Blogs from West, Laos, Asia

Sabaai-dii from Laos ! After the 15 hour slow boat journey down the Mekong and across the border from Chiang Rai to Luang Prabang we have had a hectic few days in this heritage city. Our arrival on the eve of Lao New Year, known as Pii Mai, was met with yet more fun with water but here the whole town seemed to either have a water gun or a hose, no one was escaping a soaking and the streets were flooded. Even the monks taking part in the procession of floats seemed to enjoy being splashed with water. Indeed the significance of the water sprinkling is to cleanse and purify the soul at the start of the New Year; although surely the original tradition involved just a light sprinkling rather than a full bucket of ... read more

We said goodbye to our Vietnamese guide Kha in Hanoi and transferred to the airport to board our flight to Luang Prabang, Laos (pronounced ‘Lao’).Officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, it is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south, and Thailand to the west. The population is around 6.5 million and the official language is Lao. The country is currently made up of about 60% Lao people and the other 40% consists of various Mon-Khmer groups and H’mong as well as other indigenous hill tribes who mainly live in the mountains and foothills. On arrival, those in our group from the UK and South Africa had to obtain Visa’s which could not be issued before we left as there is ... read more

Every travel guide says that Luang Prabang is a must see in Laos and everybody we met said it's an absolutely beautiful place. So not stopping in Luang Prabang for a few days wasn't an option. It has this similar colonial style feeling of a town lying on the Mekong river as Kratie or Savannakhet but in all possible ways it is much more enjoyable city than the two of them. You do get immidiately why people like this place so much. Luang Prabang represents a perfect blend and infusion of the old and the new, the traditional and the modern, the touristy and the local, the urban and the pristine nature around. It is hard to imagine other place where you can visit the most amazing Buddhist temples and have the chance to soak in ... read more

13-19th Mar Today we are going to Vietnam but we decided to go on some elephants before. It was really scary because we went down a steep hill. Mum and I were on one elephant on this seat and I felt like I was going to fall out. When we got to the bottom of the hill there was a river. We got into the river and the man said "come and sit on the elephant's neck". I was really freaked out because all you could hold on to was the elephant's head. When we got out of the lake I was fine but then our elephant went a little weird . It kept trying to overtake the other elephants and it nearly ate a garden tree. I reall enjoyed the ride. The plane was only ... read more