, you will be invited to transplant the rice as Laotian farmers have been doing for thousands of years. Different plots of rice will show you the different stages of maturity of the rice, from soft green to yellow when it is ripe.

Then head to a plot of rice where the rice is ripe and ready to be harvested. Equipped with a pruning knife, you will cut the rice and then you will be introduced to threshing the rice with a traditional wooden tool. Once the rice is threshed, it will then have to be pounded in order to remove the husk of the rice and then sieved to remove all the impurities.

The guide will show you how to make rice flour which can be used to make noodles. After fermenting for 2 nights and then cooking in boiling water for 15 minutes in a banana leaf, the ball of rice flour is pounded to make it more malleable. It is then kneaded and pressed by a small device to obtain long noodles that can be used to enhance a delicious soup.

Living Land and Lee 7 Farm then invite you to taste sticky rice and some specialties made from rice.

It’s a great activity in direct contact with local farming traditions. Living Land and Lee 7 Farm also invite you to discover their organic gardens where, with patience and passion, they strive to grow fruits and vegetables in a reasoned way, practicing agriculture that respects the environment.

For a complete immersion, Living Land invites you to stay on their farm. Two delightfully simple wooden and bamboo bungalows set on the edge of the rice fields welcome you to live a unique travel experience.

Getting to Living Land and Lee 7 Farm

Living Land and Lee 7 Farm are both located in a beautiful countryside, between mountains and rice fields. Both are on the road that leads to the superb Kuang Si Falls. You can then combine the discovery of rice farming in the morning with the visit to the Kuang Si Falls in the afternoon. What a beautiful day of discovery in perspective!

Please note that Living Land and Lee 7 Farm take care of transfers to and from Luang Prabang. Also, note that the local guide who leads the activity can speak English.

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