Crossing the border from Laos into Vietnam went smoothly, and after about 5 hours we arrived in the city of Dien Bien Phu. An unremarkable town at first glance, but very important for the Vietnamese: they won a decisive battle against the French in 1954, which set in motion the entire decolonization of Indochina. We …
After Luang Prabang, we headed north towards the border with Vietnam. On the way, we visited Nong Khiaw and Muang Ngoi. This is a more rural area, and ideal for lovers of nature and silence. In Nong Khiaw we spent a couple of days, where we found the hostel of my dreams, with a beautiful …
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 …
After Chiang Rai we took a minibus to Phu Chi Fa. This place is known for a gigantic cliff on the border overlooking Laos. It’s an ideal place to watch the sunrise, and the entire town is built for tourists doing exactly that, with guesthouses and taxi’s ready to take you in the morning. We …
Chiang Rai is a city in the north of Thailand, close to the borders with Myanmar and Laos. For us it was the next stop on the way to Laos. Naive as we were, we thought we could just arrive at the GreenBus station to buy a ticket to Chiang Rai on the day itself. …
We decided to stay a bit longer in Chiang Mai to see the Yi Peng / Loi Krathong festival, the festival of lights. Yi Peng is a festival specific to northern Thailand and is celebrated on a full moon. The entire city is lit up with colorful lanterns hanging everywhere. Relatively recently (only since the …
We had just decided to stay a bit longer in Chiang Mai for the festival, when Nastya (Alena’s friend) sent us a video of Wat Chalermprakiat. We instantly knew we had to go there. Wat Chalermprakiat is not very known (yet) with international tourists, maybe mostly due to it’s location. It’s about 2,5 hours driving …
Doi Intanon is Thailand’s highest mountain at 2,565 meters. It’s located in the national reserve of the same name in the north of the country. Here you will find many waterfalls, an extraordinary tropical forest, local villages with rice plantations and much more. The reserve is relatively close to the city of Chang Mai (70 km), …
Chiang Mai is the biggest city in the north of Thailand and it’s our first stop after Bangkok. This is where we really started to enjoy our journey. Our first impression is that the center of Chiang Mai seems to be almost completely focused on tourism, with multiple tour operators on every street and only …