One Week In Laos

The 30th country I've visited is the incredible Laos, I spent a brief week here but got to see all the important places. I started off by flying into Vientiane, arriving in time to have a yellow curry for dinner and then the next morning I visited the Buddha park, a collection of statues relating to buddhism and had to wear jeans in the exhaustive heat. After that I made it to the national landmark of Laos which is the Golden Stupa and then went on to see the arch. I can't lie to you it is quite unremarkable in comparison to some of the things seen in this incredible country. 

After that I got on the bus to be taken to Vang Vieng, before I go any further I must say that Vang Vieng has been one of the highlights of my adventure so far, the scenery will blow you away as it looks like what you'd see from movies set in rural parts of Asia. 

Although the restaurant service in Laos is not brilliant because there it will take 40 minutes for food to come once you order it, my advice is to take this time to try Beer Lao. 

What to expect from Laotian food? It is mostly curry and noodles and is spicy. However, a common snack I had during a bus break was fried bat, definitely the weirdest thing I've eaten on my adventure so far.

The day after that was a really good backpacker adventure, I went kayaking in the river around the countryside of Vang Vieng and had Laotian barbecue for lunch. Tubing in the cave is a fun experience but can be quite scary. Kayaking in the river is definitely something you should only do if you're good at it because I ended up falling in the river and is rather physically demanding. After that I went to a place known as the Blue Lagoon, it is essentially a swimming pool with an unusual blue colour, though it may seem like a tourist trap, going to the cave there is cool and it is worth jumping off the tree to face your fear.

After that, the next day it was another bus journey, in an old vehicle with about 12 people on my tour crammed into this bus going up and down mountainous terrain. If that isn't an adventure, I don't know what could be.

Extreme views like these are what make the journey all worth it

In the jungle

Once I got to Luang Prabang I noticed how French it all looked, the architecture is French and looks like France in the jungle. Some tourist tat you can't buy anywhere apart from Laos that's actually worth buying can be found here. In Laos you can buy cutlery, keyrings, bottle openers etc made out of metal from bombs that were dropped by America during the secret war. I just had to buy one of these bottle openers for only just three quid. 

During my time here I got up at 5:30AM to take part in feeding the monks, everyday buddhist monks in Luang Prabang walk down the streets to collect offerings of food that they depend on but also give to people that need it. Luang Prabang is home to an Kuang Si that is worth seeing, what's good about this place is that you can go swimming in the water and the water is pure. Another interesting place to visit is the temple on the hill, an exhausting walk in the heat is worth it for the astonishing view.

 

 

The next morning was way to early, I went on to a boat for hours on end down the Mekong river to then end up in a village in the middle of nowhere. This village was fascinating as the different ethnic groups lived in different parts of the village and these people lived happy lives without the pains of modern technology or office jobs. They probably still live a lifestyle that was lived a thousand years ago. Definitely a rare experience, they even shared their Lao Lao with me, which is whiskey fermented from snakes, I suffered the disgusting taste of it because I never back down. I slept in a local house on a mattress on the floor inside a mosquito net. No electricity, no wifi and no phone signal.