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- Jun 4, 2024, 7:38 PM
- ☁️ 26 °C
- Altitude: 382 m
- LaosVientianeBan Nathong18°55’25” N 102°23’12” E
A week and half in Laos
June 4 in Laos ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C
Hello 👋 Sorry for the penguin hiatus, it's been a busy couple of weeks so have struggled to find time to write anything!
There is a lot to fit in so will do a description here and then split photos into two posts:
#1: Luang Probang and Vang Vieng
#2: Tahkek Loop
See below for descriptions of all. Will include photos of Luang Probang and Vang Vieng in this post and then post photos of Tahkek loop in a separate penguin. Some of my photos have been taken with my new sony camera that I got in Tokyo! Post #2 to follow shortly!
After parting ways with Jodie in Japan, I headed over to Laos to meet a friend of mine who recently moved to Indonesia. Have to say it was a pretty massive culture shock going from the cleanliness and organisation of Japan to the chaos of Vientiane (capital of Laos). I wasn't a fan of Vientiane, but only stayed there one night and then headed up to a town called Luang Probang to meet Ali. This town is much nicer, it's small and is French style so there are some nice streets to explore. We visited a waterfall which was nice and swam in the water , then realised there were small fish in the water that would bite your feet! Was a strange sensation. There were also some bears in am enclosure in the jungle which was a bit of a surprise!
We then headed down from Luang Probang to Vang Vieng where we spent three nights in a nice hotel with a rooftop pool. The town used to be a backpacker party central but has calmed down a lot as the government stepped in after too many tourist deaths one season. It is now a bit more calm. The town itself isn't very nice, feels a bit like malia or something, but the surrounding areas were really nice to explore. We went into huge caves for miles which were completely dark and had no paths or anything (we were the only ones inside and had to use head torches to see). We went swimming in blue lagoons and also did some hiking for a nice view point. On our final day in Vang Vieng we rented kayaks and went down the main river which was very scenic.
Our final travel in Laos was on something called the Tahkek loop which is a 3 day motorbike loop through central Laos. The loop starts and ends in Tahkek. This was probably the highlight of Laos, some really scenic roads through valleys and some cool sights along the way. The roads in Laos are not very good condition in general so you need to be careful with huge potholes everywhere. There were also sections of the loop where you need to drive through around a foot of liquid mud for a while which was tricky and absolutely ruined my shoes. It was also absolutely pouring down at this point which made it even harder. Some people behind us fell off into the mud and one guy lost his phone in there... Was an experience!
After the loop we decided to not progress into south Laos as we'd need to take malaria tablets which have some pretty bad side effects. Instead we headed to central/southern Vietnam which is where I am now. Will do a separate post on that soon.Read more
Traveler Great update but even more danger and excitement (not good for my heart!) ☹️ especially the motorbike ride in the mud and rain!! Very pleased you didn't go to the Malaria infested south! Dengue fever had enough! Take care 💕
Traveler I don’t like the sound of that motorbike ride with all the mud and potholes! 🫣😟 All sounds great though. Enjoy your last few days! 💕
Traveler 😍