I think I can officially say that Laos is the undiscovered gem of Southeast Asia. Laos is a small country that separates Thailand from Vietnam that was once a colony of France. The third weekend of November, I traveled to Vang Vieng, Laos. Flying into Laos is extremely expensive, so to save money, we crossed the border ourselves. Thinking about my experience crossing the border in Cambodia made me nervous about doing it again, but now that we are more experienced travelers, crossing the border wasn't too bad, and we saved some money!
On Wednesday afternoon, myself and 5 other girls got onto a plane that would take us to Udon Thani, a small city in the northeast part of Thailand. Wednesday night we stayed the night at the border of Thailand and Laos. Arriving at our hotel (that we found on the internet 10 mins before arriving), we were hungry. Across from our hotel was a small restaurant that was packed with people. We walked up and one of the ladies pointed to a big spread of food and said, "Free, enjoy". Not sure whether we could take the food, we stood around and another man who was European said "Go for the food, there is Thai food and farang food". We all helped ourselves to a plate of food and fruit. When we were about to leave, we asked how much we owed, and all the women who worked at the restaurant said it was free for the party. Only in Thailand will people welcome you into their bar/restaurant when there is a party going on and let you eat 3 plates of free food. We left full, happy, and with no idea of what the party was for.
On Thursday morning, we all woke up early and crossed the border to Laos. After realizing I didn't bring photos and a long wait to get our visa, we finally crossed into Laos and began our journey to Vang Vieng. Laos has extremely bad road infrastructure. Almost all of the roads in Laos aren't paved. This made our 4 hour van ride from the border an interesting experience. The whole ride was really bumpy and rocky.
On Thursday morning, we all woke up early and crossed the border to Laos. After realizing I didn't bring photos and a long wait to get our visa, we finally crossed into Laos and began our journey to Vang Vieng. Laos has extremely bad road infrastructure. Almost all of the roads in Laos aren't paved. This made our 4 hour van ride from the border an interesting experience. The whole ride was really bumpy and rocky.
Arriving in Vang Vieng, I felt like I was in a small, quiet village. The roads were lined with restaurants and there were people biking the streets. We settled into our AirBnb which were gorgeous bungalows. The bungalows were off a dirt road and slightly out of the backpacker center of town. You felt like you were in the middle of the forest, it was quiet and peaceful. The owner of the bungalows, Nouth, turned out to be such a gem. She helped us get around, cooked for us, and made sure we had fun.
Arrivng on Thursday, we were exhausted from our day of travel, but still wanted to check out the town. We walked around and sat in a restaurant and got some drinks. We had heard from other Loyola students that all the bars in Vang Vieng play Friends, and sure enough, we walked into one of the many bars and they had Friends playing with Lao subtitles. Hearing "I'll Be There For You" blasting from a TV felt like home. That night we got dinner and went to some of the other bars in the town. Vang Vieng is a small backpacker town that you can walk the entirety of in 10 mins.
On Friday, we woke up and went to the Blue Lagoon. The Blue Lagoon is one of the things that draw people to Vang Vieng. We got to swing into the lagoon, that was really cold, and we jumped off of a tree into the lagoon. It was relaxing and stress free. After the lagoon, we went into town to book our tubing. Vang Vieng is known for tubing. The group of us got on a sungtao that dropped us off at a bar where we started our bar/tubing crawl. We hung out at the first bar and talked with some of the other people that were there. Then it started to rain....pour rain.
We all got into our tubes and tubed down to the second bar in the pouring rain. Mixed with being on the river, we all were freezing after arriving at the second bar. We danced and got Beer Laos (the best beer I have had in Southeast Asia) and tried to stay dry. We then floated down to the third and last bar. We danced and drank some more. The whole experience was really fun and everyone that goes to Vang Vieng goes tubing, so it was a must while we were there.
Finally arriving back in town, we were all starving. Another thing that Vang Vieng is known for is baguette sandwiches. All along the street, ladies are making sandwiches for $2. We all immediately got one. The bread is so fresh and they have real cheese...I think we all ate 5 of them over the course of 4 days. Being a colony of France, the bread and cheese is pretty delicious in Laos.
On Saturday, some of us wanted to go zip lining and to a cave. The two instructors who went zip lining with us were awesome and it was a really fun experience, and fairly cheap. I have never been zip lining, so saying that I zip lined in the jungle of Vang Vieng, Laos was an experience that I wanted to have. We then went into "The Golden Cave" that was right near the blue lagoon. The cave was spectacular. Maggie put it perfectly saying "you feel like you are on a different planet". Inside the cave there is a golden reclining buddha hence the name of the cave.
Saturday afternoon, some of the girls left to go to the boarder. Myself and 2 other girls stayed in Vang Vieng and went biking. We rented bikes for $2 and went out to explore. However, the seat on the bike was super hard and the roads being made of rock and stones made our crotches ache after 5 minutes. However, we got to take in the gorgeous limestone mountains that surround all of Vang Vieng.
On Saturday night, Kristy and I got dinner and a free drink and then went to a bar where they were serving free, all you could drink whiskey drinks from 8-9. We walked in and found out that one of the mixer options was lemonade. Excited to see something other then Coke, I ordered it. The bartender then pulled out a bottle of Sprite. Only in Southeast Asia would they advertise a Whiskey-Sprite as a Whiskey-Lemonade. I had to laugh....
All in all, we got a lot of free food and drinks on our trip to Laos. On Sunday, we woke up early, got a sandwich and began our 12 hour journey back to Bangkok.
Laos began as a trip that was going to be annoying crossing the border, and a busy, activity packed 4 days. In the end, it turned out to be relaxing, go with the flow, hang out and eat delicious food all weekend. Vang Vieng is a backpacker heaven, but it felt quiet and small. Being a backpacker in Vang Vieng didn't feel like you were being harassed and asked to buy things and spend money. Vang Vieng is more of a backpacker getaway then a tourist mecca. Vang Vieng is the better Siem Reap.
Going someplace like Vang Vieng you meet so many backpackers that have no cares. We got to meet a group of guys from Ireland, two girls who met nannying in New York who are from Germany, and countless Canadians.
Sitting here thinking about how I have 14 days left before Hong Kong, I reflect and think about how I wish I had 3 more weeks in Laos alone.
If/When I come back to Southeast Asia, Laos will be one place that I will get myself to go back to.
Dreaming of drunk tubing and French baguette sandwiches in 90 degree December Bangkok,
xoxo
Kate
We all got into our tubes and tubed down to the second bar in the pouring rain. Mixed with being on the river, we all were freezing after arriving at the second bar. We danced and got Beer Laos (the best beer I have had in Southeast Asia) and tried to stay dry. We then floated down to the third and last bar. We danced and drank some more. The whole experience was really fun and everyone that goes to Vang Vieng goes tubing, so it was a must while we were there.
Finally arriving back in town, we were all starving. Another thing that Vang Vieng is known for is baguette sandwiches. All along the street, ladies are making sandwiches for $2. We all immediately got one. The bread is so fresh and they have real cheese...I think we all ate 5 of them over the course of 4 days. Being a colony of France, the bread and cheese is pretty delicious in Laos.
On Saturday, some of us wanted to go zip lining and to a cave. The two instructors who went zip lining with us were awesome and it was a really fun experience, and fairly cheap. I have never been zip lining, so saying that I zip lined in the jungle of Vang Vieng, Laos was an experience that I wanted to have. We then went into "The Golden Cave" that was right near the blue lagoon. The cave was spectacular. Maggie put it perfectly saying "you feel like you are on a different planet". Inside the cave there is a golden reclining buddha hence the name of the cave.
Saturday afternoon, some of the girls left to go to the boarder. Myself and 2 other girls stayed in Vang Vieng and went biking. We rented bikes for $2 and went out to explore. However, the seat on the bike was super hard and the roads being made of rock and stones made our crotches ache after 5 minutes. However, we got to take in the gorgeous limestone mountains that surround all of Vang Vieng.
On Saturday night, Kristy and I got dinner and a free drink and then went to a bar where they were serving free, all you could drink whiskey drinks from 8-9. We walked in and found out that one of the mixer options was lemonade. Excited to see something other then Coke, I ordered it. The bartender then pulled out a bottle of Sprite. Only in Southeast Asia would they advertise a Whiskey-Sprite as a Whiskey-Lemonade. I had to laugh....
All in all, we got a lot of free food and drinks on our trip to Laos. On Sunday, we woke up early, got a sandwich and began our 12 hour journey back to Bangkok.
Laos began as a trip that was going to be annoying crossing the border, and a busy, activity packed 4 days. In the end, it turned out to be relaxing, go with the flow, hang out and eat delicious food all weekend. Vang Vieng is a backpacker heaven, but it felt quiet and small. Being a backpacker in Vang Vieng didn't feel like you were being harassed and asked to buy things and spend money. Vang Vieng is more of a backpacker getaway then a tourist mecca. Vang Vieng is the better Siem Reap.
Going someplace like Vang Vieng you meet so many backpackers that have no cares. We got to meet a group of guys from Ireland, two girls who met nannying in New York who are from Germany, and countless Canadians.
Sitting here thinking about how I have 14 days left before Hong Kong, I reflect and think about how I wish I had 3 more weeks in Laos alone.
If/When I come back to Southeast Asia, Laos will be one place that I will get myself to go back to.
Dreaming of drunk tubing and French baguette sandwiches in 90 degree December Bangkok,
xoxo
Kate
