Backpacking around the world: Laos Blog

With one of the worst overnight mini van journeys, 15 hours of cramped cold conditions we arrived in the Capital of Laos Vientiane.

Vientiane was a quiet town with little French cafes and wine bars dotted about, there wasn’t much to see and do there apart from take a stroll down the Mekong river and eat and drink the local cuisine. We decided we didn’t want to head up north to the tubing area but south to the Bolaven Plateau, as we had read about its lush rainforests, dramatic waterfalls and remote hill tribes.

Lunch

After another overnight bus ride, this time it was a little better with actual beds on the bus! We arrived in the town of Pakse and checked into an actual palace where the king of Laos once lived. I know why he moved out though the place was a dump and not suitable for the bed bugs let alone the king of Laos. There was nothing in the town apart from a few not very appetizing restaurants. We booked an all day tour to visit some of the Bolaven Plateau. We did get to see about 4 waterfalls, some quite pretty but didn’t have that wow factor I was promised.

Bed on the bus for both of us

A Palace not fit for a king

We stopped off at a local village, which was very interesting, I don’t think I saw more than 2 adults and a million children. A typical man in the village will have 4 wives so hence the amount of children around. We where told that in the village their god is the King Cobra Snake (luckily we didn’t meet him). Once a year they will sacrifice a buffalo by cutting off its legs so it can not get away and then repeatedly stab it to death…. to graphic, we thought so! This was the poorest village I have visited in South East Asia, nobody had any shoes on, some didn’t even have any clothes on but they still managed to have a massive satellite dish in the middle of the village.

We had had enough of Laos after 7 days, maybe we didn’t give it a good chance but we where itching to get to Cambodia. So with our favorite means of transportation booked a 16 our bus ride, we would be in the capital of Cambodia Phon Phen.