Hello! Ready for another blog? We are…and we’re excited to share with you our time in Laos! I’ll begin by saying Laos is a beautiful country and so far our favorite out of the 3 we have visited thus far.
Our journey began in Vientiane, which is the capital and largest city of Laos. It is located on the banks of the Mekong River near the border of Thailand. As mentioned in a previous blog, our travel started on an overnight train from Ayutthaya. We didn’t have any expectations of Vientiane as we had heard several different opinions. We had only planned 2 nights in the city, using it as a small resting hub from our travels. Although our time there was short, it was still sweet. We were able to enjoy some down time in the many little cafes and coffee shops, which exhibited the french influence of the area. These cafes and coffee shops are very cute and spread all over the city. In fact, there are so many it is hard to choose just one, which is why we enjoyed many. Small temples were also spread throughout the city, which we experienced from the outside. One of our walks led us to a large mall that was joined with an existing street market, which made it one of the largest shopping centers for the area. On this walk we also found Patuxia, a city park designed after the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. It so closely resembles the original that the people of Vientiane also refer to it as the Arc de Triomphe. In the evenings we would go to the night market, located by the river. The night market was surrounded by many local restaurants that ran down the main streets, with some random carnival booths for some added fun.
Next, we headed to Vang Vieng by bus, which took us approximately 8 hours. The ride was long, but not terrible, just a tight fit; They follow the rule “one extra seat means 3 to 4 extra people.” Vang Vieng is a small town with a big party scene in the country side of Laos. Kaitlyn and I called it the asian Colorado; it was so beautiful. We had scenic views of the mountains from every direction. The town was easy to navigate and the food was wonderful (to be discussed in another post). On our first full day, we decided to take a tour that included zip lining, caving, swimming in blue lagoons and kayaking (as you saw in the posted videos). It was day full day for $27 USD each, well worth the price (in my opinion). The group was made up of us, some Chinese girls and 6 Korean middle-aged men, who were hilarious. The Korean men were very friendly and loved to laugh and make fun with the others in the group.
On the 3rd day of our visit, we decided to rent a scooter and see more back country…we took the motorbike across the bridge and into the native farm land of Laos. While on this adventure, we attempted to find all the blue lagoons (5 in total). We found all but blue lagoon #4. We also found a cave with a tunnel entrance that was about 3 ft. by 3 ft. So tight neither of us could wear the small backpack! We had to army crawl 25 meters before getting to a larger cave inside. Prior to this cave adventure, we were told by one of the locals that Laos has large cave spiders and to watch out. Once inside the larger portion of this cave, Kaitlyn’s light caught a spider the size of an orange hanging above our heads…if only Steve Irwin was still around to tell us about it. :( Going through that cave was intimidating because it was a tight squeeze into complete darkness. One funny experience was when we were flashed by a 5 year old. We were pretty deep into the country side and we knew not many tourists come as far as we had, because when a little boy saw us on the scooter, he took one look at us, grinned, and whipped out his little man parts. We immediately cracked up!
After 4 days in Vang Vieng we moved on to the city of Luang Prabang. This bus ride was utterly terrible. In an effort to avoid the terror we had heard from others, we purchased tickets for an air conditioned bus on “the new road” taking 4 hours. However, this was not the case. We ended up in the very back of a non-air conditioned bus that took “the old road” and took 6 hours. The driver was a maniac on the road. Imagine this: Think of the bumpiest dirt road you’ve EVER been on, going up and down steep roads, around “S” turns with no guard rails, in an old van, gears grinding and jerking at unsafe speeds, passing cars and trucks left and right…then feeling like you’re going to vomit or pass out, either one. At one point the driver took a corner too fast and we fishtailed, veering toward the edge of the road. I think the entire bus thought we were going to careen over the edge. However, he was able to correct it quickly and keep us on the road. It was such a hot, uncomfortable ride that everyone in our bus was nauseous by the end. So…You may try and plan something, but you also may not get what you expect. We continue to learn that Asia’s system is far different…in a way you have to accept what you get and move on…at the end of the day, we still arrived safely to our intended destination. It is instances like these though that make us quickly realize how blessed we are back home!
When we made it to Luang Prabang, slightly cranky and tired, we were blessed to find our hostel was clean and comfy. In addition, we had a very sweet roommate from Canada. We spent 2 and a half days there, relaxing and enjoying a spectacular waterfall. We were able to hike up the side of the falls, swim in the spring at the top and then swim in the pools at the bottom as well. We’ve realized that while we enjoy seeing temples and experiencing bigger cities, we seem to enjoy the natural sights such as caves, pools, waterfalls and countryside even more…it’s all so beautiful.
Laos was definitely different then any other country we had visited thus far, but it is beautiful and we would definitely head back for a future visit. It was a great experience and truly, our time was so short lived there is much more Laos has to offer.
N+K
P.S. Made the mistake of not posting before going to China and google was blocked, so sorry this is so late!
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