Laos

The Ultimate Itinerary for Vientiane, Luangprabang and Champasak – Laos in One Week

June 27, 2018 by Bino Leave a Comment

Laos is no longer the undiscovered country that it once was. Sandwiched between Thailand and Vietnam, the Southeast Asian nation has benefited from tremendous growth in the region’s tourism sector. Visitors come here to experience a more relaxed pace of life – whether it be in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Luangprabang, the laidback capital of Vientiane or in the ancient ruins of Champasak or the Plain of Jars.

Here is an itinerary for Laos that can be easily done in as little as 5 days to 1 week, depending on your pace.

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Awed, Mystified & Humbled at Vat Phou Temple in Champasak, Laos

November 15, 2014 by Bino Leave a Comment

The ancient temple complex of Vat Phou is located in the southern part of Laos, not far from the Mekong River, the major town of Pakse and the small community of Champasak. It is one of the 2 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Laos, the other being Luangprabang. I crossed the Thai border to spend a few days in Laos just to see this ancient wonder.

amazing reflections at vat phou

Traversing the ancient temple complex, I could not help but gape at the scene. It was not because I had to walk nearly 1 kilometer from the entrance just to get to the temples, or that there was a series of disjointed steps that led to the elevated sanctuary on the way to Mount Phu Kao. Rather, the source of my amazement was the sheer enormity of the site. By far, Vat Phou is the most scenic among the ancient Khmer ruins dotting Indochina. With a base at the foot of a mountain, the ancient rulers could not have chosen a better location.

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Things to Do in Vientiane – Ideas For Southeast Asia’s Sleepiest Capital

January 4, 2011 by Bino 9 Comments

basking in the golden sunlight – Pha That Luang

Ahead of my November visit, I was told by all the guidebooks to expect a very sleepy town in Vientiane considering that it is the capital of a country with fewer people than Singapore but 300 times the size. The first encounter I had with the city was on arrival after an annoying flight delay due to rain in KL, during the night before our bumpy trip to Luangprabang. I did not really expect much in terms of fun things to do in the capital.

Vientiane is a town in many sense of the word. It is compact, no tall buildings and still quite provincial. But by no means was it sleepy… or did I miss anything?…

Easy Daytrips Around Luangprabang in Laos

December 18, 2010 by Bino 8 Comments

The area around Luangprabang in Laos is filled with a number of popular daytrip opportunities. Two have practically become must-see destinations that they’ve been included as part of any default itinerary of Luangprabang-bound visitors.

Kuang Si Falls

We spent our first evening haggling with the many travel agencies in town for a good deal to take us to two sites – the famous Kuang Si Falls as well as to the much talked-about Pak Ou Caves. Both are near Luangprabang. Both are also within one hour car ride away and are described as “must see” places. The friendly chap who entertained us at the travel agency we settled with gave us a supposedly good deal for both daytrips. He even showed us the other receipts for the day containing supposed suckers who signed up at a higher price. “We are not Europeans!” was my default justification to be charged fairly. So did it work? We were able to bring our price down by only $1 per person – nothing fantastic, but still better than nothing. We shopped around and the prices were pretty much standard across the board….

Exploring the UNESCO World Heritage Town of Luangprabang

December 12, 2010 by Bino 4 Comments

The 8-hour car ride from Vientiane was one of the bumpiest I’ve been in. The driver couldn’t speak English but seemed as if he was on a mad dash to see who could get to Luangprabang first. Our van literally jumped every few minutes as it also had to contend with the relatively poor state of the roads. We came ahead of many other buses and vans plying the same route – and ended up arriving in the town a good 2-3 hours earlier than most. Not too shabby, except that our driver kept at this speed despite the harrowing cliffs that were prevalent in the few hundred kilometer journey.

at luangprabang night market

Luangprabang was literally our first real destination in this trip. We took a short plane ride to KL, where we also spent the night. Next day, our flight to Vientiane got delayed because of an unexpected massive downpour – and we spent that night in Vientiane. So by default, we were on “transit” for 2 nights, albeit in different places.

I had high hopes for Luangprabang – given that it is a UNESCO World Heritage Town after all and I heard quite a lot of rave reviews about it, both from friends and from independent travel magazines. But after we had crossed into the city limits, it looked like any provincial town in Southeast Asia. The town is quite spread out, but the overwhelming majority of the attractions are actually situated in the main street called Sisavangvong Road….