Bokeo, Laos Travel Blogs, Backpacking Bokeo

Creating Memories Traum. Welt. Reise.
Day212
Nudelsuppe und Whiskeybuckets
February 16 in Laos
Laos. Beautiful Laos 😊

Laos ist tatsächlich ein sehr schönes Land. Wunderschöne, abwechslungsreiche Landschaften, gute Straßen, einfaches Reisen, köstliches Essen. Alles war so herrlich simpel. Aber Laos wird mir wohl weniger wegen der eigenen, als vielmehr wegen der eingebrachten (Trink)Kultur in Erinnerung bleiben.

In Laos hab ich (F)feste gefeiert, Gratis-Whiskey geschlürft und so viele nette Menschen getroffen, die zu Freunden wurden.
Wahrscheinlich ist es auch ganz gut, nicht von Tempel zu Tempel und in Museen zu hetzen. Auch wenn ich jetzt nicht viel mehr über die Geschichte von Laos weiß als vorher, so kann ich glücklich behaupten, Laos mit jeder Faser meines Herzens gespürt zu haben. Damit bin ich mehr als zufrieden ❤.

Mit dem Tuk Tuk ging es heute morgen über die Grenze nach Thailand. Ich bin gespannt was auf mich wartet.

P.S.: Ich hab mal ein typisches Bucket-Klo-Bild angehängt. So viel ist für mich bereits Normalität und ich wunder mich nicht mehr darüber. Aber tatsächlich ist dieses Klo um einiges sauberer als es aussieht 😉.Read more
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Trip: Traum. Welt. Reise.
@ Laos Bokeo Ban Houayxay Houay Lôm
Feb 16, 2018 · Altitude: 361 m
20°16'40" N 100°24'41" E
Nicole Peikert Backpacking durch Südostasien
Day112
Houay Xai
January 31 in Laos
Nach über 8 Stunden Fahrt sind wir am 2. Tag der Bootsfahrt dann auch endlich in der laotischen Grenzstadt Houay Xai angekommen.
Hier haben wir dann wieder eine Nacht verbracht, um am nächsten Tag ausgeschlafen die Einreise nach Thailand anzugehen! 😊
Die Bootsfahrt war insgesamt mega entspannt und es tat richtig gut, im Gegensatz zur alternativen Busfahrt, den ganzen Tag an der frischen Luft zu verbringen und einfach die Aussicht auf die Berg- und Dschungellandschaften zu genießen. Wir hatten zwar auch Glück, dass die Boote nie zu 100 % ausgebucht waren und wir daher 2 oder sogar 3 Plätze für einen alleine hatten, aber wir würden diese Reise auf jeden Fall nochmal der Busfahrt vorziehen! 👍

Laos hat uns außerdem echt total positiv überrascht und wir hätten nicht damit gerechnet, dass die Menschen hier so entspannt und freundlich sind. Nur als Beispiel: Während in Vietnam und Kambodscha sogar auf Nachtfahrten immer wieder mal gehupt wurde (und am Tag sowieso gefühlt alle 3 Minuten), hat hier NIEMAND gehupt, wenn es nicht uuunbedingt sein musste. 😂 Schade, dass wir nur so kurz hier geblieben sind!Read more
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Trip: Backpacking durch Südostasien
@ Laos Bokeo Ban Houayxay Houay Lôm
Jan 31, 2018 · Altitude: 385 m
20°16'23" N 100°24'52" E
Moin-Welt Kimo & Conny auf Reisen
Day14
Ausreise Thailand-2days Slowboat in Laos
October 23 in Laos
Busticket für die 3 std Fahrt über die Grenze von Thailand nach Laos gekauft und Roller wieder abgegeben. Thailand zu verlassen lief ganz geschmeidig, aber die Eierköpfe am Grenzübergang in Laos wollten meine beiden 20 Dollarscheine nicht annehmen, da diese winzig kl. Risse an den Seiten hatten. Nichts half. Die Exchange Tussi war noch schlimmer😡 irgdwann alles geregelt bekommen und wieder zurück in den Bus. Mit einer Deutschen am Local bbq viel falsch gemacht, aber trotzdem was zu essen hinbekommen. Jetzt sitzen wir auf nem Boot mit ungefähr 80 Backpackern und fahren 2 Tage den Mekong River, mit Hostelübernachtung , Richtung Luang Prabang.Read more
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Trip: Kimo & Conny auf Reisen
@ Laos Bokeo Ban Houaysouak Houay Souak
Oct 23, 2018 · 🌧 26 °C · Altitude: 350 m
20°3'9" N 100°35'13" E
Nancy Webb Hash-Packing the World
Day29
Gibbon Experience, Day 3
July 2 in Laos
The last 24 hours have been awesome but exhausting. As predicted, I along with my three treehousemates stayed in yesterday afternoon taking naps, reading, listening to the jungle, etc. Very relaxing and a nice break.

Another bathroom picture is attached. I hope you're not afraid of heights. Yes, the floor is slotted to let the water fall through. No, there are no pipes leading to a sewer.

We had a huge storm last night, big enough to cause one of the other treehouses to evacuate. We were okay, though, and hung around with our two guides playing cards and drinking "happy water," basically sake (rice liquor). Our guide "Pizza" judged it was "only" 35-40% alcohol based on the color it made when he lit his finger on fire. LOL. He was great fun.

This morning, we only were able to hear the Gibbons singing; they were far away from us. Luckily, some others in our group saw them for about 30 minutes playing in the trees. This morning's hike out was more climbing and sliding through the wet, sticky mud. Up actually mean two steps forward, slide one step down. Down actually means one step forward, slide one more. Or fall on your butt like I did...several times. Up and down, up and down, then repeat what felt like 5,000 times. I am exhausted, but in a good way.

We are having lunch at the same place we did on the first day. Hopefully, it will be dry enough for the trucks to take us the rest of the way to the paved road, about an hour drive from here.

Out for now, says a woman feeling her age after these three days. ✌️

P.S.: We were able to drive out, thankfully. Bonus, I was able to get a picture of the water buffalo I saw coming in 😀. Now off to have drinks (beer, not happy water) with the wonderful people I met during this adventure.Read more
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You look great Nancy! Hope you have a Happy 4th! Love and miss ya!! -Terri
July 3, 2018
Micki Krzynski
Man, treehouse awesome!
July 12, 2018
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Trip: Hash-Packing the World
@ Laos Bokeo Ban Toup-Nua
Jul 2, 2018 at 12:10pm · ☁️ 81 °F · Altitude: 1,686 ft
20°28'21" N 100°48'2" E
Nancy Webb Hash-Packing the World
Day27
Gibbon Experience, Day 1
June 30 in Laos
We're stuck here in the mud waiting for the guys to dig out the truck. It's an adventure already, and we haven't even really entered the jungle yet.

I saw my first water buffalo during the drive up, but was unable to catch a photo. I'm very excited about this adventure, but I hope we don't have to walk too far in the mud.

Out for now. ✌️

P.S.: We walked for miles. Tomorrow will be three times as long. I am the oldest by almost twice the others' age and am the slowest. But I made it to the treehouse. We watched a lovely sunset, drank "happy water" mixed with hot green tea, and played several different cards games with our two guides.

The only wildlife we've spotted so far were a green bird, a couple of bats on the fly, fireflies, lots of bugs, a massive furry spider that we now live with, and billions upon billions of mosquitoes, bees, hornets, flies, etc. I'm truly looking forward to waking up to the Gibbons' singing around 6 am. ✌️Read more
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Trip: Hash-Packing the World
@ Laos Bokeo Ban Toup-Tai
Jun 30, 2018 at 12pm · ☁️ 81 °F · Altitude: 2,415 ft
20°26'9" N 100°50'14" E
Nancy Webb Hash-Packing the World
Day26
In Laos
June 29 in Laos
What is the first beer in Laos? Beer Lao, of course.

Note to other travelers: Bring brand new US currency. The Laos Visa Office rejected five of my $20 bills because of creases, ink marks, etc.

After finally finding an acceptable $20 bill for the $35 visa (paid for in USD), I met up with two other solo travelers, a male Jordie (Newcastle, England) and a Portugese woman. To get a cheap tuk-tuk from the border to the area of town where tourists go, we had to wait about an hour for two more tourists to show up. Two more did show up, another male Brit and and an Irishwoman, and we all arrived in Huay Xai around 4 pm.

Here's the best part of the day: I booked the Gibbon Experience classic tour for tomorrow! Three days and two nights in the jungle listening to and hopefully seeing Gibbon apes while sleeping the treetops. I can't wait! (https://www.gibbonexperience.org)

Early night for me; the bus leaves at 8 am sharp. Out for now. ✌️ 🙈🙉🙊🇱🇦Read more
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Trip: Hash-Packing the World
@ Laos Bokeo Ban Houayxay Houay Lôm
Jun 29, 2018 at 8:43pm · 🌧 77 °F · Altitude: 1,188 ft
20°16'41" N 100°24'41" E
placeswetravelled World trip - Anna & Bertram
Day157
Day two on the slowboat
March 14 in Laos
Day two of our travel upstream towards Huay Xai was as peaceful and serene as yesterday. The boat was a bit different -> no moving seats meant that it was a bit more complicated to lie down or find any comfortable position to sleep in. We also noticed that it started to get cooler as we moved further north in Laos.
After we got off the boat we both did some yoga. After two days stuck sitting around really yearned for a bit more movement. Newly certified Anna created a session for Bertram and it was a great experience doing yoga on the terrace of our guesthouse overlooking the Mekong.

We’re now in Huay Xai, right on the Mekong river. Across the river is Thailand and about 50km further north is Myanmar. Those two countries are not on our list for this journey, but we’ve already decided to return so hopefully we’ll see them then :-)
Tomorrow we’ll start a three day hike/zip line adventure through one of Laos’ national parks. We’ll sleep in treehouses and hike as well as zip line through the Laotian forests. The guides that accompany us are supposedly former animal hunters who have found better (and more animal friendly) employment as “safari guides”. The organization is called “The Gibbon experience” and while we’re not sure we’ll actually get to see gibbons in the wild, we so hope to see and hear some interesting wildlife as we sleep high in the treehouses :-)Read more
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Trip: World trip - Anna & Bertram
@ Laos Bokeo Ban Houayxay Houay Lôm
Mar 14, 2018 at 11:13pm · Altitude: 362 m
20°16'38" N 100°24'41" E
Claire and Karsten South-East Asia
Day103
Road to Thailand
January 3, 2015 in Laos
At the time of writing we are now officially on the way to leave Laos. But we are doing so the Lao way: slow and relaxed! We just embarked on the slow boat up the Mekong which will take us halfway to the Thai border on the first day and to the border on the second day but most probably too late to actually cross it. So we'll spend another night on this side of the border and will then have exercised all 28 days of our Lao visa.

The landscape along the ride is again stunning and makes the time worthwhile as the boat slowly inches forward. We got baguettes, bananas, cookies and - already causing envy among our fellow travellers - a couple of Beerlao for the afternoon. We came prepared!

But did we mention that it is pretty cold here in the morning in earlier posts? Boy, it's cold here in the morning!

Edit: we are actually in Chiang Rai, Thailand right now. Findpenguins can't keep up with us!Read more
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Trip: South-East Asia
@ Laos Bokeo Ban Houayxay Houay Lôm
Jan 3, 2015 at 11:14am · Altitude: 371 m
20°16'36" N 100°24'50" E
Emily Berlage Backpacking SEA
Day46
The Gibbon Experience
March 21, 2017 in Laos
Ein Baumhaus hoch oben im Baumwipfel, welches nur durch die Luft erreichbar ist. Und zwar durch Ziplines. Diese sind kilometerlang über den Dschungel gespannt. Wie ein Vogel lässt es sich durch die Baumkronen des Regenwalds segeln, bei einer fantastischen Aussicht auf eine einmalige Landschaft! Permanent begleitet von exotischen Geräuschen, Rufen und Pfiffen, die gegen Abend erst richtig aufblühen.
Eine Außendusche mit Aussicht auf den Regenwald gibt es auch nicht alle Tage. Und eine Schlafkoje in 50 Metern Höhe sowieso nicht!
Es war eine unglaubliche Art, den Regenwald zu erleben.Read more
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Trip: Backpacking SEA
@ Laos Bokeo Ban Houayxay Houay Lôm
Mar 21, 2017 at 10:51pm · Altitude: 361 m
20°16'40" N 100°24'41" E
Emily Berlage Backpacking SEA
Day44
Der Almosengang
March 19, 2017 in Laos
Sonntagmorgen, 6.30 Uhr. An der Hauptstraße Huay Xais sitzen Männer, Frauen und Kinder mit Schalen im Schoß am Straßenrand und warten. Warten, warten und warten. Alsbald nähern sie sich. Die Mönche des Wat Chomkao Manilat Tempels schreiten in einer nicht enden wollenden Reihe die Straße entlang und nehmen schweigend Essensgaben von den Gläubigen in Empfang. Der Almosengang, auch "dag bat" genannt, gehört zu den wichtigsten religiösen Handlungen im Theravada-Buddhismus und findet jeden Morgen statt. Die Gläubigen erwerben mit ihrer Gabe Verdienste für Ihre Wiedergeburt.Read more
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Trip: Backpacking SEA
@ Laos Bokeo Ban Houayxay Houay Lôm
Mar 19, 2017 · Altitude: 361 m
20°16'40" N 100°24'41" E