Everyone wants to travel the world. There are many places I would like to visit, and some not so much. I was never really into Thailand. Seems like everyone have already been there. Too many tourists for my taste. Lao (Laos) on the other hand seemed like my kind of place. There’s only one problem: there are hundreds of cheap flights to Bangkok and none to Vientiane, the capital of Lao.
Thailand is a touristic heaven whereas Lao is backpackers’ mecca. Ask a random guest of any hostel how long has he been there and there’s 90 percent chance the answer will be six months or more. There are students on a gap year, ex-office workers tired of corporate life and old dudes leading a hippie kind of life. They’ve been there many times over the years and keep coming back. It worth asking them about their experience, they know some amazing places you’d never hear about otherwise.
Lao is way more secluded than Thailand. You’ll find the nature is not as changed by human hand and the food is a bit more ‘weird’ for Westerners’ taste. I didn’t find it hard to communicate with local people, but it certainly is harder to find someone who speaks english than it is in Thailand (actually it depends where). If you’re patient and good at charades you’ll be able to communicate everywhere around the world and Lao is no different 😉
How to get there?
If you’re not on a budget it’s relatively easy. Just book a flight to Vientiane and you’re done. It’s a bit different when you want to do it the cheapest way possible. In this case you’ll need some more time and you’ll need to plan a bit ahead.
How did I do it? I booked a cheap flight to Bangkok from Warsaw. Two-way ticket in peak season costs around 450 euros. It’s possible to do it even cheaper if you’re willing to travel around Europe. Ok, you’re in Bangkok, what’s next? First order a pad thai (come on! you cannot miss that!) and than go straight to Don Mueang airport. From there airlines offering domestic flights are operating. International flights to Lao are way more expensive than those around Thailand. What you need to do is book a flight to the northernmost city of Thailand which is Udon Thani. I choose Nok Air because it was the cheapest. I paid only 20 US dollars for a two-way ticket and it included registered luggage (15 kg) as well as cabin luggage (7kg).
The real adventure starts once you land in Udon Thani. First you need to get to the bus station (by bus or taxi) where the only english sentence you’ll hear is ‘no visa, no ticket’. Of course I did not have a visa. When researching the trip I read online that it’s really easy to get one when crossing the border. Anyways, we spent about an hour trying to find someone who’d take us to the border. Finally we found a small bus just outside the station. We paid 2 dollars for the ticket. Cheapest ride ever. We were driving for over an hour, stopping a few times and dropping of passengers on the way. Finally we reached a border. Than a lady found us and asked if we need visa photos. Sure. Ok, so we’re sat next to a relatively clean wall, pay a few dollars, get our pictures taken with an old Canon camera and printed instantly. If you’re lucky you’ll have just enough time to wipe the sweat off your forehead before you see the camera flash. Than we cross the Thai side of the border and get on another bus. This time just to cross the Friendship Bridge connecting the two countries together. We’re almost there. At this point you might start to panic because you’re in no man’s land and still don’t have a visa. It’s all fine. You pay for the visa once you’re on Lao side of the border. It costs 30 dollars. Now you just need to find the cheapest transport to Vientiane. There supposedly is a bus, but we couldn’t find it, so we choose a taxi which wasn’t too expensive so all is fine.
DISCLAIMER: I’m talking about Lao visa for Polish citizens. We saw people from some other countries getting their visas on a border, but it might not be so easy for every country. So make sure to check it online before you leave.
Where to sleep?
It’s worth mentioning that I didn’t have enought time to go everywhere I wanted and I plan on going back to Lao. Therefore I can recommend you just two hostels. The remaining nights in Lao I spent in night buses, but there will be more about them in a second.
When it comes to prices, most things in Lao cost the same as in Thailand. Food is a bit more expensive but the hostels are way cheaper! There are tons of hostels so you won’t have any problems booking a stay. You’ll pay a few dollars per night, and the price includes breakfast. In Vientiane I slept in Funky Monkey hostel. It wasn’t the best so you might want to look for something else. It wasn’t bad either. Just a bit dirty. What I definitely can recommend you is DownTown Backapckers hostel in Luang Prabang (6 USD per person). The staff was great there, it was right next to a fantastic food market, rooms were nice and bathrooms clean. There was an electric blackout for a few hours but it happened in an entire city, so not their fault.
How to travel around Lao?
If you have an international drivers licence and are not afraid of mountain roads you might want to try renting a car. This way you’ll be able to see the most, stop wherever you want and plan your trip in more detail. What’s important however is to check the rental place’s regulations. Most of them will let you drive maximum of 100 km per day, every extra km is an additional fee. So that’s not a bargain.
What if you’re not a driver? Well, I opted for sleeping buses and I’m very pleased with that. It saves you some money on hostels and some time as well. There are several types of sleeping buses. We choose the ones from Vientiane to Luang Prabang (and back). It was quite comfortable as there were normal beds inside so we slept all the way to our destination. The drive is 10 hours and it costs around 15 USD.
What to do in Lao?
The first thing you should do is to run away from Vientiane. Nothing interesting will happen to you there. The only tourist attraction worth visiting is the Buddha Park. It’s an hour drive from the city centre so to get there you can either rent a bike, take a taxi or go on an organised tour by bus. We went by taxi but it’s only a deal if you go in a group of 3 or 4. Another con is that you’ll only have an hour among many Buddha statues as the driver won’t wait any longer.
If you actually do need to spend a day in Vientiane here’s what you can do: buy every dish that doesn’t resemble anything you’ve tried before along with some fruit and a fresh cocnut and walk to the Mekong river. River bank is not particularly attractive as it’s made entirely out of conrete. But still you can enjoy your little picnic of exotic cuisine there. In the evening you can join the locals and do some sports. Along the river you’ll find groups of locals practicing salsa, yoga, tai chi and more.
North of Vienitane there’s a city of Vang Vieng particularly popular among young backpackers. We didn’t have enought time to visit this place but from what we heard we gathered that in Vang Vieng there’s both: a neverending party and a beautiful landscape. Some people we met during our trip recommended renting bikes and riding along green rice fields and beautiful mountains in search of a true Instagram star – a red suspension bridge.
Further north there’s a place you cannot miss – Luang Prabang – a beautiful city in a jungle that backpackers seem to have overtaken. Here you’ll be able to communicate in english with almost everyone and will find restaurants and shops aimed at Westerners. If you’ve had enough of all things exotic, here you’ll be able to order poached eggs for breakfast, watch a british movie in a quint French bookshop or practice yoga in the most chillout bar on Earth called Utopia. At midnight there’s a curfew and you should be getting back to your hostel, but if you want more, go to a local semi-legal bowling alley. Ask any taxi driver and they will know where to take you.
But don’t worry, it’s not just Western stuff all the way. If you want to see the natural beauty of Loo just go to one of two nearby waterfalls. Kuang Si Falls are a popular tourist attraction, but there’s another one, where you might not see another soul. Another thing worth doing is going on a boat trip down Mekong river. I highly recommend going to a local food market in the morning as well. There you’ll find foods you’ve never seen before. There’s a night market as well where you can buy prepared dishes made from components you’ve seen in the morning. If you manage to get up before 5 am you might go to Mount Phousi where every morning dozens of buddhist monks walk together to get breakfast. I have not seen that but it’s said to be a pretty cool sight. Just be sure not to disturb the monks.
In conclusion
Just go to Lao. This place is magnificent. I enjoyed it there way more that I liked it in Thailand. The sights are beautiful, the people kind and the atmosphere is way more chilled out than in Thailand. It’s worth going there just to spend some time in Utopia bar – my new favourite place on Earth. I will certainly go back there. I’m not done with this country.