Vientiane Capital of Laos

Patouxay

Before you start to see skyscrapers 'popping' up everywhere, go to the top of "Patouxay" to get a panoramic view of the city.  The best way to explore the city centre is go on foot. You can get a map from your guesthouse and start on your foot journey. All these attractions are just  walking distance away and so you can  leisurely walk while exploring the beautiful scenery or if you prefer just take a tuk tuk.

Stupa That Luang

It is a national symbol of Laos. This is the biggest and most important religious building and beautiful Stupa. To fully appreciate the glowing stupa, the best time is during sunset when its gold shine out. Open daily from 8am to 12noon and 1pm to 4pm with admission fees.  



 Two days is sufficient for you to see Vientiane sight. We can use Mekong river from Luang Prabang to Vientiane but it takes 2-3 days to reach there. If we use bus from Luang Prabang to Vientiane we can stop over at Vang Vieng for few days for sightseeing. If the weather is not too hot, many visitors will go and soak in one of the Vientiane herbal saunas. The most famous one is at Vat Sokpaluang.
There are few others places for you to visit besides Patouxai and Stupa That Luang such as Wat Sisaket, Hor Pha Keo, Talat Sao shopping mall and also Chao Anouvong Statue at Mekong riverbank.

Driving in Laos is risky especially in urban areas. Traffic laws do exist but are rarely respected. So be careful particularly on motorbikes. From Vientiane if you wish to continue your journey to south, you will reach a place call Savannakhet and also most southern part of Laos is Pakse and also Emerald Triangle, a  region where Northeastern Thailand, Southern Laos and Northern Cambodia meet. 
Happy Journey............to my fellow readers.   

Vang Vieng, Laos

Located  north of Vientiane, Vang Vieng lies along the bank of the Nam Song River and receives plenty of visitors. Travellers will pass by this town if they are heading north to Luang Prabang. For my journey, I am heading south from Luang Prabang to Vientiane, the capital city of Laos.  So we will pass by Vang Vieng. This town has numerous caves to be explored. Plenty of activities can be done in this town like waterfall trekking, rafting, kayaking,  tubing  and also  cave exploring!. Everyone in Vang Vieng has their  favourite cave, swimming hole or countryside  gateway. We can buy our VIP Bus Ticket at Luang Prabang bus station.

Ticket from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng is only 105,000kip.

Buy at the ticket booth. Don't buy from any agent who approached you when you reach the bus station. The bus to Vang Vieng only departs at 9.30am.

If you want to buy Vang Vieng to Vientiane  ticket,  don't buy at the wrong bus station. The station is behind the wide grave field within the walking distant of most of  the accommodations.  We can buy from  the guesthouse at 45,000kip.  There is ONLY ONE type of bus service. Many agents will put different names for the bus tickets  such as (express, VIP, etc.) with different prices. So don't be tricked by all these agents. The bus leaves at 10am to Vientiane.

                                                     

Vang Vieng attractions lie on the west bank of the Nam Song River. There's now a permanent  toll bridge crossing the river (4000kip for pedestrian,  6000kip for bike and  10000kip for motorcycles). You can easily hire a bicycle or motorbike from various outlets around the town .

Most tourists (backpackers) stop here for few days to float down the river in a large tractor inner tubes or kayaking, swimming and there are also many caves to explore. Vang Vieng has a beautiful riverside setting and makes the town a perfect rest stop for sightseeing and also a paradise for nature lovers. At Nam Song River all tubing, kayaking or rafting items can be rented  from the nearby shops or get a  tour guide there to take you for caving and all other exciting activities.  

Luang Prabang and Nong Khiaw, Laos

LUANG PRABANG

At last we landed at Luang Prabang, the laid back former royal capital in Laos. It was listed as the World  Heritage Site by Unesco. The sleeping city has seen an increasing number of visitors. We started from Pak Beng at 9am and arrived at around 4pm. As usual many guesthouse representatives will be there to do businesses.

Take your time to digest and find a way up to the night market in Luang Prabang. Here is the exciting place and the guesthouse over here is very cheap. It is around US10-US20, depending on whether you want the room with an air conditioner  or without. If hotel style will cost around US30 and above. All these you can find near the night market. I stay at Jaliya Guest House at Pamaha Phasaman Rd. It cost me only 70,000 kip (US10) without air conditioner because the whether there is quiet cooling.

Luang Prabang is located in the north of Laos. The town is one of the best preserved places in Southeast Asia and its beautifully restored temples, period buildings, traditional cultures and its mountainous landscape make it a 'must see' for those visiting the region. Plenty of places you can visit like National Museum, Phou Si Stupa, Wat Xieng Thong, Morning Alms Giving Ceremony, Tam Ting ( Pak Ou Cave) Night Market, Kuang Si Tad Sae waterfall and etc. Luang Prabang should be explored on foot in order to appreciate the beauty and serenity of the city's 32 pagodas.

Tam Ting (Pak Ou Cave)

It is easily accessible by boat or car. This is a cave filled with Buddha images. It is located on the bank of the Mekong and the mouth of the Nam Ou.  Outside the cave is the impressive sight of the steep cliff falling sharply into the Nam Ou river.

Le Mont Phousi (Phou Si Stupa)

            

Mount Phousi is Luang Prabang holy mountain and it sits on the top.  The view from the top is superb, especially in the evening when the sunset colors the Mekong river in red before disappearing behind the mountains. From there you can get a perfect 360 degree panoramic view of the whole city. All good things come with a price, in this case, a steep staircase of 328 steps will be yours. Hahaha.... Well it is indeed a challenge to go all the way up... Challenge yourself!! Don't give up and you won't regret!



                   

In Luang Prabang, you just can't miss the night market that unfolds every night when the main street (Sisavangvong road) becomes pedestrian walkways from 5pm-10pm. Variety of local textiles and ethnic Laos handicraft are for sale here.  

    

Every morning the people of Luang Prabang line the streets to offer food (alms giving) and pay respect to monks who form a procession through the town. This beautiful yet solemn religious ceremony is an important aspect of Lao's  lives and heritage. 

Kuang Si and Tad Sae Waterfalls

The largest and most dramatic ones. Both are perfect for swimming and picnic and accessible by boat or car.

Fascinating sunset while having our dinner at Mekong riverside.

We can travel to Luang Prabang by air, road and boat. There are various ways of getting around Luang Prabang like renting a motorbike, bicycles,  tour bus, mini van and tuk tuk too.  They are cheap and easy way to get around.

Nong Khiaw

From Luang Prabang, we can visit a small quiet town  call Nong Khiaw by mini van at bus station. It takes few hours journey to reach Nam Ou River. This town is surrounded by towering limestone peaks. Just an hour journey up the river and only accessible by boat is a place called Muang Ngoi,  a great base for trekking and kayaking in the region.

At Moung Ngoi village, electricity supply is only available from 7pm-10pm. So if you intend to visit this peaceful village, do bring some candles for night use. All accommodation lines one strip along the river bank. Boats back to Nong Khiaw is from where you land at Muang Ngoi and it leaves every morning at 9.30am and the cost is 20, 000kip per person. An hour journey using this slow boat is really fascinating with the breathtaking view.

Mekong River (Slow Boat) to Laos Pak Beng and Luang Prabang.

At Chiang Khong  blog you already read about crossing Ching Khong to Huay Xai by boat and do your visa at Huay xai. Do visa only takes about 10-20 minits.  Now is the journey from Huay Xai  to Pak Beng and Luang Prabang by slow boat. Few years ago everybody was mentioning about bringing a cushion for the wooden sit in the boat. Now I can tell you the cushion sit is the same like your bus seat cushion so you don't have to worry about the seat anymore.

After you have completed your visa,   walk upriver to take a tuk tuk or walk for 1 km to the jetty for slow boat. You can take speed boat but to me I feel like taking a slow boat for safety purposes. The price for the tuk tuk is only 10,000 kip. In Laos  kips is preferred. Anyhow, Thai Baht and US dollar are readily accepted in Laos too.

Nothing will stop us if we determine to go anywhere we want.  Prepared ourselves with some knowledge by studying the map and popular tourist attractions. Be alert with certain situation we are going to face and acquire some safety knowledge. Sometimes critical experience may be beyond our control, then we got nothing to say. Nothing is more important then taking care of our passport and money,  hahaha... Without them you will be ended up in real problem because Laotians have communication problem. They are not good in English. Most of the time if you want to buy something they will show you the price with a calculator.

The above picture  is my touch and go friends. Both of them cycle round the world with their bicycles. They had already travelled for eight months on their bicycles starting from France , Iran etc...and so now they are at Laos. They 'parked' their bicycles on top of the boat. Real amazing twins. They really take their opportunity to see the world. I heard there is a family from China also doing the same thing. Woww!!! Bravo.....  

                     

Here I wish to tell you during our journey in this slow boat you can feel the super nature enviroment. It is really great and pleasant. You just spend money to buy ticket of  110,000 kip to take this cruise. I think it is worth 2 days  1 night cruise and stop at Pak Beng ovenight then start our next day journey to Luang Prabang. Real relax and calm during our travelling with this kind of cruise surrounded by natural limestone and greenery environment.

Pak Beng

This slow boat takes 6 hours to reach Pak Beng. We started the journey from Huay Xai at 11am and we reached Pak Beng at 5pm.  Many guesthouses at the Pak Beng. You can slowly look and see which one you want to stay. As soon as you arrived,  many  guest house representatives will come down to introduce you to stay, even to fetch you  to their hotels. Local kids will come down to the river bank to help you carrying your luggage but "with payment "!

At Pak Beng don't worry of no electricity. They have electricity in our hotel the whole night. Not much entertainment here but for relaxing, yes, superb! The cooling weather makes you feel really comfortable without any air-conditional unit. No need to book an air-cond room. Natural air is so much better.

Throughout the journey, you would experience rich  natural view. It is money worth spent! The next day we started our journey to Luang Prabang. We departed at 9am from Pak Beng to Luang Prabang.

During our journey from Huay Xai we saw two slow boats with tourists. The next day they tried to accommodate all two boats tourists into one boat!  So all smart tourists must be co-operative. Do not be scared of no boat to take you to Luang Prabang. If you see the seats are already full, don't board. If you board they will try to put in stools in the centre for you to sit. Be Smart like what our tourist counter friends do, just stand outside waiting for them to get another boat to take you. You  paid for your seat. Make your journey comfortable. See how many tourists were still waiting outside under the hot sun? Don't panic or rush in.  YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOO.