Blogs from Luang Prabang, West, Laos, Asia - page 15

The day I get back from holiday with my company in Vinh, Vietnam, I decide to join Liam on his visa run and week holiday to Laos. There’s not much work anyways and it was probably one of the most financially stupid yet totally worth it trip of a life time. 27 hrs from Hanoi to Luang Prabang, Laos by bus. Liam and I found a quiet town on the banks of a river and just the peace and quiet we (mostly him) needed. The natural beauty of Laos is stunning and the people are very kind. We decided to rent a motor bike (which is relatively expensive in LP and cheaper in other cities) for the day and drove out to a wonderful waterfall and rope swing! It’s about 27 km from town but so ... read more

Geo: 19.8841, 102.142As a few tourists were heading out to the waterfall I decided to join them thus sharing the cost as it would have been too expensive otherwise. It's a wyndy and bumpy road out which is around 35km away and I think we're all feeling sick by the time we arrived, and that's us in a minivan instead of a tuk tuk with aircon and a bit of comfort! From the drop off area it's a short walk to the waterfall but first I get to visit the bears which are all having their food so are pretty active which is fun watching. This is my first experience of black bears but they're funky guys, their food is hidden in all sorts of interesting places for them to encourage their being in the wild ... 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 o.k. so we haven't quite left Laos, the blog meister was waiting for Sophie and Jonathan's input on earlier activities. It was like a tourist brochure. Kuang Si waterfall was as high as a skyscraper. At the beginning we saw a turquoise pool that was surrounded by trees and boulders. I wanted to just jump in but I knew there would be more. Then we went on and there was another pool. It had a rope swing where you had to climb a tree to get it. The tree was so high up, it looked really scary. We went to the last pool where you could jump off a little waterfall. We went on, and there was an enormous waterfall. It was very big, it looked so cold but fun. You weren't allowed to ... read more