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Laos - March 2016

From the border, down the Mekong to Pakbeng

After taking a bus to the border town, Chiang Khong, we crossed the land border into Laos. This was probably the easiest border crossing we have ever done! From the border we made our way down to the Mekong River where we boarded an old wooden boat. For the next 2 days we travelled down the river, stopping overnight in the little town of Pakbeng before arriving in Luang Prabang. Pakbeng was a beautiful riverside town full of guest houses and a few family run restaurants and a few bakeries where Nick sampled some baked delights! Once we’d removed a massive spider from our room we grabbed something to eat before settling down for the night. We had another full day on the boat the next day.

 Luang Prabang

Upon arrival in Luang Prabang we realised that the boat actually dropped us a long way from town in the middle of nowhere which meant we had no choice but to get a tuk tuk. A clever plan to make a bit of extra cash from the tourists. Funnily enough, at the top of the wooden steps there was a little booth selling tuk tuk tickets and we all piled into the first available one we could find. Once we were settled in we explored the night markets where we found a cheap stall selling vegetarian food and we sat down an alleyway with the locals on a long table. Over the next couple of days we explored the surrounding temples, waterfalls and markets and enjoyed a few fresh fruit smoothies. Here we had our first taste of Lao coffee, a potent muddy brew that literally knocked our socks off!

Vang Vieng

We took a bus from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng and broke down in the mountains. To be honest, we weren’t expecting the ancient bus to make it there in the first place. It had VIP written down the side of the bus but it was far from it. It might have been VIP in the late 70’s. After the smell of burning clutch filled the bus it soon came to a halt in a tiny village in the mountains where the locals were washing in a communal area and collecting water. While we waited for another bus to arrive we followed the school children carrying water down to the school. We arrived in Vang Vieng late at night and spent the next couple of days checking out temples and caves and drinking fresh sugar cane juice from the roadside stalls.

Vientiane

From Vang Vieng we headed to the capital, Vientiane where we explored the city, hired out a dodgy motorbike and took a trip to Buddha Park and visited the little villages on the outskirts. There were some fantastic night markets and some amazing vegetarian places to eat where we sampled some local dishes.

Pakse

We booked a night bus from Vientiane to Pakse. It was a rough night on the top deck looking out over the road in our little bed. We arrived in Pakse at 6:30am and after walking a few kilometres with our bags we gave up trying to find our guest house and ended up getting a tuk tuk. The older part of Pakse had a French feel to it with beautiful old crumbling buildings draped in vines and flowers. There were plenty of little coffee shops and french style bakeries. Our guest house was in the middle of nowhere, miles away from the town centre but it was probably one of the nicest places we had stayed so far! We made the most of the hot water, clean shower and aircon! We booked a bus to Stung Treng in Cambodia and tried to get as much rest as possible before the long journey across the Cambodian border on a bus.