Laos Diary 🇱🇦

Laos was the country we looked forward to the least. We had heard mixed reviews and didn’t expect much, we couldn’t had been more wrong!

Luang Prabang

We Flew into Luang Prabang from Hanoi, our hostel was a 15-25 minute drive and cost 50K for up to 3 people. We stayed in downtown backpackers hostel 2 in a private room, this was cheap and of a good standard. The location of this hostel was great, just a 10 minute walk into the main street where the night market, restaurants and bars were.

We completed a view point that was in town. It was around a 20 minute climb, it cost 10k entry to visit the top. The view was beautiful but don’t go at sunset, it was way to busy and you didn’t get a chance to see the view without pushing and shoving.

In the evening it’s nice to walk around the night markets, luckily you’re not hassled like the intense Vietnamese markets. I brought a beautiful piece of art for keep sake, costing only £4! Top tip! Coconut pancakes seem to be the thing to try at the night market, you will see them everywhere! They’re super cheap and pretty delicious. We ate at Indigo Cafe both nights, it was that delicious although a little pricey.

Being as it’s our favourite thing to do, we rented a motor bike for 80K to explore. We drove for 45 minutes to Kuang Si Falls. This was by far the most incredible waterfall we’ve seen in Asia. There are several different levels, this prevents it feeling over crowded. We climbed to the top, it was an extremely hot and slippery climb. Pierce read online that there was an amazing view from the top of the waterfall, there was no view. Just Lots of bugs and mosquitos, don’t bother with the climb it was definitely not worth it! Bad research from Pierce 🤣.

We swam in the waterfall, which you will find often isn’t possible with waterfalls in Asia. Despite being nipped at by little fish, nothing could take away how incredible this experience was. As you walk to the waterfall from the car park theres a bear sanctuary, entry was 20K and included the waterfall and the sanctuary.

Luang Prabang had such a quaint, cosy feel to it. We found this to be one of our favourite places!

Vang Vieng

Time to visit Vang Vien.. the worst 6 hour bus journey yet. This bus was so bad for people that are travel sick. Definitely take motion sickness before hand. Top tip! Try to sit at the front of the van, this will prevent you feeling as sick.

Most visit Vang Vien for one reason, tubing. We stayed in Nana’s hostel, they offered the tubing for 65K p/p. This price Included the tube and tuk tuk there and back. Alternatively you can make your own way there and pay 60K and then an additional 60K deposit for the tube.

Both Pierce and I agreed that this was one of our favourite days so far. We made lots of new friends and drifted down the river getting more and more drunk as the day went on. There used to be many more bars however there is now only 3/4. Top tip! I would advise taking a couple of your own drinks to drink along the way between bars.

Stupidly, we chose the day after tubing to complete the view point. Although hungover and wearing sliders, this was incredibly hard.. Do not make the same mistakes as us! It took roughly 35 minutes which doesn’t sound too bad however it was a constant incline and involved climbing rocks on your hands and knees. I would vote this the most challenging view point we completed our whole trip (excluding Mt Batur of course).

When you reach the top there is a motor bike on the edge, this makes an incredible picture. The views were Insane, I must say it was worth the tough climb. It cost 10K fee to climb P/P.

Nearby there is blue lagoon 1, we visited and left right away. This was by far the most touristy and un natural lagoon I’ve seen. I definitely wouldn’t waste your time visiting!

Due to running out of time and not hearing great things about Vientiane, we decided it was time to fly to Cambodia.

I couldn’t recommend Laos enough! We had such low expectations and was super close to missing it out. Our week in Laos was one of my favourites out of the entire trip! You don’t need long, you can certainly do it in a week if you do something every day. Laos wasn’t as cheap as we imagined, it’s a lot more expensive than vietnam but not as expensive as Indonesia. We roughly spent £160-£180 P/P.