Shrugging our shoulders in Vientiane

We left Vientianne bemused; we weren’t really sure what, if anything, we had just experienced. It’s a strange city, very understated save for a couple of notable examples, and well earns its reputation for the sleepiest capital city in the world. Getting there was the usual nightmare, Laotian bus travel has not been a high …

Kicking back in a rehabilitated party town – Vang Vieng

The bus journey from Phonsovan to Vang Vieng was a quick 4 hours, but was absolutely stomach churning and, for Caro, was one of the worst ones yet. It was still breathtaking; Laos has to have some of the most underrated countryside that we have come across. Matt was still with us, lucky him, and …

Attempting to fathom the unfathomable at the Plain of Jars – Phonsavan

Going to Phonsavan struck the perfect balance for us; we were going off the beaten track, but not so far off it that tourists were unheard of and so a bit of infrastructure is in place. Just three white people arrived in Phonsavan from Luang Prabang that day, us and a guy called Matt. Probably …

Luang Prabang again

We went back to Luang Prabang for a couple of nights rest before shooting off again. Caro did absolutely nothing other than sleep and eat, which she enjoyed very much. So, James is going to tell you what he got up to. The Mekong runs past the town and I thought I should at least …

Exploring Nam Ha National Protected Area

Nothing is close in Laos. We spent an entire day in a minibus to get from Luang Prabang to Luang Namtha. The views were glorious if you had the stomach to look out of the window. The roads were not glorious. We’d done a fair bit of research about trekking and kayaking options before reaching …

Getting off to a lying start in Laos – Luang Prabang

We hadn’t spent much time in the air, nor had we changed time zones, but we were absolutely exhausted by the time we arrived at Luang Prabang airport. Caro also had cramps from the devil, sadly real life does interfere with travelling on occasion, and all either of us wanted to do was curl up …