Luang Prabang: Lanterns, Monks and Rockets

Luang Prabang is definitely one of my favorite SE Asian cities, I'm really glad I had a full 5 days there to soak it up. As an official World Heritage city, it is remarkably calm, peaceful, and beautiful. I spent most of the days meandering around the city center and stopping in the various wats to befriend the monks. It seems like a lot happened in my 5 days there, yet it was super relaxing and fun. Here are some of the highlights:

The Rocket Festival: It's one of the biggest holidays in Laos with the central celebration in LP. It was complete luck that we were there and able to see it, but it was a really cool festival of lights, lanterns, boats and fireworks. The monks especially were loving it, going wild all night shooting off rockets, sparklers and fireworks- it was fun to see them let loose and be the teenage boys they are!

 The Hilltribe handicraft night market: Let's just say my bags are definitely going to be overweight now.

The monks: So friendly and all of them were desperate to talk to us and practice their English, so cute!

The locals: I really enjoyed all of my interactions with the locals, be it on a boat across the Mekong to explore a little village or at a restaurant in the downtown area. Laotians are very friendly and always open to chat about their life experiences and culture. It was really interesting to hear some of their stories, and especially cool to hear how dedicated they were to their education and their goals for the future of Laos, one of the world's poorest countries.

 The drive: Once again, crazy windy roads, but a really cool glimpse at how people way up in the mountains live. Beautiful scenery and gorgeous mountain views.  I also got a glimpse at some of the local roadside delicacies, including beaver (I think?).

Lovely Laos

When you join the backpacking trail in Southeast Asia there are a few places that keep coming up again and again as a must go and a must see, Laos is definitely one of those places. I've heard from so many people how beautiful, simple and amazing Laos is and I was eager to find out for myself.

The first stop was the capital city of Vientiane, right across the border from Nong Khai. There isn't a while lot happening in this capital, but there are a lot of amazing bakeries scattered around the city, and since Thailand has left me seriously deprived of baked goods, I made it my mission to try every cafe in my 24 hours in the city, and I did a pretty good job! Nell and Michaela and I also did a ton of walking and managed to see all the major wats and the Patouxai Monument, it looks very similar to the Arc De Triomphe, and I thought it was really cool. Apparently the people of Laos don't think too highly of it though because the inscription at its base calls it a "concrete monster" that is "even less impressive as you get closer" - burn!

The next stop on our tour took us to Vang Vieng, previously a small town amidst the mountains, but it has evolved into a backpacker favorite due to the introduction of tubing down the river. The tubing scene is pretty wild and crazy, and since we only had 2 days we decided to skip it in favor of chilling with the locals. The scenery in Vang Vieng is stunning, big mountains, lots of green space built around a lazy river. We spent one day trekking (9 miles) to the Blue Lagoon, it was a long walk in the usual blistering sun, but it was really enjoyable (at least on the way there) because it took us right through a few villages and it was really interesting to see how many people in Laos live. We made friends with some cute kids, baby chicks, puppies and kittens, water buffaloes and cows galore. It was definitely a good way to meet the locals and get up close and personal with the wildlife. Next stop on the trip: Luang Prabang, a city that deserves its own post!