Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng, Vientiane (Laos): Waterfall, tubing and excellent food

Here I am, in the country where my parents were born and where they lived half of their lives, Laos. It has always been a special country to me.

I came here the first time around 15 years ago but only went to 2 main cities, Vientiane and Pakse. This time I decided to go from North to South and to go to all the places my parents went to.

I started with one night at Luam Nam Tha, close to the chinese border. There I met Maja, Michal from Poland, Tomas from Germany and some other Lao people.

With Maja and Michal, we, together went to Luang Prabang. The trip was awful, maybe the worst bus ride ever. Almost 10 hours of horrible roads, tiny seats and dust dust and dust. It was really hard to breath...

Anyway, after this terrible journey, we finally arrived in Luand Prabang. But it was already dark and most of the guesthouses were full. So we took the first one who still had availbilities. Terrible mistake. My room was opposite the kitchen... that means cockroaches... besides, it stank and it was dirty. So next day we all decided to move to another guesthouse, without cockroach. Much better!

Luang Prabang is well known for its numerous temples and monasteries.

We also went to a beautiful waterfall. We could even swim in it, wonderful feeling!

I spent 3 days in Luang Prabang, having a great time with my polish friends and having great food ;o)

After Luang Prabang, I headed South to Vang Vieng, by myself. And again, 8 hours bus...

Vang Vieng is per definition the city of farniente. People can stay there for ever and do nothing. That's is exactly what I did the first day :o)

My room had a balcony and a view on the mountains, what else could I ask for?

Oh yeah, good food, not an issue, food was excellent in Vang Vieng.

Well besides enjoying doing nothing, the main activity in Vang Vieng is tubing. Basically you ride an inner tube (bouee gonflable) on the river. But the funny part is to stop at every bar, get drunk and do some slides. Then again you take your inner tube and continue to float on the river. It takes about 5 hours to float 3 kms...

I started tubing with one Irish and one Japanese guys and ended up with 2 German and 3 Dutch guys...

Even if I wasn't drunk, i tried all kind of alcohol (put in buckets). Nice experience.

Time to move to Vientiane, capital of Laos, where i spent 3 days with some relatives.

It was the biggest festival of Laos, Boun Ok Phansa, that marks the end of the monks' 3-months-fast and retreat during the rainy season. The biggest event is a boat race on the Mekong river. Very interesting but with 250.000 people, under 35 degres and with all my mosquitoes friends, it was hard to stay for a long time...

Still Vientiane was a cool city.

After getting bitten 18 times in Vientiane by mosquitoes, I decided that it was enough and that mosquitoes from Savannakhet could also enjoy my fresh european flesh...

Next stop: Savannakhet, Pakse, Champassak (Laos)