30 Hours on a sleeper bus ride from Kunming, China to Luang Prabang, Laos. Leaving China into Laos was like going into another planet. These two countries are very different. Border crossing was a bit of a hassle to the Chinese folks with us having them pay duties. Nonetheless the view was spectacular the entire way. Much more rural in Laos with smaller villages and really laid back. For once I can tell a driver that I don’t want a ride and he’ll actually leave me alone from my first response. I had heard the Guest House called SpicyLao was pretty good so I decided to stay there for a few days.
Kouang Si Waterfall @ Laung Prabang
Laung Prabang is a intimate small nice town. As I said before, it’s very laid back and chill here. Palm trees, rivers, waterfalls, and hardly any cars (motorbikes and bicycles usually). Night market is fantastic place to buy random items. I had bought a few things to send home and naturally a BeerLao shirt. I’m traveling too light and need more clothes anyway. Hate having to wash my clothes so often.
Laung Prabang, Laos
I‘m not use to the Laos currency at all which is called KIP. One USD is 8,500KIP. Crazy conversion but you find a lot of places convert for you in USD when you buy things. I can buy a decent meal for about 10,000 to 20,000. A drink is between 5,000 and 10,000. Best deal is the fruit shakes sold at the street stalls. Dragon Fruit with Banana being my favorite shake is 5,000KIP. Somehow sandwiches are very popular here as well. Just a regular sandwich with your choice of what to put inside. I usually get ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and mayo. Sometimes I’ll get a crepe pancake with chocolate and banana. Either of these cost 10,000KIP. Laos has become very touristy and they seem to adapting to what foreigners want.
@ Laung Prabang
Met a few folks at the SpicyLao guest house and we all decided to check out the waterfalls near there. Beautiful views and the water was nice. I jumped from on top of a waterfall and rope swung into the water as well. Not all that high really but gave you enough of a rush.
Laung Prabang
Since I got to Laos I haven’t been feeling all that well so I checked into the nicest hotel possible with A/C and stayed in all day. I was able to catch up on my websites cause of this and felt a lot better the next day too. I caught a nice sun burn since I got here which sucks. Wasn’t able to find any sun block till a few days later. I’m all better now though J
Tubing in Vang Vieng is going to be wild..
