Tony and Petra's Travels: A Quickie through Laos

Before this great country leaves our fresh memory, we better update our adventures in Laos, the most bombed country in our planet (thanks to the USA, no surprise there). Initially our itinerary did not leave room for a visit to Laos, but since we had decided to extend our stay by nearly another month, we decided to go for it. The things you hear about Laos on the road really make it a no-brainer; gorgeous country, cheap, and above all, the most amazing people in the whole of Southeast Asia. Although some argue it is the Burmese, who knows.

Either way, we entered Laos through its Southern border-crossing point, to which we got to from Siem Reap. This journey is in means recommended to anyone. It sucked. Not only did the bus take a ridiculous detour (we might as well have travelled to Phnom Penh again), but the experience itself was hands down the worst out of the 20 long bus journeys we have taken up to today. The first bus breaks down in the middle of nowhere, which means 2 hours of sitting around in the heat (do note this happens ALL THE TIME in Asia) and the second bus is overbooked, which means we sit on the bus floor for 7 hours while people around us sleep tightly in their comfy beds. But we hold no grudge, shit happens. We finally made it to 4000 islands, which is probably the most popular traveller destination in Southern Laos, just a few km from the Cambodian border.

Out of few options that the 4000 (I know, the figure can be misleading) island offered we ended up staying in Don Det. This place had a bit of a Koh Rong (the amazing island in Cambodia we loved) feel to it. Its services are pretty basic, no 5-star resorts or fine dine restaurants, just cheap guesthouses and good simple restaurants and a few bars. Also, the lack of authority enables the islanders offer the needy a wide range of ‘happy products’ they openly advertise on their menus. Overall, this place is very chilled. Its also probably one of the very few places you can safely enjoy the refreshing Mekong, I sure as hell wouldn’t jump in it in China.

So we ended up doing largely just that. Floating on tubes in the river and relaxing. We also did a full day kayak trip along it, which was great fun, although very exhausting. We kayaked to 2 different waterfalls (one of them being the largest in Southeast Asia), had lunch in a local village, and even witnessed a few Irrawaddy dolphins. Hence, totally recommend doing this if you happen to be in the neighbourhood!

The biggest waterfall in Southeast Asia

Another cool waterfall, one we actually got to swim in.

Our favorite Spanish people

Vietnamese farmer on his lunch break

Chilling by the Mekong

After some hippie life on the island, we headed to Vientiane (Lao capital) for a pit stop. Again on this overnight bus journey, the bus broke down just 30km away from the destination, so we ended up hitchhiking a ride to the city. I am not going to tell much about Vientiane, simply because there is not much to tell. Do not plan to stay here for more than 2 nights, its pretty boring. Although we did have a very unique experience, getting a Lao style massage in a wooden shack nearby a Buddhist temple. It only cost us $5, and included a homemade herbal sauna and complimentary bone cracking (ouch!). That’s about all I would recommend you do in this confusing capital.

Lao street food in Vientiane

Since our time in Laos was limited, we decided to make Luang Prabang our last stop before exiting to Thailand. This is the place most people visit in Laos, and definitely for a reason! The town is adorable and it is also the Buddhist/cultural capital of Laos with tons of temples and cute monks everywhere. The only unfortunate incident happening was me getting a stomach bug, might have been due to Malarone…Don’t take it peeps! In conclusion, Laos is definitely worth visiting! Next time we’ll make sure we have more time to see it though.