How we spent 22 days in Laos Laos is stunning. Looking back on our photographs we can’t quite believe how beautiful our natural surroundings were. The slow pace of life, the small, scattered villages where majority of Laotians live, the sprawling countryside are best explored slowly and overtime. Yet, most visitors to the region tend…
We had high expectations coming into Laos — it had a lot to prove to us, given the blog name and all. It’s funny, while we were there we didn’t quite LOVE it. Yes we enjoyed it, we had great experiences that we appreciated then and there, in the moment. But overall, Laos is sleepy,…
Laos is the most bombed country on earth. Ever. Statistics publicized by Mines Advisory Group (MAG) put the precise number at one planeload of bombs, every 8 minutes, 24-hours a day, for 9 years. That’s about 2 million tones of ordnance. The countryside of Laos — sadly contaminated by UXO today. Phonsavan, Laos. Unless you’ve…
Looking back on our 14 months of travel, I wish we’ve done more volunteering – every single time that we took the opportunity, we had an amazing time doing it. Part of the problem is that 14 months is too short – sure it’s more than some people travel in their entire lives, but if…
We got off at a rest area somewhere in the middle of Laos, happy to get a stretch, grab a bite to eat, and in general break the monotonous bus journey. By the time we got to Laos, we were eight months or so into our RTW, which meant that we’ve seen our fair share…
Once upon a time – many, many centuries ago – there was a land known as Hills of Paradise. It was perched high in the mountaintops of what is modern-day Xieng Khuang province of Laos. Towering pine trees dominated the rolling hills, rivers and waterfalls irrigated and nourished the bountiful land, flowers bloomed year round…
Having been in Laos for a few weeks, our arrival in Luang Prabang – the country’s most famous and most visited city – was a shock to the system. We had heard about the bougie cafes serving wine in proper glasses accompanied by cheese, the charming cobblestone streets dotted with flowering frangipani trees and ornate…
We weren’t really sure of what to expect of Vang Vieng. For a while it was the infamous party destination in Southeast Asia, second maybe only to Ko Pha-Ngan with its monthly full moon throw down. In fact, when I first read blog recounts of Vang Vieng, I was sort of enticed. Tubing down a…
Ok, you might have heard that Vientiane, Laos is unremarkable, boring, skippable, meh of a town in the middle of Laos. It’s true to a degree – Vientiane doesn’t quite have the buzzing energy and hipster cafes of Hanoi, nor the shiny skyscrapers, skyline trains, and crazy nightlife of Bangkok. There is no great shopping…
So – if you’ve read out account of Day 1 and Day 2 & 3 of Thakhek Loop, you know that we had an awesome time exploring the caves, riding the scooter, and swimming in the Lagoon. Even considering the poor road conditions on the few stretches of the Loop, we would wholeheartedly recommend this…
This is a second installment of a 3-part series about Thakhek Loop in Laos. If you are curious about how our first Day of the Loop went down, have a look here. And stay tuned for the last part in the series explaining logistics of doing the Loop!~ The neat thing about guesthouses on the…
Sergey and I were sitting on the dock, enjoying a nondescript Southeast Asian beer – probably a Cambodian one, since local brands tend to be cheaper. The lakeshore guesthouse camps in Kampot, Cambodia are a backpacker mecca; travelers come down to relax, party, and swap stories. A fellow backpacker put down a Beer Lao next to…