Prior to leaving on this adventure fellow travellers always raved about Laos. Now I understand why and completely agree. The country and the people are phenomenal. There is something unique about Laos that can't be captured with words. Even though I thoroughly enjoyed Vietnam and Cambodia, Laos is a country I would love to visit again one day.
Our journey to Laos was a long one. We took a 12 hour bus ride from Siem Reap to Bangkok. Waited 4 hours and then took a 16 hour sleeper train from Bangkok to the capital of Laos. We were all in desperate need of a shower but ended up in the dirtiest hostel I have ever seen. It smelt like mold, there was water all over the floor and the shower looked like it hadn't been cleaned in months. We attempted to make our selves slightly cleaner but with little success we left to fill our bellies with local food. After refuelling we headed for the next leg of our trip. The bus ride to Louangphrabang was another long one and I got no sleep secondary to the constant twists and turns. When we arrived in Louangphrabang I pulled up my socks (not figuratively) and prepared myself for our next adventure. We found a great hostel (outside picture included) with clean, beautiful double rooms for $7.50 each.
(I figure its best to start including the accommodations I choose as many people are messaging me about details on whether or not the ones I choose are worth the time).
Louangphrabang is a chill town with a strong French influence. The food is awesome and there is also great wine! Huge plus after drinking cheap beers for 4 weeks. In Louangphrabang we did a half day trip to the beautiful water falls, and of course, saw some more temples. We have seen so many temples that now they all look the same.
The following day we did an elephant tour. We rode elephants in the jungle, learnt how to command them, swam with them and fed them. After the elephants we took a small motor boat and visited a few local villages. It was neat to see how the locals truly live. We even witnessed a village wedding. I didn't take any pictures as I felt it wasn't respectful as we were already walking through their backyards. The entire day was a grand experience and I highly recommend all of the above in Louangphrabang.
Furthermore, there is a night market in Louangphrabang where you can get a plate of local food for around $2.00. You are allowed to fill the plate with as much as you like. Great way for travellers to stay on budget and taste the local delights. In the evenings we visited a few local pubs but the only real place to party in Louangphrabang is at the bowling alley. The entire town, like many places in Vietnam & Cambodia, as a curfew. Therefore, after all the local pubs close at 11pm everyone gets in tuk tuks and heads to the bow ling alley to drink cheap beers and pretend to be good at bowling.
After Louangphrabang we headed down to Vang Vieng for the tubing experience of the life time. We had to take another bus (sigh sigh) and due to my horrible experiences on sleeper buses I opted to try a Valium. Gravol does absolutely nothing on Laos roads as they are the absolute worst. At one point during our travels I took three gravols with no success so, Stevie found me a local pharmacy in Louangphrabang and I bought some valium. After taking two I was out like a light. We were dropped on the side of
the road in the rain at 3am and I was a complete zombie. Thank goodness for my amazing travel buddies who got us home safe. If you get bad motion sickness like
myself, Valium does help make the Laos bus rides at least somewhat
bearable but make sure you have good travel friends or you'll miss your stop. Needless to say we arrived, got to our hostel and slept till
the sun came up.
I didn't take any pictures in Vang Vieng as my camera is already in rough shape and there was just too much water to risk it. We planned on staying for 2 days and ended up staying for 4 nights. It is one of the craziest party places I have ever been. One night I remember riding home on the top of a tuk tuk (sorry Dad).
The first day we decided to rent tubes however only made it to the first two bars, lost our tubes, our deposits but woke up with some awesome memories. The next day we skipped out on the tubes and just experienced the various bars along the river. On the third day we finally got tubes and made it down the whole river. It is a beautiful ride down and just at the end it started to rain harder than I have ever seen rain. That night we made it to the bucket bar and smile bar. We met so many awesome people from all over the world in Vang Vieng. I look forward to crossing paths with many of them again soon.
After Vang Vieng I took a bus alone down to the capital to meet up with Cindy Qu for our last night together before going our separate ways. Stevie stayed in Vang Vieng and Nick had a flight back to Germany on the 6th. Cindy and I had a great last dinner at a local restaurant and discussing our favourite memories, moments, and friends we made on our journey together.
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| Collecting flags for every country I visit! |
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| Waterfalls in Louangphrabang |
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| Cindy and I at the waterfalls in Louangphrabang |
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| More falls, with a swinging rope to jump in! |
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| Steve and I on the elephant |
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| Nick and Cindy on the elephants! |
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| Steve representing communism |
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| The elephant Steve and I rode and fed |
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| Heading into the water.... |
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| You ride the elephants out of the water on their bear backs and then they sit down to let you off :) |
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| Team partyfloor at a local village on the bridge. Every rainy season the bridge gets washed away and re-built. |
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| Attempting to turn Stevie into a coffee lover while he represents communisms as usual. |
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| Louangphrabang village street |
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| Cindy, Nick and I at another temple.. |
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| Stevie outside another temple |
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| The art inside the temple. |
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| Local crepes! Nutella and banana |
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| Eating my first crepe |
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| Local market in Louangphrabang |
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| Our hostel in Louangphrabang |
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Stevie on our last sleeper bus (VIP) to tubing!
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Sorry there is no pictures of tubing in Vang Vieng but ill get some from Cindy and Stevie soon and post them :) This is the only one I have via facebook....
