Loveable Laos

Don't let the title fool you. We did fall for Thailand's unspoiled & largely undiscovered neighbor- but definitely not for its transportation system. Laos' French beginnings are alive on its tranquil streets where wats, open air markets, & bakeries peacefully coexist. However, we didn’t arrive in Luang Prabang until 36 hours after leaving Chiang Rai.

Turns out the "slow boat" was quite accurately titled. Its alternative, "the speed boat," is known to kill off at least one helmet-wearing tourist per year as it zips down the mighty Mekong River… so we decided to go with the safer version. Along with 50+ others, we settled along the inside walls of a long wooden boat & traveled inch-by-inch down the Mekong River which serves as the border to most of Thailand & Laos. The 7 hour ride went by surprisingly fast. We stopped for the night in Pakbeng, a tiny riverside town that seemed to exist exclusively for the overnight pit stoppers. We were warned that curfew in Pakbeng was strictly at 10pm, but didn't realize that every last light in the town would legit go out. At least we had a flashlight & the shut-off put an end to the serenade of techno coming from our Argentinian neighbors from the other side of our torturously thin walls. In the darkest of darkness, we received a different sort of serenade from outside our windowless windows. Roosters competing one cocka-doodle-doo after another, meowing cats, chirping cicadas & some kind of rodent desperately clawing its way through our ceiling made it a bit hard to rest up. Needless to say, the 9 hour ride that brought us the rest of the way to Luang Prabang the next day did not go quite as smoothly. This time we were forced to make our nest beside the roaring engine in a tiny packed back room. The view made it all worthwhile. We drifted through dense jungles lined with white sandy banks, passed grazing water buffalos, groups of waving children & small villages. We finally reached L.P. as the sun was setting.

long. slow. boat.

day 1


day 2

The country was utterly relaxing compared to Thailand. After 2 hours of backpacked searching, we found a perfection of a hotel room complete with a sunroom balcony through tall glass french doors. The food in Laos was wonderfully different, & we took full advantage of both the laid back vibe & absurdly cheap living. Drifting through one of the hilltop wats, we made friends with a 17 year old monk who willingly answered our questions & even opened the padlock on a 200 year old temple for us to peek inside.

w. our beloved smoothie-bags

On our last day we woke up at 5 am in order to experience the monks’ daily alms route. Known as Tak Bat in Laos, every morning the monks from each town’s (ban’s) temples (wats) split into 3 groups and walk silently in a line through the city collecting fruit, balls of sticky rice, teeny bananas, & other offerings in individually carried golden pots from kneeling lay people. The food collected can be eaten by the monks until 12 noon when they must fast until after Tak Bat & before noon the following day. It was a remarkable sight- some of the monks at the end of the line were barely 9 years old.

Awaiting Monks

That evening we took an 11 hour overnight bus from L.P. that got us to the city’s capital, Vientiane, at 5am. The bus could not have been less challenging. From the very back of the bus we bounced constantly & watched as the front end zig-zagged back & forth down narrow roads. It was dark, so we couldn’t really tell, but we think we must have been making our way through some serious mountains. S-curve warning after hard U-turn sign we finally made our way to the completely shut down capital. A couple hours later the sun came up & a coffee shop finally opened its doors. We ate & cleaned up bum-style in the bathrooms before finding this internet café. Now we have a good 5 hours to explore before taking another jumbo (a tuk tuk with a harley attached @ the front) to the airport. Next stop: Hanoi, Vietnam where we’ll start a volunteer program at the SOS Children’s Village, home to about 150 orphans & also our home for the next two weeks. After a solid month of planning & plotting every last meal, excursion, & resting place, it will be interesting to be a part of something out of our control. We’re also looking forward to temporarily leaving our nomad ways behind & spending two solid weeks getting to know the people & area... & not touching our backpacks!