Three stops in Laos

Flying into Luang Prabang, Laos was one of the most gorgeous flights we have ever experienced. As we descended and the vast mountain range came into view we were floored by the lush green mountains surrounding us.

Upon landing we got our visas and jumped into a taxi destined for our hotel.

Our Luang Prabang to-do list consisted of checking out the local night market, visiting a waterfall and walking around the surrounding area.

Luckily our hotel was very central and it was easy to walk everywhere we wanted to go.

The first activity we booked was exploring Kuang Si Falls. We walked around 20 minutes to a nearby hostel called Mad Monkey. They were our tour guides for the day. Bryce, about 10 other 20-somethings and I jumped in the converted truck bed and were on our way through the pot-hole ridden and windy dirt roads leading to the waterfall.

Once at Kuang Si Falls we walked up a paved path for about 5 minutes before being greeted with the sound of rushing water and after a few more steps, a stunning 200 ft tall waterfall. We marveled up at it while snapping some pictures before making our way around the front to a wooded path along the side of the fall. We walked up the steep and muddy trail to a jaw-dropping view from the top of the waterfall. Here there was also a large area that we could swim in. We were met with images of freaky looking animals and fish that were in the water, which was a bit unsettling. But after a steep hike in 90-something degree weather, it’s going to take more than that to keep us out of the water.

We swam around in the river feeding Kuang Si Falls for about 30 minutes before too many unidentified *things* touched our legs and we decided to make our way back down the mountain.

After miraculously making it back down the trail without falling we walked around a walking trail along the base of the waterfall until we reached the end. Kuang Si is such a beautiful waterfall. I would say contender for best I’ve ever seen.

We decided we were hungry so we started walking back to the drop-off area where there were many vendors and little restaurants selling asian food. But before we could eat, there was one more stop we had to make. About halfway to the parking lot there is a “bear sanctuary” we wanted to check out. They house moon and sun bears on this property and we thought it would be fun to see them. When we got there the bears must have been on their lunch break or something because they were all in a building attached to their fenced area. We did see one though and it made us sad because we realized these bears were larger than we thought. Bryce mentioned how they looked like black bears and they should be in the wild, not in a little cage. After a quick Google search, we found that they are Asiatic black bears that go by the nickname of moon and sun bears. We felt bad for them.

We left the so-called sanctuary and explored our food options. We sat down at a little restaurant and had the best fried rice and spring rolls of the trip. Delicious.

Before we knew it the truck was back to pick us up and our time at the beautiful Kuang Si Falls was over.

A (not-so fun) fact about Laos is that they are the most bombed country per capita in the world. During the American Secret War in Laos from 1964-1973, the United States dropped more than 270 million cluster bombs on Laos. This was over 580,000 bombings. This is equal to a plane full of bombs every eight minutes, 24 hours a day, for nine years. To this day, up to 80 million remain undetonated, this means that people are still dying every year from these bombs. When traveling in Laos it is very important to stay in heavily trafficked areas as you don’t want to accidentally stumble across any landmines.

It seems that at the night markets in Laos, some locals are taking advantage of the abundance of bomb casings. We saw a woman selling souvenirs made out of the melted down metal of bombs. I bought a Laos shaped keychain (to be used as an ornament) and Bryce got chopsticks. We call them his bomb-sticks.

Next stop: Vang Vieng, Laos.

We decided to take the train down Laos instead of getting more flights. The train rides were just as gorgeous as the flight in.

The most talked about tourist activity in Vang Vieng is bar hopping while tubing down the river. Historically, Laos has run into trouble with this because there used to be a lot of drugs involved and people were drinking too much and dying on the river semi-regularly. There used to be a lot of rope swings and cliff jumping as well. Now the government has cracked down and they no longer allow any form of jumping into the river and they only permit three-four bars to be open at a time.

The morning of our tubing day we made sure to hydrate well and eat a good breakfast before we started pregaming a few hours later. This is an all day activity. After a few rounds of beerio-kart and ciders we walked over to the tubing office. We paid a few bucks for our tubes and were driving in a tuk-tuk to the put in. We tubed for about one minute before the first bar appeared and the workers were throwing weighed down water bottles tied to ropes at us to reel us into their establishment. By “establishment” I mean a wood roof over a make-shift bar, held up by wood columns. When we ordered our buckets of vodka lemonade the bartender told us that a large group was expected to come about 30 minutes later. We must have been early because we were the only ones at the bar at this point. So we decided to wait for everyone to arrive and see what was up. Not long later, we saw herds of people tubing down the river towards us.

The music was good and the drinks were cold. We ended up hanging out at the first bar for a while. Once everyone started to leave we hopped back into the river and we all floated down to the next bar and were there in a few minutes. Bryce and I sat off to the side at this bar and just enjoyed a conversation together. We brought a couple snacks with us in a dry bag so we took this opportunity to eat and even shared a little bit with a stray dog. We let the large group take off ahead of us before also returning to our tubes. It was a long stretch before we reached the third and final bar. This was at the end of the river so upon arrival we dropped off our tubes and enjoyed one last beverage with an order of spring rolls before calling it a night. We made our way back to the hotel, washed the river off and figured out dinner.

The river tubing was a great time and it is definitely a memory we won’t forget.

Our second notable Vang Vieng activity was mopeding to Blue Lagoon 3. There are three blue lagoons and the third one is the furthest away and the quietest one so we decided to go there to avoid the crowds. That morning, we rented a moped for two days for $15 USD and began our hour-long drive to the blue lagoon. We had done a lot of research about this drive we had embarked on and everything we read said it would be a little bit of a challenge due to the roads being gravel, filled with potholes and if it rains it is slippery and prone to flooding.

Somehow, none of the articles we read mentioned anything about a wonky, broken-boarded wood bridge that is the only way over the river. To say the least it was terrifying and seriously looked like it was ready to fall out from underneath us at any second. The first time we went over our front tire fell into one of the holes in a plank of wood. Terrifying. After that Bryce drove over the bridge and I walked. All in all the drive wasn't too bad and the sites were gorgeous. Which seemed to be a common theme throughout Laos. Stunning mountain views everywhere. Dark clouds had been looming over the mountain that we were heading towards for our entire drive. When we were two minutes away from the blue lagoon it started absolutely downpouring. We quickly turned around (not realizing how close we were) and tried to outrun the rain. We got out of it and parked a couple minutes away hoping it would quickly pass. We waited about 5 minutes before going back to the lagoon and luckily, the rain was mostly done.

Blue Lagoon 3 has a zipline, cliff jumping, a rope swing, bamboo rafts and tubes to float on. Bryce did some backflips and rode the zipline and rope swing while I watched. As the rain came and went again we had a quick snack before going back into the water. Bryce paddled us around on the bamboo raft as we enjoyed watching everyone else flop into the water from the swings.

The blue lagoon was definitely worth the visit, even though the water was chilly.

Our last activity in Vang Vieng was visiting Tham Chang cave. It was a quick 5 minute moped ride from the hotel. After parking, we walked to the river where a boat picked us up to get to the other side. Once on the other side, there were a couple vendors selling drinks and snacks before we got to the main attraction. We bought our tickets for admission and started ascending the steep staircase up to the opening of the cave. Us and one other couple were the only people exploring the cave so it was nice to be able to really enjoy the scenery.

The caves in Asia that we have seen have been so big. It is crazy to be walking in them; they just keep going and are really cool to experience. After we got our fix of stalagmite we headed back out and down to a natural pool of water coming from inside the cave. We didn’t bring bathing suits so I didn’t go in but Bryce took a dip. Another couple that was getting out as we were going in mentioned a little cave entrance a few yards away that they saw local kids climbing in that lead to the natural pool. Bryce immediately had to go find it and hoped right in the hole leading down into the cave. I watched from above as he said something about it being really dark and there were a lot of bats. Then about 45 seconds later he appeared in the pool of water exiting from the mini cave.

Our last destination in Laos was Vientiane. Another hour-long train ride and we were in the southern part of the country. We were in Vientiane for a week and we spent the entire week relaxing, recouping, and working.There is not much to do and see there so Bryce spent time updating his resume and applying for jobs while I made and scheduled content for the Spud Kings and Evermine Media, updated my portfolio and worked on getting my business’ name out there.

It was a chill, fun week just relaxing after the mayhem and non-stop moving of the previous two weeks.

Overall, Laos is beautiful and we really enjoyed our time spent there. The memories and experiences gained are irreplaceable. Although the food wasn’t the best (especially in the south) there were restaurants that we found in the north that had some of the best food of the trip.

It has now been two weeks since we have been in Phuket and it has been amazing!!! My friend Ashley just left today after 14 great days exploring the island all together. We even met up with Bryce’s friend Tate a few times! We also went to our favorite island, Phi Phi and have a reel and blog coming about those adventures soon!