Bokeo & Luang Prabang, Laos 2020.

We left Chiang Rai, Thailand and took the bus to cross over into Bokeo, Laos. At the border crossing we found out we were 1 day over the 30 day free VISA we got upon entry. They took us into the border patrol office, where we explained this simple mistake, and they fined us $50 CAD/ each for the overstay.

We were then allowed to continue our bus ride, arriving in Bokeo in the mid afternoon. Our next bus was to depart at 4 pm (the night bus) to Luang Prabang, but we weren’t able to buy tickets until closer to the departure time. So we found a restaurant, there were a few around the bus station, and got comfortable as we waited until it was time for the night bus. The restaurants all open into the loading area, which meant no a/c just small fans on the ceiling attempting to combat the heat of the afternoon.

We got our tickets and loaded onto the night bus. There are different styles of night buses in every country. Some buses have normal seats that recline or they have seats that are beds. If you are taller than 6 ft you will not fit comfortably into the beds, and will lay with your knees bent the entire ride. If you buy a single ticket you will have to lay in bed with a stranger for the entire ride, talk about awkward.

Once we left the station the rave began; loud music and colourful, flashing lights. It stayed like this till our first stop (food and bathroom break), then as the night continued the music slowly grew quiet and the lights dimmed.

Photo Credit: Ryan C.

We arrived at the station just outside of Laung Prabang early the next morning, a taxi would be needed to continue into town. The taxi was a truck with benches in the back and a roof built over top to hold luggage. Everyone squeezed into the back of the taxi and rode into town. The taxi driver actually drove right by our hostel while he went about dropping everyone else off at their locations. He then tried to leave us in the city centre (which was a 10 minute walk) instead of at our Hostel. Ryan spoke with him showing him the map and how he had passed our Hostel, he ended up dropping us off at our Hostel in the end.

We got to our Hostel and checked into our room, which was supposed to have a/c and a queen size bed. We got to our room, it was in the basement with no windows, the floor had nails sticking up and was uneven, we had two single beds with fans (only one fan worked), the a/c did not work. Our stay was also supposed to include breakfast (between 7 am - 9 am), which they stopped serving at 8 am and would refuse to bring anything out. It's funny, our friends, Josie and Ruben (we met in Bali), had stayed at the same place and had a wonderful experience. We were so tired from the night bus ride, that we decided to take a quick nap and to deal with it after.

Dealing with it later was a mistake, this place actually topped the hostel in Bangkok for absentee staff. We only saw staff members when we checked in and again when we checked out. Luckily we had only booked one night at this Hostel and moved on to a different one the next day.

We took our first day and wandered around Luang Prabang, seeing the bamboo bridge, which you can pay to cross. However we knew that we were going to have to eventually cross a bamboo bridge somewhere in Laos, so we did not pay to cross this one. We kept walking around the city, we went through a few different temples, and down by the Mekong River.

Photo Credit: V. Gray

They do have a night bizarre and a night market. The bizarre has a beer guard, live music, and a few vendors. It's a nice place to sit for a beer, but the lack of food vendors did push us to go see the night market.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

The night market is busy, full of food stalls and vendors carrying clothing, food, souvenirs, and other interesting items. During the Vietnam war, the US dropped more than two million bombs on the country of Laos over a 9 year period, trying to disrupt the Vietnamese supply line. They are still finding and trying to dispose of these bombs, but some do not get disposed of. The people of Laos actually turn bombs into different things to sell to tourist. They request Photo Credit: V.Gray that if you find something that looks like it is made from a bomb (they come in all shapes and sizes) that you do not to purchase it. You are encouraging the people to keep looking for the bombs and dig them up, putting the people at high risk.

The next day we went out to the Tet Sae Waterfalls. We took a short ride outside of town, went down a dirt road (we thought we were lost at this point but kept going), and came to a small hut that said "Tee Sae Waterfall".

We asked the man working the hut about a boat to get us to the falls. The boat took us for a short ride up the Mekong River. We then found that we should have done more reading before coming. We saw online these beautiful waterfalls, where the water fell over the limestone face creating areas to swim in.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

Photo Credit: TripAdvisor

What we didn’t realise is that February is the dry season in Laos. This was the only country we went to where they did not say "No, you don't want to do that", and directed us somewhere else. They actually took our money for the boat and to enter the falls, full well knowing there was nothing for us to see or do there.

The falls were dry, no water anywhere. Laughing at the situation, which was our own fault, we decided to make the best of it, after all we had paid to come here. We hiked up the "falls" to the top and then returned to the boat.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

After the experience at the Tete Sae Waterfalls, we double checked everything before going out to see or do it. Our last day in Luang Prabang we went out to Kuang Si Waterfalls and Moon Bear Sanctuary.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

We started at the bottom, stopping along the way at different pools to swim, slowly making our way to the main falls. Finally we got to the bottom of the falls and just stood on the bamboo bridge taking in the magnificent sight.

We then continued up to the top, which had 2 hikes, over the falls and a cave hike. We did try and find the cave hike but after 5 km and no signs we turned around.

Walking across the top of the waterfalls there are swings, bridges, small pools for swimming, and places to just sit in the forest to watch and listen to the surroundings.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

Now that we had made it to the top and walked around, we had to go back down. We decided to take the second path coming down on the far side of the falls, at this point we were both in bathing suits and flip flops, not ideal wear for this hike. We should have taken the hint when we saw most people going back the way they had come.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

The trek down was steep, unmarked, and slippy. Grabbing trees and roots the entire way down so we did not fall. When we finally reached the bottom of the waterfall, we were hot, sweaty, and dusty. We stopped at a few pools on our way back for quick dips, before heading over to the Moon Bear Sanctuary. We moved quickly through the sanctuary as there were a lot of people hassling us to buy shirts or stuffed animals for "Free The Bears". This is the charity that runs the sanctuary, they have others in Vietnam and Cambodia as well. Photo Credit: V. Gray

On our last night in Luang Prabang, we did a river boat cruise of the Mekong River. This is a really popular attraction in Luang Prabang, so we walked between all the different companies offering the tours, checking out pricing and what was included in the tour. Some were an hour during the day, some 2 hours at sunset, some included dinner, and some had free beverages.

We went with Sa Sa cruises, it was $10/each with a free alcoholic beverage, and a free shot of Laotian Whiskey. The boat left at 4 pm, we got really good seats on the main deck to watch the sunset.

They did play music and had a few games during the duration of the cruise, otherwise you were left to enjoy the sunset.

Photo credit: V.Gray

The boat returned to the dock around 7pm, they do not include gratuities in your ticket price. As you depart from the boat, there is someone waiting with a jar for tips.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

We had booked a bus (mini van) for the next morning to move onto Vang Vieng. We did not realise what we were in for until we got on the road the next morning. Next stop, Vang Vieng, Laos.

Cheers!

A map of Laos and places we have travelled.

**Please note that all opinions and views expressed in this post are my own, from my own experiences. If you would like to see more pictures follow me on Instagram vikki.gray

This post is edited and proofed by E.Gray Editing.(https://www.egrayediting.com )**