Traveling is like the ingredient of my life, I try to work hard make good money to travel as much as I can Yeah, I am jealous with some of my friends they can travel around and carefree, maybe they have financial free or they work hard before and save for the long journey. I am financial independent but not financial free I probably change from accounting work to become a storyteller.
Laos
Laos is the next last one of my ASEAN journey. I will tell you here the story I have gone through and hope it will help some travelers whoever have plan journey to Laos.
How to get Vientiane Laos
I caught the train from Bangkok to NongKhai province where is the border of Laos, it spent 12 hours and cost 850B with upper and 750B for lower. It was the sleeping train, so comfortable, nice cabin; with a good A/C they also offer you the blanket. Mostly people catch the night train 8pm because when you reach there about 8am in the morning, it is much appropriate time.
I spent a night on the train and save the hostel fee why not? I woke up in early morning ready for the sunrise from the train window, it is the stunning view I could not forget the moment. Arrived to Nongkhai border be aware to get information from the immigration policies. it’s quite far from Nongkhai border to Laos border, I had to take shuttle bus about 15 minutes with cost 20B to cross the Friendship Bridge [Mekong River] fill up form and pass the immigration desk, for ASEAN countries is Visa free if you guys are not ASEAN you can pay Visa on arrival.
I found something weird at Laos immigration they want me to buy one day pass [passes card] if you do not have this card you cannot check out from the border to town, it is just only 5B, not a big deal just weird. One hour drive from border to Vientien cost 40,000Kips, Kips is Laos currency 1USD=8000Kips, I won’t stop by Vientien what I heard from the traveler there is nothing to do much there.
Headed to Vangvieng with 132km approximate, I shared van with other travelers, it cost me 75,000Kips. Vangvieng is the city of many activities you can do there, Kayaking, Tubing, Drinking, Climbing, hiking, trekking, caves, waterfall and so on……………
A lot of foreigners, especially white people, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese. Vangvieng is also named as the party animal, club and pub just another step from each block. The music is non-stop, crowd, but you cannot find people in day time when the night comes is like the evil craving for the party and beers. Sakura bar is recommended by local is the best one, my staying in Vangvieng [Malany II] guesthouse is just in front of that bar, but was not fun at all. I could not even sleep at night time, it was too much. I like party and music but not that loud, music sound was like the atomic bomb pop up and explode to break your room.
where to go and what to do in Vangvieng?
What to do:
Namson River where you can relax lay down on the hammock with Laos beer at Smile Beach where is the foreigner was recommended, that is the one place you can see the amazing sunset. At smile beach drink one beer you can merely relax one hour, drink three beers up you can enjoy and relax as much as you want , one beer Laos cost 15,000Kips it is about 2USD for one big bottle, not that bad.
Tubing in Namson River
is the one amazing thing I did in my traveling life; I do love drinking in tubing. Tubing was prohibited in Vangvieng lately, after some of the traveler they did drinking, took drug and lost their life while tubing. I was tubing but it was not moving to anywhere, the tube was tight firmly. you will see the sign of STOP TUBING at Smile Beach. I bought the day tour in Vangvieng they brought me to many places and did a lot of activities:
Water Cave or Dark cave
I can see nothing in water cave because it was too dark; the guide man gave us the head flashlight to make sure if we got lost they can find us with the light. What we do in water cave just caught the rope and follow the line to the end of spot and came back. Water was pretty cold I hang on the rope and follow other people it was so scary, so dark I could not imagine what would happen if something came up where would I run? Because I was in tubing, just flow down in the water.
Elephant Cave
There is the story about elephant cave before has one elephant when it was raining, he came to the cave and hide from the rain, and later the cave was becoming his shelter. The cave still has left imprint of the elephant.
Kayaking
I did kayaking along the Namson river, the guide he gave us the instruction how to use paddle, left side, right side to keep kayak balancing, if you want to turn right make the paddle in left side, want to turn left keep the paddle in right side, that was the opposite way. I was with my friend on the kayak she sat in front, I sat at the back, so she leaded the way, the kayak went left right left right and straight what was the hilarious thing, we were stuck in the middle of the river. When we were rush and hurry we did not know where was right or left side. we were saved by other team members. There is a lot of small rocks under the water and we tried to push it out. Some place deep some shallow, it was pretty hard to paddle along the river. Finally, we made it to the finished point. They clapped hands sound like bravo and cheer to the last one of the group.
Blue Lagoon
The blue lagoon was our last stop of tour, not much things to do there, just swimming, jumping into the water; we spent 3 hours in blue lagoon. I could not swim so just did sunbathing, eating, drinking, reading then we headed back to the town.
Where to stay:
Vangvieng is the tourist place there are many guesthouse, hostels, and dormitory, it’s all about your choices. But I am here to recommend you [Malany guesthouse] good service, big room with warm welcome; they speak your languages anyway. But wait if you don’t like loud music then it is not the appropriate one for you.
What to eat:
I have no idea here, I don’t really like Laos food, except its beers (Laos Beer) bbq was okay, the fast food was saved me in Vangvieng. The living standard was a bit higher than Cambodia, and double pay if compared to Bangkok.
Some tips: bring your hiking shoes with, dry bag to keep your value stuff: iPhone, iPad, camera, because most of your activities in water and sunblock was high recommended.
LuangPrabang
is standing on highland of the mountain, it is about 5 hours from Vangvieng. The route is like the way to heaven, cloudy, windy, looks through the window stunning views. I really wanted to do some captures, but the route was so slippery. About 100,000kips from Vangvieng to Luangprabang with a skillful driver, the route was scary so I could not sleep just opened my eyes. We arrived Luangprabang and checked in hotel [Pasith] the owner was very nice guy and helpful. Luangprabang is not the busy town, people do thing slowly, quiet, just only few people walking at the day time. Touring to the temples and museum.
I had half day tour on my own to explore the town, there are a lot ancient buildings were colonized by France, the first sight I have seen the flag of communist, I was confusing is it Vietnamese flag? I asked people there, why did Laos hanging the Vietnamese flag for every government buildings? Could you explain me here? The handsome guy came up and gave me the explicit with good English speaking, it was not the Vietnamese flag but it is the communist flag that hanging on the government buildings in Laos that where you can see. Not much activities to do in Luangprabang, I climbed up to Pi Si mountain, nice scenery from the top, where I could see the Mekong river flow down, the Buddha’s Stupa and imprint of Buddhist. Laos, Thailand and Cambodia are not quite differences, about the culture, traditional, religion, customs, but only languages barriers. Anyway, body language is the language which everyone understanding, when you are on traveling to anywhere, English does not work all the time, learns some body language and gestures it would be okay in every circumstance. People were drinking at down stair sound so good, they were asking me to join them, well, why not. I sat down and drank with them, we ended up with many topics, then we were sharing the culture, traditional, a bit political and government.
Next day I caught the minivan to the beautiful waterfall it named as Kuang Xi waterfall, amazing, stunning, and splendid waterfall I have ever seen in my life, it looks like the fairy tale’s painting and I could not believe my eyes, was that the real one? It took my heart away. I was in love with this beautiful waterfall, the entrance ticket cost 3USD for each, there was the Bear’s discovery center inside, they are studying and researching. People were enjoying swimming in the extremely cold water but was not me.
How to gets Kuang Xi fall
You can get the private van with costs 20USD or share van with other people only 5USD, another option you can walk to the local market, there are a lot of taxi and van were lining up there, save up here just 3USD for each with 6-7people on van. It took 20 minutes from town to Kuang Xi fall. Luangprabang has only one airport, it is pretty small ones. From my personal views, if you love to do many activities, party, hang out then Luangprabang is not the good idea for you, but it is the peaceful and relaxing place. The green and natural will be blowing up your mind.
You can swing around Luangprabang night market, the stuff looks similar to Cambodian’s like scarf, skirt, shirt, hand bag and accessories, where I can find in the Russian market [Toul Tompong Market]in Cambodia.
