The past few weeks in Laos have been peaceful, beautiful and surprising. I feel bad saying it has been surprising, but coming from an immense month in Vietnam, we just didn’t know what to expect. Laos completely charmed us though, and we can’t recommend it enough.

The roads in Laos have seen better days, however the traffic is mild compared to Vietnam and as a pedestrian, much easier to navigate! In addition (and this may sound weird but I’ll explain), there are ATM points everywhere.

All of the countries we have travelled (besides Singapore), use cash as their main source of payments. Shops, restaurants, ticket offices etc will more often than not only accept payment in cash. Bearing this in mind, we have been surprised that ATMs have been hard to find, and it hasn’t been uncommon for us to walk 30 minutes or so to find one. In Laos however they’re everywhere, and this makes life 10 times easier.

Food

We must admit, we have been having a few more Western meals the past couple of weeks. During an evening we had in Pakse, we sat outside our hostel for a couple of drinks and were joined by a Dutch man who has been travelling since August. This was something we spoke about, and how you feel guilty by doing it as the Asian food is fantastic. But it was also quite nice to hear that he too wanted chips or pasta for a change!

That being said, here are a few of the tasty Asian dishes that we’ve enjoyed:

📍 Luang Prabang, Laos 🇱🇦

As I mentioned in the previous blog, I have wanted to go to the Kuang Si Waterfalls for over two years. I finally got to do this on our first full day in Luang Prabang, as we had booked a TripAdvisor tour which included this attraction. When we were picked up it was cloudy and cold, however there was perfect blue sky as soon as we got to the falls.

The itinerary had said the falls would be the last stop of the day, but they swapped it so that we could enjoy the falls without the masses of people, and we are so glad they did. Even as we left around 11:30am you could tell it was getting busier, and as I sat watching the water, I also watched as tourists started lining up to get the perfect picture.

The falls are made up of three levels, with various pools to swim in across said levels. It is spring water, meaning the water itself is an incredible blue colour but also absolutely freezing. I can’t describe how breathtaking the waterfalls are, and I did feel slightly emotional knowing that I’d wanted to go for so long. Hands down, one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

There is also a rescue centre for sunbears at the falls, and we got to watch them enjoying their lunch. Their coats are remarkably thick and they moved with a calmness unexpected of such big animals.

Afterwards, we headed for lunch which was at a restaurant overlooking the Mekong River. It was also set in the middle of Manifa Elephant Camp where the elephants are free to roam as they please. Therefore, not only did lunch come with a river view, but we got to eat with elephants around us.

Next we got on to a slow longboat and went down the river to Pak Ou Caves. The caves are located just where the Nam Ou and Mekong rivers join, and there are 4,000 statues of Buddha inside the caves. Along the picturesque journey there were kids jumping off platforms into the water and loads of fishing boats waiting for a catch. 

Our last stop was back along the river at a Whisky Village. There we learnt how they make wine and whisky from sticky rice and were treated to a taster of their wines and whisky. Whilst the wine was relatively pleasant, the whisky was too strong for my taste! Afterwards, it was back on the boat for a sunset cruise on the Mekong.

The following day we spent walking around the city. We mainly went along the river, which is lined with some really beautiful, European-style buildings. In the evening we checked out the night market and food stalls. The food stalls were in a square with a stage in the centre, where school kids were performing traditional Laotian dances.

During lunch one day we found a leaflet for Nahm Dong Park which looked interesting enough for us to check out. We took a moped there and had to go down a dirt track for half an hour, which included some very skillful rock-dodging from Luke. It didn’t help when two young boys coming in the other direction thought it would be hilarious to drive at us, and almost crash into us. The smiles left their faces quickly though when we let them know our thoughts on the matter…

The park was like a public garden that you would visit back home, complete with waterfalls that ran throughout. It was lovely, but it has definitely seen better days. The grounds were fairly looked after, however there were ziplines, tree walks and a cafe that were left abandoned. Signs were still in place for areas that didn’t exist anymore (such as ethnic houses and a turtle park), and there were very few people around.

Luang Prabang is a scenic city and perfect for just doing nothing and sitting in cute cafes all day. The night market runs down one whole road, with the sellers setting out their goods on mats on the floor. It wasn’t uncommon to see babies sleeping on pillows as their parents worked through the night. On our last night, we went back to the food market area and tried different dishes from different stalls.

📍 Pakse, Laos 🇱🇦

Following Luang Prabang we went down to Pakse. Research told us that we would need to take a train to Vientiane and then a sleeper bus, as the trains don’t run in the south of the country. From conversations with other tourists, we learnt that it’s a good idea to book train tickets in advance as they can book up quickly (you have to have a seat as well, unlike at home where you can board but stand for the journey).

There is no online booking system so you have to go to the station, or an office in town, however that office only accepts Laos bank cards as payment. Two days before we wanted to make the journey, we went up to the train station to secure our tickets. As the tickets have to be purchased in person every Tom, Dick and Harry was queueing up at the ticket office so we ended up waiting for an hour and a half. The queue system is not as respected here either, so we had to go against our better nature and force our way down.

Following our train down to Vientiane, we had a 7 hour wait until our bus would be leaving. We had a fun afternoon sitting around the bus station, but luckily there were charger ports and places to get things to eat.

Sleeper buses in Laos are different from the Vietnam ones. The only similarity was having to take your shoes off as you board. The bus was a double decker, and the ‘beds’ were for 2 people. Luckily we could share our space together, however if you are a solo traveller then you could end up sharing with a stranger. The space was so small, I can’t imagine how awkward and uncomfortable that could be. There was also no outside curtain so it wasn’t very private, and the beds were definitely not made for Westerners nearly 6 foot in height.

There wasn’t a lot to do in Pakse, so it was a quiet week. We did stay in a lovely hostel however, with a host who was incredibly organised and quick to help with whatever she could. We extended our stay a couple of nights to work with our time frame, and she was very excited about that.

We did visit a couple of waterfalls whilst in Pakse – Tad Fane and Tad Champee. Tad Fane could only be viewed from a viewpoint, as the speed and volume of the water makes it too dangerous to get too close. You could hear the falls a long time before they came into view, and the sun was creating beautiful colours in the spray of the water. Tad Champee was down a very long dirt track, and we took a couple of wrong turns before getting to the right place.

We seem to have a knack of visiting abandoned places, as when we arrived it was clear that it had been left for some time. There was playground equipment rusting away, buildings falling apart and the path down to the waterfall was completely overgrown. It was shocking, considering how beautiful the waterfall was when we got down there.

There was also a large Golden Buddha in Pakse, with a view point that offered a view of the Mekong River and the city. We wanted to go for sunset and were told it would be a half an hour walk. On our first attempt we soon realised it would take a lot longer, so ended up going back the next day and this time, we timed it perfectly. The view was mainly of the river, but the clouds were pink due to the burst of rain we had at the top.

Instagram vs Reality

We have arrived in Cambodia now and so far we like the look of Siem Reap. To get here we crossed a land border, which was a really simple process, but more on that in the next blog for you! Lots of love, Caitlin and Luke