Lounging in Laos

I am in love with Laos - It's definitely one of my favourite places I've been fortunate to visit so far! 

It's just beautiful... the pictures really don't do it justice! Luang Prabang is a quaint little town on the Mekong River, it's full of travellers, monks, baguettes and gorgeous little guesthouses. It's so green and lush and really makes you feel like you have travelled back in time with no Starbucks or McDonald's in sight. 

      

We left bright and early on Kevs Birthday morning for Luang Prabang (I'm gonna just call it LP going forward as my spell check is going mad!). We got the BTS, Metro and Airport Train - took about 45 min then checked in for an Airport Birthday Coffee.

I was thrilled and terrified when the transfer bus pulled up next to a dodgy 'old school' plane - the adventure had begun! There were about 40 of us on the flight and took just over an hr before we landed in Laos.  LP has the smallest Airport I've ever seen with only about 6 flights arriving everyday. It was slightly chilly when we arrived - a warm welcome from the 36 degrees in Bangers! We got a shared taxi from the Airport to our Hotel - which should only take about 5 min, but the driver thought he's take us on a bit of a tour.  We stayed at Villa Loadeum Guesthouse which was just lovely and right in the middle of all the action. Once settled in we headed out for a little wonder and the promise of lunch.

 

 

 

 

After a walking around LP and crossing the Bamboo Bridge - which links the old and new town - we headed to Baguette Street! Yep a street with Baguette Vendors that entice you to their stalls with competitive prices and each one offering one more filling than the next! Laos makes Baguettes better than the French and they eat them all day everyday! Mmm....my kinda place...It was delicious and I decided to go back everyday! My favourite was the chicken, cheese,avocado, tomato, cucumber and lettuce combo washed down with a chocolate shake!

 

After an afternoon nap / Baguette and Shake Coma - we headed out for a wonder in the Night Market - OMG what a market! The whole main street transforms into a never ending row of market spectacular! Stalls selling paintings, bags, shoes, clothes, trinkets and yet more trinkets! I was a bit overwhelmed the first night so decided to save the actual purchases till the next evening!

  

We then headed to a restaurant near the Guesthouse for dinner - who would have thought that Buffalo was a popular food in Laos?!Buffalo Dumplings, Buffalo Sausage, Buffalo Bacon, Buffalo Bolognese...you name the dish and the buffalo roams! We ordered the steamed dumplings, buffalo sausages (I'm still deciding if I liked it or not - it was slight spicy and tasted...grassy!) papaya salad (I left that all to Kev as it was super duper spicy!) and chicken fried rice (You can never go wrong with that)

The Breakfast Baguette

The next morning after a breakfast of champions- The Breakfast Baguette - we headed out in search of a Tuk Tuk driver to take us to the Kuang Si Waterfalls. It took about 45 min to get there, the view along the way was just gorgeous making up for sitting in the back of an uncomfortable and rather bumpy ride. It cost 20 000 Kip - £1.72 (which is the cost for all tourist activities in LP!) to get into the park, this also covered a visit to the Laos Bear Sanctuary which is on the way to the falls. Bears saved from life of torment are now happily chilling in the park and posing for pics.

 
 

The waterfalls were stunning and a must if you are visiting LP - again the pictures really don't do it justice!!  There are swimming areas along the way up so you can just pop in and have a dip, I decided to be brave and have a little swim - OMG - it was freezing!! But really glad i did it as it's supposed to bring you many years of good health!  

 

  

The Butterfly Whisperer

On day 3 we woke up at crazy-o'clock to go and see the Monk Procession called Alms Giving Ceremony. It takes place at sunrise on the main street, locals offer rice, fruit and cookies to the Monks.  About 200 Monks make their way to the main street to collect their food for the day, it was quite something to see. The ceremony is meant to be spiritual and peaceful, unfortunately the poor monks get harassed by mental camera happy tourists who feel the need to get a little too close up in their faces for selfies! I don't think the Monks send any good Alms their way! 

                

Later that morning we headed to the PaK Ou Buddha Caves via the Whiskey Village on a River Boat! We got into an old beat up river boat and headed off. The tour was 4hrs and stopped off the the Whiskey Village where locals make their own Whiskey from rice and snakes! Hmm! I tasted the normal one and it wasn't too bad! Wasn't prepared to try the snake one though - it had the extra 'bite' to it! The caves were further up the river and quite something to see, it homes over 3000 statues of Buddha. The way back was quite a ride down the river - our boat driver had polished off half a bottle of whisky - so it was full speed ahead! 

 
 

 

 

   

Kev has an amazing ability to find a pub that will be showing football and in LP he did not disappoint! After some retail therapy for me at the night market we headed to the Aussie Bar to watch footie and sample the Laos Beer! It turned out to be a pretty good evening - the beer was good and we met a man who knows Mick Jagger (Kid you not! And apparently Mick is a frequent visitor in Laos!) I had no idea who won the football tho - or who even played! LP has a curfew of 11.30 - so at 11.15 you are packed up and sent on your way!  

With luv from Laos xoxo