Lovely laid-back Laos

After our busy schedule in China, crossing the border into Laos was like a breath of fresh air. We made a welcome return to our more relaxed itinerary in this beautiful, laid back country.  No more big Chinese highways and crazy traffic, here small roads wind through forested hills, tropical river valleys, seemingly endless rice paddy fields and villages of shacks and stilt houses.

Crossing the border into Laos at Boten

Elephants by the side of the highway, a few minutes after entering Laos

Rice paddy fields, a common sight in Laos

We spent three nights in the small town of Luang Namtha, near the Nam Ha Protected Area.    Many people hired bicycles to explore the local countryside and waterfalls, some went kayaking and rafting and a few people went trekking. There were also temples and stupas to see and a night market that was a great place for dinner, whether you wanted noodles and spring rolls or fried grubs and stuffed frogs. We had yet another birthday to celebrate as well.

Kim, Ruth, Steven & Lindsay hired bikes to explore the countryside...

... as did Mark

Luang Nam Tha night market

Paul enjoying his tasty stuffed frog

Some of the group went rafting

Some went kayaking

Or jungle trekking

Luang Namtha's Golden Stupa

Reclining Buddha

Dave's birthday

You can't go to Laos and not get a Beer Lao t-shirt!

Time for cake (and "silly string"!)

An interesting drive over the hills and through some mud-filled sections of construction led us to the village of Nong Khiaw. We stayed in a great little lodge on the banks of the Nam Ou River, surrounded by scenic limestone mountains, for two nights. Most of us found time to walk to the nearby caves, but only a few adventurous souls decided to tackle the ‘100 waterfalls’ trek, which involved a boat trip followed by wading through streams and climbing up cascades.

Fun roads enroute to Nong Khiaw

Gas station stop - nice colour scheme!!

Our riverside guesthouse at Nong Khiaw

The Nam Ou river

Jodie & Kathie crossing a local bridge

Jodie at the entrance to Pathok Cave

Jonathan exploring the cave

Monarch butterfly

Emma & Amanda heading up the river to their trek

Juan on the "100 Waterfalls" trek

Emma, Juan, Amanda & Mark at the waterfalls

Our next drive was to be our last in Penelope, from Nong Khiaw to Luang Prabang. This beautiful, historic city is located on the banks of the Mekong River at its confluence with the Nam Khan. There are many Buddhist temples (known as ‘Wats’) and you can often see the orange-robed monks walking through the streets, especially first thing in the morning. There are also good night markets for both food and souvenirs. It’s a great town to hang out in for a few days (many travellers end up here for much longer than that) and we had 4 nights here.

Cleaning and packing up Penelope for the handover

Monks receiving alms on the streets of Luang Prabang

Wat Xieng Thong

Buddha statues in the temple

The Mekong River at Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang street scenes

As well as enjoying time in the city itself, there is plenty to do outside of the town too. A group of us went to ride elephants and washed them in Mekong afterwards, we then visited Pak Ou Buddha caves and the beautiful Kuang Si waterfalls, where we were also able to swim.

Elephant riding near Luang Prabang

Taking the elephants down to the Mekong for a bath

The elephants (and their mahouts) love playing in the water

Jodie & Paul on their elephant

Getting the boat to the Pak Ou caves

Buddha statues at Pak Ou Caves

Snake "wine" in a local village

Asian black bear (Moon bear)

Kathie, Paul, Christine & Dave enjoying the waterfalls

Dave & Christine at the falls

Kuang Si Waterfall

Jonathan and Louise decided to do something a bit different and rather than riding elephants they learnt how to carve them out of wood at a local craft workshop.

Louise carving her own wooden elephant

Luang Prabang was the end of the road for one of the most important members of our group – our trusty transport and home-on-wheels for almost 4 months and over 18,000 kilometers, Penelope. We celebrated our time with our truck with a ‘Farewell Penelope’ party, where things got a bit messy as both Georgian Chacha and Chinese Baijiu were both brought out to toast with (amongst the beer, wine and champagne)!

"Farewell Penelope" party

Paul sadly hands over Penelope's keys to the next driver, Will

Finally the time came for us to reluctantly leave Penelope behind and start our local transport section of the trip. Quite a change, but we were looking forward to the new adventure as we boarded our private hired bus and headed for Vientiane.

Goodbye Penelope

Hello local transport

Scenic valley on the way to Vientiane

"Loo with a view" at a roadside stop

Paul was missing driving!

More great Laotian scenery

We had two nights in the capital city of Laos, with time to check out sights such as the golden Pha That Luang stupa, several wats, and Vientiane’s very own ‘Arc de Triomphe’, the Patuxai victory monument.

Angela & Vai at the Patuxai Monument

Pa That Luang stupa

Reclining Buddha near the stupa

Jonathan & Louise went on an oil painting course in Vientiane

Wat Si Saket

Buddha statues

A monk at a nearby wat

Next we headed to Phu Hin Bun National Park for a two night stay at a lodge near the Kong Lor cave. The lodge itself had a great riverside location amongst some beautiful scenery of paddy fields and karst mountains, but unfortunately what they had neglected to tell us was that they had recently been having excessive amounts of rain there, so the flooding that we encountered when we arrived came as something of a surprise! We had to transfer from the bus to small boats, then a pick-up truck, a tractor, and then squelching and slipping through the mud to reach our accommodation – quite a fun adventure!

End of the road...

We transfer from our bus to boats

Kim keeps smiling despite the weather

A week or two of heavy rain had flooded the area

Unfortunately the wheel broke on our tractor and trailer transport...

... so we had to walk

Our jungle lodge

On the Nam Hin Bun river

Steven & Juan go exploring

The lodge cat gets a selfie

An Oriental Pied Hornbill joins us for breakfast

Leaving the lodge

Amanda & Kathie get a little mud between their toes

Local transport back to our bus

Louise & Jonathan enjoy the ride

Our last night in Laos was spent in Savannakhet, a pleasant town of Buddhist temples and old French colonial buildings on the banks of the Mekong. We arrived in time to have a look around and enjoy a last Beer Lao or two by the river.

St Theresa's church and the night market in Savannakhet

Chinese temple

Old French colonial buildings

Wat Xayaphoum

Beer Lao at sunset by the Mekong, a fitting farewell to lovely Laos

Heading to the border

Big Buddha at Dansavanh

On the opposite side of the Mekong lay Thailand, but our next destination was on the opposite side of the country, fortunately only 240km to the east – the border with Vietnam.