Part 1: The Mekong River → Pak Beng → Luang Prabang.

Sabaidee from Laos!

Having spent a week in this beautiful country, it’s safe to say that we have fallen very much in love with Laos: with its mountains and its rivers, its people and its cities.

We started our journey through Laos at the border with Thailand, crossing over and going directly to a long-tail boat where we spent two days cruising down the Mekong River. It was such a relaxing experience and gave us the opportunity just to sit and watch the mountain scenery on both sides of the banks. As we pulled into Pak Beng on our first night, we were even lucky enough to see elephants bathing in the river opposite.

Pak Beng is a small village on the banks of the Mekong which has become somewhat of a stop off for travellers completing the same boat journey as us down the Mekong. We had spectacular views of the sun setting over the river from our balcony, and spent the next day on board the boat again, stopping off at Pak Ou Caves where hundreds of Buddha statues have been placed, before arriving at the lovely city of Luang Prabang.

I had been really looking forward to the Laos part of the trip, and it really didn’t disappoint. It’s a much slower pace of life than Thailand, and much simpler, full of mountains and small farms and villages. Just being able to sit and watch it all from the boat was so much fun, and Luang Prabang (coming in the next post) was one of my favourite cities to date.