Laos started where Thailand ended – on a bus. This is the first time I took Asian style night bus and after the ride I thought it is the first and last one ever. It took me few minutes to figure out the way how to lie in. Unfortunately I had no choice and had to take it again, but higher quality one 🙂
My first destination after total of 18 hours on a bus was Luang Prabang, town under UNESCO protection with many wats(temples). As I was walking around the city I sit down to see the Mekong and few young monks stop by for a chat before their cucumber salad lunch as they have big breakfast after morning alms.
There are lots of activities what you can do in Luang Prabang and it is quite similar to north Thailand. Jungle hiking, elephants, Mekong boat and as I already did those, I was skipped it and moved to another destionation.
Vang Vieng, previously and still famous for river tubing. You get a floating circle you sit in and drink and stop in the bars on the ways. Something like Cesky Krumlov kayaking or rafting. Unfortunately many people died here in Vang Vieng due to unwise drinking and drug usage, so govermant shut it down and there are 2 bars opened only at the same time. I did NOT do tubing, because of Krumlov experience and also because I was hangover from previous day.
I stayed in hostel Chilao Youth hostel and they have every day from 8PM to 11PM free Lao whiskey – you just need to buy coca cola bottle for 2USD. You can imagine the shit-show and crazy drunk people:D Anyway I thought I would go hiking instead of tubing next day to one of the mountains close to Vang Vieng town and I did. It was tough hike but I got rewarding views.
I did not do much in Vientiane, the capitol, which lies on the border with Thailand. I was very tired from the previous days and from the lack of sleep. Yet I was getting on another night bus to 4000 Islands which is by Cambodian border. This time the bus was quite nice and luckily, my bed-mate left in the middle of the journey. You see, these buses have beds, but always for 2 people. So I was so far sleeping among guys – luckily not oversized ones.
Anyway 4000 islands you can choose where to go and as in South East Asia everywhere – islands have different vibes, it also goes for 4000 islands. If you want to go to party, go to Den Dot, if you want to have peaceful stay, go to Dot Khong. I was very lazy and got finally proper relax time with food, beers, hammock and river. During the monsoon season, the waterfall is one of the biggest in the world for liters of water per second. You should definitely check it out.
Cambodian border, I have read a lot about scams and paying extra fees, eventhough it is not so much if you already pay 30USD for visa for 30 days, but still. Let me bring it down to you.
Visa runners – you do not need them pay extra 7+5 USD, you can manage by yourself, also you don’t have to give “anyone” your passport.
Healthcheck – ignore, just continue walking when he shouts at you – it’s not immigration.
5 USD fee for the stamp – this gets little bit tricky, because they will fight hard to get it from you. If you have time then you can argue and when they send you to the “corner” you just wait until all people from the queue are gone and then you pay 30 USD. Then I said bye bye to Laos and waited for my AVT(Asia Van Transfer) van on the Lao side. If you use AVT, then you need to get to border by yourself. I tried to organize group to get a better price than bus, but those poor non-adventures travelers didn’t wanna go on top of the truck. Afterall I convinced some family to take me to the border for some small money.
What I missed? In general I missed relax as I really rushed through it, I would say at least 2 weeks for this country, I would strongly recommend to go slow and enjoy Lao people as they are nice. If I come back, I think north from Luang Prabang and Thakek areas are really good for renting a motorbike/scooter for few days and do small villages around, which will show you also real Laos rather than touristy places.