Tad Lo: The Hidden Gem of Lao

Just a quick recap, i started off in vientiane, headed to luang prabang and back to vientiane before grabbing a sleeper all the way to pakse.

after our less than impressive experience in luang prabang, we decided  to give viang vien a miss, those “i was in the tubing viang vien” t-shirts were more than enough of an indication of what to expect from the place.

after reaching pakse, we headed out for a little village on the boloven plateau – tad lo.

we found a nice little place called mama paps, who offered us rooms by the river for 20,000 kip a night. money very well spent.

if laos should be known for anything, it’s waterfalls.

if you ever wondered what it was like to live in a farm, then tad lo might be the place for you. the wilderness of tad lo may not be for everyone, but for a traveler longing for the peace and quiet that the locals enjoy on a daily basis, this was a welcome retreat from luang prabang. i did get into an unfortunate accident, which ended up costing me ALOT of money, but it was well worth it.

One of the define highlights of the area are the locals, super friendly and sometimes super quirky. Also, if you’re lucky, you might run into a bunch of wild kids running around naked with rubber tires, but like the infamous irrawady dolphins, you’ll have to keep your eye out for these:

We were treated to beautiful sunsets that turned the sky into a beautiful patches of purple and orange.

i could wax lyrical about tad lo the whole day. but all in all, tad lo was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

Luang Prabang: Overpriced and Overrated

Coming from Vientiane, we headed to luang prabang, how we got to luang prabang from vientiane deserves an article to itself. Traumatic, that’s probably the only word that my mind can conjure when the thought of that bus ride occurs.

There were two buses heading to luang prabang, one express and the other VIP. the price differential wasn’t significant, but wanting to save some cash so that i could extend my travels, we took the express.

It should be noted that the price of fuel is extremely high in Laos and that you should be prepared to pay up to US $20 for a 4 – 5 hour bus ride. the cost, by no means, should be any indication of the comfort you should expect.

The bus broke down a few kilometers out of luang prabang and we ended up having to take a tuk tuk into town. Ok enough about the bus ride, i should’ve been expecting something similar to the sort but i guess civilization has spoilt me for the road.

The town of luang prabang is nice. Great for walking around and soaking in the french architecture and temples that reside in the town.

 

However, the essence of luang prabang’s tourism is the waterfalls that reside on the outskirts of the town.  the most amazing of which is kuang xi waterfall.

We took a tuk tuk to check out all the waterfalls around the town, because my travel buddy couldn’t ride a bike. Talk about a downer.

 

 

All in all i spent 4 days in luang prabang, it wasn’t the greatest experience i’ve ever had on the road, but i did enjoy it. It should be noted that luang prabang is a mainstay on almost every tourist in laos and it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to give the place a miss. however, it should be noted that somethings a popular for a reason and kuang xi waterfall certainly merits a visit if you don’t mind japanese tour buses and noisy white guys roaming around town with beerlao in hand.

Vientiane, the capital of laos and a contender for cleanest city in south east asia

contrary to popular (jeremy’s) opinion, laos is not full of cannibals running around with spears in the nude. Laos, well the capital anyway, seemed to be developing along nicely along with the rest of south east asia. take away the reckless drivers, the aggressive people and the insurance salesmen of kl and you’ll find yourself in something similar to vientiane. of course, laos was holding the SEA games this year, so it could be plausible that the whole thing was a facade for tourists like myself.

my first stop on my trip to laos was to vientiane, taking a 3 hour flight from kl, i got there early in the morning.

initially, the plan was to head straight to luang prabang which is to laos what ang kor wat is to cambodia. but i didnt manage to catch the earliest bus out and i had to wait for 6 hours before i could catch the next one.

which ended up to be a good thing, because it gave me a chance to check out the city

Anyways, here are some photos from my stop at vientiane.

Temples and palaces are popular hang out places for students over in laos, this place was called wat pha luang. Inside the gates of this temple, lie the most important Buddhist monument in laos. also, it’s the place where my friend lost her umbrella.

the other photo is the bird lady, RM 5 and you can release the birds. the birds are trained to come back afterwards though.

    

Lao’s answer to the disney castle, you can climb to the top and check out the view, it costs USD $2 to get to the top though.

   

anyways, i took tons of photos so i’ll upload them when i can.

it’s good to be back!