Laos? Lao? How do you say it?

After my fantastic time in Cambodia I looked north to continue my adventures in the beautiful, young, and raw country of Laos! Most backpackers do the big four the complete opposite way I did it. They go from Northern Thailand to Laos, move south until Vientien, then east to Vietnam. They go down the coast then into Cambodia and then back to Bangkok. I found most people that do this route skip the very south part of Laos: the 4,000 thousand islands. I heard some great stuff about southern Laos so I made sure I stopped off here. To get to the 4,000 islands from Siem Reap, you need to take a thirteen hour bus ride and then a boat over to the main island Don Det.

Now most people really dread these long bus rides from city to city but I have honestly found them to be the most personally beneficial part of my trip. I am an extremely social person and always surround myself with friends and rarely plan a day where I am just by myself. So having these 12 to 18 hour bus rides gives me a lot of "me time" (NO! That's not what I mean!). I have really enjoyed the opportunity to sit down for multiple hours and clear my mind and just think. You don't have to worry about doing anything, being anywhere, or saying anything. In North America we are constantly hit with stimulus overload; I think our younger generations especially are addicted to this constant stimulus to the point where if we find ourselves not preoccupied with an activity then we are "bored" or "wasting time". I have, however, recently learned that it is an extremely beneficial thing to do absolutely NOTHING for hours at a time! Ask yourself when was the last time you sat down and just thought and contemplated your life for a long period of time? Before this trip I wouldn't have an answer to that question. In my last five years I have tried to pack so many activities into each of my days that I have rarely even had a day where I could afford to do nothing for multiple hours at a time. It is so worth it though! So try it. Go for an extremely long walk in an area you are really familiar with so you don't have to worry about where you're going. Go sit on a bench in a quiet place and don't leave until you have been there for three or four hours. So much of the time we are drifting through life and really don't stop long enough to create a rough outline of where we are going. Nothing amazing just happens. A plan has to be made or envisioned and then acted upon.

I figured out a lot of really cool things on this particular bus ride and it's one I will never forget.

This bus ride to 4,000 islands was an extraordinarily luxurious ride! Here is a funny note I made while on the bus:

"I am currently on a VIP bus driving through rural farm country of Cambodia where there are extremely poor farmers working hard in 38 degree weather to put food on the table for their families. I am sitting here in a beautifully lush seat, with blasting AC, eating cookies, and watching "real steal," a film about a down-and-out dad trying to repair his broken relationship with his son by using a robot to box other robots and win the robot boxing championship of the world......... If this isn't two completely different worlds intimately juxtaposed I don't know what is. One reality completely swallowed whole and engulfed by an extremely polar opposite reality."

HOW PROFOUND!

4,000 Islands

I was debating for quite a while whether to stop in the 4,000 islands or to just power through and go right to Vientaine but in the end I did stop. And what a good decision that was! I was only going to stay two days but in the end I believe I stayed five. This really was a beautiful place and my lifestyle here was the antithesis of chilled out! I was traveling with a German and two surprisingly chill Australians and we had a blast! Most of the time we just laid in hammocks, ate cheap tasty food, and read, but we did a few other activities as well. We rented bikes and explored a few of the other islands, we took a tour to see endangered dolphins, we checked out some waterfalls, and went tubing down the Mekong river. Be wary of the tubing here because if you have the same guide as us, who I believe was drunk and stoned at the same time, you may find yourself in a fast current floating past Don Det and headed for a huge waterfall. Don't worry, the young gentleman was saved and did not parish.

I stayed in the bungalows on the sunset beach right beside Happy Bar. They were cheap, relatively clean, and the breakfast special at their restaurant across the road was SICK!

It turned out that the bus ride from 4,000 Islands to Vientaine was just brutal! I can't imagine trying to do the whole trip straight from Siem Reap. I would definitely suggest stopping in the 4000 Islands to relax and really learn what it means to chill.

Vientaine

Don't stay here.... UNLESS you want to experience some really good food!

If not, get on your connecting bus and get out haha.

I, however, had to stay for two days in order to get my Thai tourist visa because when you re-enter Thailand by land you only get 15 days in the country. Two weeks just wasn't going to be enough time for me to do all of Thailand!

When I was here I stayed at Mixay Guest house, which was great! It has cheap dorms and rooms but best of all the BEST French cafe is just down the street! It's called "Le Banneton" and it is AMAZING! Back in the day the French had a huge influence on the country, which is fantastic because now you get the same quality cafe food that you would find in Paris in Vientaine, Laos!

Next up was one of the biggest food highlights I have had on this trip. The restaurant is called "Khop Chai Deu" and they have the best lunch buffet I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing! They have tons of traditional Laos and Asian food like sushi, pad Thai, fried rice, and spring rolls, but also north American stuff like chicken wings, soups, ice cream, and salads. They also have these two huge grills with any seafood or meat you can think of and you just point to something and they throw it on the BBQ and cook it up for you! The best part is it's all for $5!!!!!!!

The Indian place at the end of the street closest to Mixay was also phenomenal!

The visa process was easy! Just remember to bring a photocopy of your passport and the page that has your incoming Laos stamp or you might have to go upstairs and wait in a long line to use the photocopier and then get hit on and aggressively propositioned by a big group of gay Filipino men.

Vang Vieng (The tubing place)

Oh man..... WHERE DO I START?!?!

I loved VV! It had it all. Everything is so cheap, the food is great, the people AREN'T jaded and mean like everyone tells you, the town is beautiful, there are tons of tourists always ready to party, the tubing is a great time, there are other fun things to do besides drinking, and best of all it is a Mecca for drinking games!

VV is a must for any young backpacker, similar to a full moon party. The beautiful thing about VV is the locals have not figured this out yet! Mad tourist inflation hasn't hit yet like it has in Koh Phanang! It's so awesome!

Here are some tips for people going to VV:

I stayed at Mountain River View. It was cheap and had REALLY nice rooms. We did have a bit of an incident at the end of our stay however. My German roommate Arne came into our room to find the maid going through his bag. He ran over and found out his money belt (passport included) was gone. He questioned her and she calmly explained that she had put it under the mattress and that she had stolen nothing haha. She ended up stripping just to show him she hadn't stolen anything. She knew he was leaving that night so I guess she thought she would hide it and come get it after he had checked out. He talked to the owner who said "well she didn't steal anything" haha. So be careful with your stuff if you stay there.

Vang Vilay, on the other hand, is a great hostel! A lot of my friends stayed there and liked it a lot.

Then there is Spicey, which is very cheap and can be quite the party when it's full. Very bare bones though, and not the cleanest place I have ever been to.

Smile restaurant has good snacks and smoothies, and is a solid set up, but their food is not very good.

I would suggest trying a lot of different restaurants. There are some gems around!

SANDWICHES!!!!

The sandwiches sold at the stalls here are amazing!!! My main sandwich artist resided opposite Smile Restaurant on the left before the bridge that takes you down to Smile Bar. I loved his chicken, bacon, and cheese sandwich. He is greatly under-appreciated in his field but a true master of his craft. Definitely try his nutela and peanut butter pancake as well!

Buy an underwater camera or befriend someone who has one. It's worth it just for Vang Vieng! Mick Mack, AKA Jeff, bought a water proof camera for the sole purpose of documenting our shenanigans, but after one whole day of tubing on the river the camera was lost to the mighty rapids. Geoff was getting out of her tube at the end of the day when the camera strap slid off of her arm and the camera was lost to the river forever. The river gods are a cruel sort!

I wouldn't suggest tubing on your first day in VV; I would just share a tuk tuk down to the bars and walk from place to place. If you're there in low season, just keep going back and forth to Q-Bar and Star Bar. It's a good way to meet people and figure it all out. Definitely go tubing at some point though! It is on the pricey side but totally worth it! Just don't do any drugs and if you're into hucking back flips and going off big water slides like me, make sure someone else goes first and that someone who works at the bar says it's ok. Tons of people die here, yes, but if you just stay smart and keep your wits about you, you will be fine!

Both Bucket Bar and Smile Bar give out free buckets but I forget what the times are. I think it's 9-10 at bucket bar and 10-11 at smile bar but go early because their clocks are fast haha.

Our original tri-pod (Life Guard Chimone and Mick Mack) made our way to VV so that we could all party hardy together, and that we did!

Since we're on the topic of partying I would like to take a moment to recognize a certain individual whom I had the pleasure of meeting in VC! Elliot Davies is without a doubt the most enjoyable gong-show Australian I have ever met! If you ever sit me down for a story about my trip, chances are Elliot will be in it! Our whole group soon came to love Elliot and his sweet sister Asia!

My favourite day consisted of our crew going tubing, teaching a group of people about the glory of dodgebeer, getting offered to work at Q-Bar by my promotor friend Tom, having a huge dance party with about seventy people in the sun right by the river, double teaming the white slide of death with Elloit, seeing my friend Arne falling off a ledge into a huge pile of thorn bushes, tubing home way too late in the dark with about twenty people (two of which were a doubles figure skating team from VICTORIA!!!), and arriving back in town six minutes before the tubes needed to be back! We only just found the town and got out of the river! It was pitch black so we were all stoked we made it back and ON TIME! We all started walking to the tube place to return our tubes and Elliot yells "LET'S ROLL!" and throws his tube down a semi steep road and it rolls right into a scooter and knocks it over! Hahaha. Maybe you had to be there. It was a perfect end to the afternoon. We then showered and hit the bars. Great day!

I had such an amazing time meeting great new friends, teaching/playing a ton of drinking games, and experiencing the beauty and chaos that is Vang Vieng!

Luang Prabang

I was only able to spend an evening and then most of the next day in LP. I wish I could have had more time here because it was a really nice chill little town!

I can't remember where we stayed but every place is about the same price and there are a ton of options. Just make sure you stay somewhere close to the center of town and the night market.

One thing you HAVE TO DO while in LP is go to the waterfalls! They're about 45km out of town but so worth the trip! Grab three or four friends, hire a tuk tuk and head out EARLY! Remember: this is a buyer's market so play the tuk tuk drivers off against each other. We had 5
five people but I think we ended up paying only 120,000 kip between us all. We bartered hard and got it pretty cheap. This is a popular tourist sight so try to get going around 7 or 7:30 and you'll have these amazing waterfalls and swimming holes all to yourself! It's awesome!

At night everyone goes to the bar utopia for drinks. Once it shuts down (because of the early curfew) everyone heads over to the bowling alley for some bowls and beers!

The Gibbon Experience!!!!!

I really can't say enough good things about the the Gibbon Experience (GE). It is definitely one of the highlights of my whole trip and should be on each and everyone of your bucketlists!

For the first two months of my trip I wasn't going to do it because I heard about how much it costs and I thought "if it's just ziplining around in a jungle with the slight chance of seeing monkeys there's no way I'm going to do it". It is much much more than this, however! I was sold after hearing where the money goes and seeing some pictures of what you get to do.

In Laos, deforestation and animal poaching is a huge problem yet the government doesn't have enough money to pay park rangers to patrol their jungle parks. Thus, loggers and poachers can do as they please in the national parks. The money you pay for your Gibbon Experience goes towards hiring and keeping park rangers in the biggest national park in Laos (which is where you go for the GE). So you are directly funding the end of poaching and deforestation in Laos' biggest national park WHILE having one of the most impressive and surreal nature experiences of your life.

The Gibbon Experience consists of challenging nature hikes throughout Laos's biggest nature park. During these hikes you utilize about 17 different zip lines which take you from one mountain top to the next. These zip lines are all about 200 to 300 meters long with the largest one being 500 meters! You get to fly over jungle canopies and experience something most can't even imagine. For the duration of your trip you live in the most amazing tree houses I have ever seen. Most are about 150 Meters off the jungle floor with astounding views. You spend your day looking for the endangered gibbon moneys and doing really enjoyable hikes, or if you prefer, just relaxing in your amazing accommodations. All the meals are vegetarian and the vegetables come from a nearby organic garden! The food is amazing and you can eat as much as you like!

I would highly suggest doing the three day classic Gibbon Experience. It costs $300 but TRUST ME it is worth every penny! There is also a waterfall tour, which I hear is a bit of a letdown because it's a ton of trekking to a pretty lackluster waterfall, and there is less ziplining involved.

Tips
- stay in tree house #1 TRUST ME!
- bring some extra alcohol
- wake up early (around 7) to see the gibbons
- book about a month in advance in high season. In low season you can walk in to the office in Houi Xai and leave the next day (June)
- you have to check in to the office in Houi Xaia the day before you leave
- still do it even if it's raining the whole time!
- buy long socks in Houi Xai because there are leeches
- be in good physical shape because some of the days can be physically demanding, especially if it has been raining a lot and the land rover can't take/pick you up from the nearby village. If this happens you have to hike out/in which takes about four hours

I had a great group of three other people and an awesome young guide named Simon, and we were lucky enough to see gibbons close up! Most people don't even see gibbons so we were very fortunate! Even if I didn't see the little bastards I still would have rated my experience 10/10!

Do this and thank me later!

That's really it for Laos. I came back from the Gibbon experience midday and right away booked a mini van to Chiang Mai Thailand because you don't want to stay in the border town of Houi Xai longer then you have to!

Laos is without a doubt the most geographically beautiful country I have ever been to. The rolling lush green mountains are everywhere and look picture perfect. Even the jungle looks perfect! This natural beauty is slowly being chipped away at by people trying to scrape out a living. I found it so hard not to judge the people responsible for the natural destruction of their own country because it wasn't the stereotypical fat cat businessmen. Instead, the culprit is poor families working together at something they don't see as wrong in order to feed their children. Laos is a young and somewhat unaware country that I hope starts to look to strategies for the long haul rather than short-term gains.

I loved the mellow and friendly vibe you get from the people in this country! Everyone says the Thai people are the nicest and friendliest people you can meet but I would say in my experience that the people of Laos hold this claim to fame. I only spent just under three weeks here but I jammed in so many amazing experiences!!!

Thanks for reading!