North Laos, Part 1
After two weeks of traveling around Thailand, the portraits of the king suddenly made way for the red communist flags, which means we’re in Laos!
Our journey in this country started at the small border town of Huay Xai / Bokeo. It was very simple to cross the Thailand-Laos border, we got our visa’s on the spot without any problems. Russians didn’t need a visa for up to 15 days.
Originally we wanted to go to Luang Namtha but we quickly changed our plans. There is namely a 2-day “slow boat” trip down the Mekong to Luang Prabang, one of the main cities in Laos. Slow perfectly describes Laos! Everyone is in a relaxed mood, nobody is in a hurry, and even the big cities look more like overgrown villages.
Speed Boat 
Buddhist temple 
On the Mekong river 
Our slow boat 
This is what real bananas look like! 
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So fully ‘on board’ with the romantic idea of a 2-day water trip (with an overnight stay in Laos’ lost-in-the-jungle-village of Pakben), we bought our tickets. Well, it turned out less romantic than we thought: the boat was chock-full of people, mostly foreigners, and the locals were in 3rd class right next to the engine (terribly loud!). But still, not bad. Apparently the experience is not so unique in Laos, since boats are a very common way of transport. Roads are a different story, if you can still find some roads next to all the holes. They have no trains at all. More on the roads below…
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Pak Ou caves with buddha statues inside 
The boat’s engine in 3rd class 
Unbearably noisy! 
We gave one of our spots to a young mom and her baby 
The monk says hi 🙂
The Mekong is the most important river in Indochina, it begins in China and ends in Vietnam.
Luang Prabang turned out to be a very cosy city, with a colorful night market and beautiful nature around. In 5 days we managed to visit 2 waterfalls, see the sunset at Mount Phu Si, spend the day doing ziplines in Nam Dong Park, and walk through Chompet town, where there is a hidden cave with ancient buddha statues (Sakkhalin cave). We also made Wout a visa for Vietnam in the local consulate.
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Ночной Рынок 
прогулки по рынку 
храм 
просто телевизоры) 
местный тук-тук 
The view from mount Phu Si 
Sunset at Phu Si 
Kuang Si and Tad Sae waterfalls:
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Kuang Si Falls 
Exiting the forest path to the waterfall 
Beautiful! 
The way to the top passes right through the waterfall 
We took a quick dive 
The ideal Instagram photo… 
… and what it looks like in reality! 
On the way to see Tad Sae falls 
Tad Sae 
We met a cute snake on the way 🙂 
You can only get to Tad Sae Park by boat. The boat driver promised to wait… he didn’t. Luckily we could still catch a random boat passing by. 
Otherwise we would have spent an amazing night in the jungle!
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Nam Dong Park:
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The road to the park 
Well at least someone is serious 🙂 
View of the whole park 
Small waterfalls where you can swim 
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Don’t look down 
Chompet hike
View of Luang Prabang 
The welcome committee 
Statues in the forest 
Cave temple 
The picture below is a 360 photo, click and drag to look around, scroll to zoom!