Luang Prabang, Laos

French cafes, candle lit exotic gardens, a lazy pool day, and menthol blue waterfalls... yes please!

We traveled to Luang Prabang with people we met during The Gibbon Experience. We spent two days traveling there on a slow boat down the Mekong river and it was fantastic seeing little river villages along the way. It was fun seeing the children wave to us as we went past. We had a bit of a hiccup the first day when our boat hit something in the river. Suddenly the captain started running down the length of the boat with a terrified look on his face taking his clothes off. With absolutely no communication from the captain or other staff, we thought we were sinking (I even packed up my stuff to prepare to jump in). After about an hour of yelling, running around, bailing out water, and failed attempts of assistance from nearby boats, we deduced that the propeller had fallen off the boat. Luckily some of the passengers rose to the occasion, jumped in the very polluted Mekong and helped the captain attach a new drive shaft and propeller. Without a word, the captain put on his clothes and away we went. Only in Southeast Asia...

Once we arrived in Luang Prabang, we enjoyed sampling the multitude of French cafes and walking around the city. We spent one day at the gorgeous Kuang Se Waterfall. It is a giant series of waterfalls with menthol-blue water and khaki colored mud. Being at the waterfall was one of the moments on our trip where both Andreas and I felt the beauty of it was surreal. We spent our final day relaxing by a pool.

Next we head south to Vang Vieng for river tubing!Read more