North Laos

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I was excited to go to Laos. From anyone I had talked to who had travelled SE Asia it was always quoted as a highlight. It is supposed to be a small country, full of super friendly locals, still relatively untouched by tourism, full of rain-forests and natural wonders and it is also actually one of the 20 poorest countries in the world.

Getting there was an epic journey, taking 21 hours from when we left Chang Mai. 13 hours of this were spent on what can only be described as the bus from hell. It was an overnight 'vip' bus with nothing vip about it whatsoever. It wasnt just full, in fact they brought out stools so people could sit in the aisles! There were babies on board (no idea what sort of person tortures their kids with a 13hr overnight bus) and the road was so windy it was akin to trying to sleep on a roller coaster - although I think sleeping on a roller coaster would be both easier and more comfortable!

But we made it to Luang Prabang (LP) in the north of Laos in one piece, even if incredibly tired (to make matters worse I was still recovering from being unwell in Thailand).

I have to say I was pretty disappointed in my first impressions - LP was way more touristy than I imagined. I was not expecting to be hassled by Tuk Tuk drivers while out walking in the streets in Laos. I am hoping that we havent missed the boat on the quiet, tranquil Laos I was expecting.

Those thoughts aside, LP itself is really picturesque - a small town surrounded by green mountains in a little valley.

After a recovery nap we grabbed some lunch and got chatting to a well travelled Aussie guy called Graeme who now lives in Laos and runs a tour company there. I was relieved to hear that my first impressions might not be so true as the area we were in was in fact easily the most touristy part of LP.

So all 3 of us set out for a stroll to explore the town a little and saw some of the temples and Angkor-like architecture that is there - there are definitely a lot more quiet parts to the city.

It was actually my birthday that day but as my stomach still wasnt 100% we just had a quiet one. Strangely there is an array of different food options from around the world available in LP, including a Swedish pizza house. So I decided to have some Western food for a change and we went there.

After we went to a bar called Hive that Graeme recommended. I had one of my first (of many) Beer Lao. Beer Lao isnt as much a beer as an Laos institution, accounting for 90-99% of beer sold in Laos I have heard - despite the efforts of companies like Tiger trying to break the market. It is, imo, a pretty average lager though, the Beer Lao Dark variety being much more better (like a bitter/ale rather than a dark beer).

Em and I also tried Beer Lao Strawberry that we found in a Belgian bar in town, which was really good and tasted more like a cocktail than fruit beer! We enjoyed it next to a little log fire that the bar staff set up for us.

There is another Laos beer you occasionally see called Nam Khong, I tried it a couple of times it is pretty bad - really lagery and light, much worse than even a regular Beer Lao.

The following day Em and I set off for a long boat cruise down the Mekong river, ending at Pak Ou Caves. The caves are famous as the Lao royalty used to go there to meditate. They now contain hundreds of small Buddha statues.

The cave was nice, but the cruise down the Mekong was better - surrounded by the green hills and limestone rocks of Northern Lao with dots of villages and village huts along the way.

We stopped in a Hmong village famous for it's Lao rice whisky. It is a sweet tasting whisky which (for some reason!) they often bottle alongside snakes, scorpions, bees etc - for the additional flavour I guess!

We also managed to find a tiny, empty stretch of beach right beside the caves where Em and I took in the views. So it was a good trip, although slightly on the chilly side.

Back on land, Cecilia joined us and we set off in a Tuk Tuk for a nearby waterfall called Kuang Si.
It isnt so much a waterfall as it is a bunch of smallish waterfalls leading up to a larger one at the top of the hill. The park was really nice, housing some Asiatic bears that they rescued. The highlight though were the clear blue lagoons, in particular one where I jumped in off a (small) waterfall and a tarzan style rope swing - the water was fresh but cold!

Back in town in the evening we had heard from an American guy, who works in a tour shop, about a bar called Utopia that has a beach volleyball court! So we met him there later, where I had a nice relaxing beer Lao but sadly I didnt get any beach volleyball!

The next day, after some of the best scrambled eggs Ive ever had at this place called Coconut Cafe (I hassled the waitress for the recipe, they wouldnt tell/didnt understand), we left LP for Vang Vien (VV). Not before our guest house (Levady GH) completely ripped us off by double charging us. So much for friendly Laos people.

Anyway we had heard the drive to VV was scenic so left in the early afternoon. Scenic is almost an understatement for how awesome this drive was. Since north Laos is all mountains, the roads just winds up and down them all. The journey was like driving up and down 12 mountains - so amazing. Some of the small mountain top villages are set with some ridiculously stunning panoramas. It was possibly the best bus ride I've ever been on, the 6 hours flying by topped off with an outstanding sunset.

VV is a small town full of backpackers, the majority there for the main attraction - tubing down the Mekong river. The 'tube' aspect of the tubing is the least important - it is just the method to get to one bar from another down the river. The main attractions are the bars, swimming, jumping, slides, rope swings and the laid back party atmosphere (with free lao whisky shots aplenty).

The first day we went tubing it was kind of average - fun, but most of the bars were really quiet. We later found out that the '1st' bar the tuk tuk driver dropped us off at was actually the 5th bar (it was probably his mates) so we decided to stay another night and give it another go.

In between this we checked out some of the other local attractions with some people we met - a couple from Leeds called Charlie and Nicky on the bus to VV; we also shared a tonne of cheap Lao Tiger whisky (£1 for a 750ml bottle!) and drunken stories with a couple from New Brunswick called Allen and Lindsay.

Altogether the 7 of us set off firstly to check out a local waterfall (Yui waterfall). After a crazy tuk tuk ride over some bumpy, narrow paths we found we had the entire waterfall park to ourselves. Again it was another park with a lot of small waterfalls leading up to a large one... except this time the large was not much more than a dribble!

There was some other excitement though as Allen and Lindsay spotted a huge snake on our trek to the main falls! Eventually we found a small lagoon beside a small waterfall and all relaxed there for a nice, well deserved dip.

Afterward we all set off for a cave outside of town called Tham Phu Kham, where there is also a famous blue lagoon. If we thought the previous tuk tuk was crazy, this was even more so! We were all squashed in on an incredibly bumpy road, even having to drive over some narrow (possibly pedestrian) bridges.

We had a little picnic before Em, Allen, Lindsay and I climbed up about 200m of ridiculously steep rocks (masquerading as stairs) to enter the cave.

Regretfully we declined to rent some flash lights so, having only one flash light between us and not being equipped for cave exploration (flip flops dont help!), the amount of the cave we were able to see was limited. Nonetheless Allen and I went about 2 massive caverns deep - the caves were enormous with lots of crazy rock formations.

Afterwards we took a well deserved dip in the lagoon where there was rope swing and large tree I was able to jump off - this seems to be a common theme with lagoons and pools in Laos!

The bumpy tuk tuk ride on the way back didnt even seem that bad as this time we had the distraction of an amazing sunset over the lime stone rocks of the cave. Sunsets in Laos are all unreal - I think it is because there are so few cars/pollution so the sky and the air is much clearer.

After the caves, we all grabbed dinner together in a nice Indian and had a relaxing evening - mainly to ensure we were ready for the next days 'tubing'. I use the word tubing in inverted commas since Em and I decided not to hire a tube - the bars and riverside entertainment are the main attraction for tubing anyway and you can walk along most of them.

This time we went all the way up to the 1st bar and it was easy to see what we missed the first time - there were more people, more swings and a much better atmosphere.

At one point we made the unwise decision of trying to create a human chain linked to 1 tube, which turned out to be painful as we went through the rocky rapids and I ended up losing my flip flops...

Charlie, Nicky and Cecilia then disappeared on down the river as they did have tubes whilst Em and I stayed at the first bars where we were joined by Allen and Lindsay who cycled out there.

I did the rope swings into the river again and we all jumped off the bar patio for a swim before we ended up just sitting and chilling over a few drinks whilst laughing at all the drunken people trying to do this zip line rope swing and face planting in the water!

Afterwards the 4 of us cycled back into town and grabbed food, deciding to have a relaxing evening ending up watching a movie.

The following day we all left VV for Vientiene - the capital of Laos. The 7 of us make a good group so it will be good to travel together for however long that lasts.

So far Laos has proven to be a beautiful country full of great natural sights - but not quite the peaceful, developing nation I was expecting. There is still a bit to see though, so I will see what the centre and south of the country brings.

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Photos

Pak Ou Caves, LP
Em and I on the empty little beach we found at Pak Ou Caves

Kuansi Waterfalls, LP
Me rope swinging

Luang Prabang
Panorama of the view from up the peak

Tubing Viang Vieng
View from my tube...

Waterfall
All our group enjoying a dip at the waterfall near VV

Sunset VV
View from back of our tuk tuk as we drove into town after blue lagoon

Tubing day 2
Allen, Lindsay, Em and I jumping off one of the tubing bars

Comments

[Jenni]

coffee
make sure to drink allot of coffee - Laos coffee is the best in the world...seriously MISS YOU GUYS x x x

[jen ba]

looks amazing mich! very very jealous!! hope you're havign a great time missing you lots xx

[Michty6]

Thanks Jenni, I tried some it was good. But you know Im a tea man. Em is more a coffee person and she loved it, she bought a bag of beans which we now have back in SH :)

[allan]

hi there, I have never been aware of any Angkorean era ruins in Luang Prabang
hi there, I have never been aware of any Angkorean era ruins in Luang Prabang can you verify that these are angkorean ruins or whether theses were constructed with influence of the angkorean ruins... :) I have visited almost 450 Angkorean ruins in Laos, Cambodia and Thailand ^_^ Allan