After spending two weeks in what felt like a buzzsaw of a country in Vietnam, we embarked on a five day stay through Laos. Three days in Luang Prabang and two days slow boating down the Mekong River into Northern Thailand. The days were exactly what we needed after a busy trip through Vietnam. We were both sick and weren’t getting a ton of rest. I liken Vietnam to that child who is noisy, dirty, and always getting into things but charming at the same time. I wrote this post from our second day on the slow boat to Thailand. Both days were eight hours long and provided a lot of time to read, write, and just hang out.
Laos is a unique country as it is the only country in Southeast Asia that is completely landlocked. Luang Prabang is a small town with around 50,000 residents. The town is extremely safe and a good place to spend a couple of days. Particularly for those travelers coming off a stay in Vietnam. The exchange rate is favorable although we found some of the places we ate at to be a little pricey. Check the menus out prior to picking a place.
We got into Luang Prabang via a small 70-seater plane. Just a quick hour flight from Hanoi. We had a little issue at immigration because our US dollars were stolen out of our bag in Vietnam and the Laos visa cost $30/person…and of course we didn’t have ours. Luckily, there was an ATM nearby and we got our visa and were ready to roll. Travel tip, make sure you spread out your excess cash. Rookie mistake on our part. We’ve continuously locked our bags. but noticed the way we locked them gave a little room to wedge a hand down to grab a wallet.
My initial thoughts on Luang Prabang was that it felt like a skitown in the middle of Southeast Asia. Remote, quiet, and a plethora of neat shops and restaurants. Oh and cheap beer…so it’s not completely like a skitown. Beer is roughly $1.90 for a 640ml bottle. All beer is Beerlao which taste like most of the rice lagers you’ll find throughout Southeast Asia. They also serve a dark lager which I preferred to the standard lager. 
Luang Prabang was everything I was hoping it would be. We got checked into our hotel and set up our reservation for a motorbike (more on that later) and grabbed some lunch. For having as much rain as we have on this trip, Laos provided some sweltering heat. Just sitting at lunch I was sweating like a cornered nun. 
After lunch we spent the afternoon in and out of little shops off the main drag before heading up to Mt. Phousi to check out the sunset. Apparently everyone else walked up to see the sunset as well. It was PACKED. I had this Paul Bunyan looking dude standing in front of me. Needless to say I didn’t have a great view but managed to snag some good photos of the sun setting over the Mekong.
One of the best things about Luang Prabang has to be the night market. If you ever drop by, be sure to check out all of the local, handmade goods. We got to put our negotiating skills to the test. If you’re ever in a market in Southeast Asia, do not pay full price for anything. I was able to snag a Beerlao tank and magnet for roughly $2.50 each. Meg ran into a brickwall while negotating some elephant pants and a nice red dress. The woman would not budge. Overall, we felt pretty good about our haul. The market was a stark contrast to the Vietnamese markets that largely sell knockoff goods (such as Adibas shoes rather than Adidas) and fruit-laden shirts and pants. I thought the Luang Prabang’s night market perfectly symbolized the town…quiet and welcoming. We capped of the night with a beer at Utopia which is known for being a watering hole for backpackers.
On the third day, we decided to rent a motorbike to drive up to the two nearby waterfalls, Kuang Si and Tad Sae. The motorbike was 110,000 kip or around $13 to rent for the day. I should probably disclose that I had never driven a motorbike/scooter in my life prior to this. But how hard could it be? Many of my friends have driven scooters without any issues. I was sitting at breakfast eyeballing the hell out of that scooter, letting it know I meant business…aaaaaand right out of the gate, I couldn’t get the damn thing to start. The hotel owner (a little, sweet Loatian woman) came by to help. I could see the nervousness in her eyes as she learned I had never driven a motorbike in my life. She told me to practice in the driveway out back. This didn’t make me feel any better because the driveway was so small and it made it hard to make such tight turns. Meg was out in the street looking for me because she thought I left already. She told me she was filming every white guy that drove by thinking it would be me…meanwhile I’m over there driving in circles. I got on the road and immediately felt more comfortable. I would probably not have felt as comfortable if I were in Vietnam where traffic is quite cutthroat. After filling up the tank, we drove the hour up to the Kuang Si waterfall. An absolutely beautiful drive through the Laotian country side.
Kuang Si waterfall was 20,000 kip to enter and it was a short hike through a bear conservation and public swimming areas to see the falls. A Swedish man I met in Ha Long Bay told me it was the most beautiful waterfall he had ever seen. Take a look for yourself. The falls were indeed beautiful however since I’m super cultured, I don’t think they quite stack up against the behemoths in Iceland.
I think was more hung up on the moon bear conservation the property. I freaking LOVE bears, particularly sun and moon bears. The bears weren’t too active. Most likely sleeping off the hangover from getting after it the previous night.
After munching on some Ritz and cheese, we drove the 30-minutes to Tad Sae. We parked and grabbed a boat to get to the waterfall (5,000 kip). 
Right off the bat we saw people riding elephants. Meg, being the true activist she is, made sure to point out that these elephants were probably mistreated because people were riding on them with seats. This is usually a surefire way of knowing how elephants are treated. Not accusing the staff of mistreating the elephants however it is what we read prior to booking our elephant excursion in Thailand.
Both waterfalls had areas to swim and of course I took advantage of the opportunity. The price to get in was 20,000 kip or ~$2.50. I was a like a pig in the mud. Absolutely thrilled to get to swim around. The water was cold on the first touch but once you get waist deep, it’s not bad at all. Where we swam was also mostly secluded from where most of the other tourists swam.
After a long day of motorbiking and swimming, we called it a night early in preparation of our slow boat trek. And just like that we were on our way to our next country, Thailand.
Great pictures, looks like a once in a life time trip for you both, stay safe. 🙂