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Published: September 10th 2009
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We didn't really know what was ahead of us, heading into Laos. We'd heard that it was an amazing place but nobody could have prepared us for how beautiful this country is or how much fun we'd have here.
We started off in the south of Laos and Paulo found his perfect paradise island. We arrived on Don Det in a small boat, suitable for no more than five people but in true Asian style, it was loaded with twice as many. There were no roads here, just small dirt paths with water buffalo, cows, chickens, roosters, dogs and cats roaming round. We started looking for somewhere to stay on arrival but all we could see was people lying out in hammocks. When we asked about accommodation, we were pointed in the direction of empty bungalows, told to have a look and come back. This place has to be the laziest, most laid back place on earth. Nobody gets up off their hammocks’ unless it's life or death!
We stayed in the most basic accommodation to date, a little wooden bungalow, that we shared with four cockroaches and a few lizards and our toilet was a shared squatter! On the plus
side, it was right on the river with amazing views, perfect for watching the sunset. The main activities on Don Det are sleeping, eating and lying on hammocks. Once our batteries were fully recharged, we rented bikes to see what else was on the island. The scenery was stunning and we cycled over to another island to the biggest waterfalls in Asia.
From the Four Thousand Islands we headed north towards the capital. Our first impressions of Laos held through for Vientiane too. It was such a sleepy city with not much to do but relax and chill out, so we did just that for another few days before getting the most comfortable sleeper bus yet up to Vang Vieng. It was super, a bus full of bunk beds!
This place is a backpackers playground. There are so many adventure activities to do (kayaking, climbing, trekking, caving, tubing) that we ended up staying here a lot longer than planned. Tubing was unreal, possibly the best activity we've done. Some genius decided to combine the rubber ring from inside a tractor tyre with the Nam Song river. In other words it's you, sitting into a big rubber ring, floating down the
river. But there's more! Along the banks of the river there are fifteen bars and at each bar there are people with ropes, throwing them out to you in the tube and pulling you in. Each bar had some sort of activity - mud volleyball, zip liners, trapeze swings and giant slides! The whole thing is was completely crazy and not so health and safety conscious, especially as it can get dark quite quickly and it’s very easy to find yourself on a rubber ring, floating down a river in complete darkness with no signs telling you were to go. To add to all this fun, throughout the whole day we were surrounded by an absolutely beautiful landscape. I remember at one point sitting in a mud bath, bucket in hand, Paulo flying through the air off one of the swings, 2 Unlimited's "No, No" blaring from the bar, looking around at the scenery, thinking this is so surreal!
After a week of fun in Vang Vieng, we moved on to the next city, Luang Prapang. A very cool town on the Mekong river where, like any other place in Laos, relaxing is top priority. There are stunning water falls
all around the city including the Kuang Sy falls, a turquoise blue waterfall with natural swimming pools at the base. Needless to say there was a swing tied to a tree over one of the pools that kept us entertained.
We are quite sad to be leaving Laos. It has been our favourite country so far but we are really looking forward to Thailand.
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clare and aoife
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it is getting better all the time we are really enjoying your trip only wish we could be there be work and school are getting in the the way enjoy thailand and keep safe.