Luang Prabang

Hello, you sweeties!

As expected, our trip to Laos didn't go as planned. We had actually booked a bus from Sapa to Luang Prabang, which cost us a relatively large amount of money. We would also have spent almost 24 hours on the bus. On the evening of our actual departure, however, the nice lady at the bus stop explained to us that we could not enter Laos without a visa that we had previously applied for (which we would have had to apply for in Hanoi). We started researching and found out that it has been very difficult to enter Laos from Vietnam for two years. A visa is not issued at the border and an e-visa is just as invalid. If something like this had happened to us three months ago, we would certainly have been extremely stressed. But our previous chaotic experiences had left a lasting impression and so we remained fairly relaxed. Since we couldn't get our money back, we simply rebooked the bus (at a loss of around €70) and took the next bus back to Hanoi, from where we wanted to take the next flight to Luang Prabang in Laos. The bus to Hanoi was extremely luxurious and extremely comfortable, which allowed us to sleep peacefully for at least a few hours. We arrived at Hanoi airport at 3 a.m.... but our flight didn't leave until 7:10 p.m. We wasted the time sitting around in a bar and twiddling our thumbs. Our mood... was rock bottom. We flew to Luang Prabang in the smallest plane ever and landed at an equally tiny airport, which we had to walk across to find the exit. We might as well have run across the entire flight path 😂.

After a short discussion about the visa (which is easy to get at the airport), we took a taxi to our hotel.

After the cold mountains of Vietnam, where I sometimes needed a hot water bottle, here in Laos we were suddenly struck down by 39 degrees in the shade. We spent half the day lying like two heaps of misery under the air conditioning in our room and hardly dared to step outside. In between, however, we managed to take a trip to what were probably the most beautiful waterfalls we had ever seen. They stretched over several pools in which you could also swim, which of course we couldn't pass up. The wonderful turquoise-blue water cooled our skin, which was burning from the heat, and made us feel lighter than we had in a long time. Without hesitating, we dived into the cool water and drifted dreamily on the surface... with a view of the green treetops of the jungle that entwined around the waterfall. I hadn't been so happy about something for a long time and so I enjoyed this moment with every fiber of my body and absorbed this feeling for as long as I could. We sat under the waterfall and let its power massage us or simply jumped head first into the cooling water. Despite the fact that the place was well visited, we didn't have the feeling that we were in a place that was too touristy, as many tourists only come here to take photos and the pools are well divided. We had barely climbed out of the water when we were dry again, explored the rest of the area a bit and drove back. Luang Prabang also has a great night market, where we can find many homemade cloths in Sapa. There we also found a small tea shop (really small... the ceiling was so low that we had to bend down) where we could do a professional tea tasting. We also found a great restaurant that was located in a rice field. We noticed that the sun here glows orange all day long, which may have something to do with the constantly smoky air here, as the area is currently in the burning season. We could already see some of the fields mentioned from the plane. In contrast to the other countries we have been to so far, Laos seems to be one of the cleanest. Apparently, people here even separate their garbage (you don't see that often in Southeast Asia) and the streets are relatively clean too.

Next, our journey continues to Vang Vieng. Let's see what adventures await us there.

Until then

Hello, your travel group Chaos. 😘