Other travelers are a great source of accurate and up-to-date information, but be careful taking any advice you get at face value. I’ve gone out of my way to visit places lauded by backpacker after backpacker only to end up disappointed; I’ve also visited places despite steady advice to avoid them and ended up having […]
Forget Vang Vieng—Go Tubing in the Mekong at Si Phan Don
For many backpackers, Laos is synonymous with tubing. The majority largely ignore my favorite country in Southeast Asia, apart from a small loop through the northeastern corner and the highlight of that loop is Vang Vieng. For years backpackers have been flocking to this little village of bars and guesthouses amidst hundreds of limestone peaks […]
Don’t Eat Cow Pies Despite the Name
I want to make this clear right off the bat and state that there is no actual consuming of cow pies in this post. Not voluntarily anyway. I only mention that, since I know most of you sick bastards followed the title here expecting……who knows what you were expecting? And who wants to know? Certainly […]
Buddhist Monk in Vientiane Doing Some Grooming
This Buddhist monk was sitting outside a temple in Vientiane, Laos and checking himself out in his little mirror for a good half hour. After a few minor adjustments, he seemed happy with what he saw. Who can blame him?
Would You Get a Haircut at this Vang Vieng Barbershop?
I found this place on the northern end of the main street in Vang Vieng, Laos. I guess when you’re opening a business in a tourist town where restaurants have menus for drugs—in addition to the standard food and drinks menus—and the majority of visitors are sober for a few hours a day at most, […]
Finishing the Loop With a Tour of Lao Bike Repair Shops
We hung out at Hin Poun Viewpoint at the top of the pass for a bit, admiring the view, taking pictures and enjoying some celebrity treatment at the hands of a group of Laotian college students on break. Basically that involved every one of us posing for various pictures with [read more…]
Exploring Gigantic Kong Lo Cave by Boat
At its entrance, Kong Lo (Konglor) Cave is relatively narrow, but once you get in a ways, it widens considerably. In some places it apparently gets up to 90 meters wide and 100 meters high. At narrower points, the river fills the cave from wall to wall; when the cave widens, you even [read more…]
Another Detour in Search of Another Nonexistent Attraction
After we left the little village, we had a few hours of bad roads ahead of us. We picked our way through the obstacles in the road slowly, stopping a bunch of times to take pictures of the very strange and unique, post-apocalyptic-looking landscape along this section of the motorbike ‘loop’. We [read more…]
New Year’s Party in a Tiny Laotian Village
When we got to the parking area, one of the drunkest Laotians immediately jumped on one of our bikes and insisted he drive, to show us the way. He was holding a bunch of stuff in one hand and a bunch of alcohol in his stomach, so he would be driving one handed while seeing [read more…]
New Year’s Lao Style – Water Fights, Karaoke and Drinking in a River
The next morning, our smooth, paved road soon turned into a rough, dusty gravel road and would stay that way for the next two days of the motorbike ‘loop’. It was slow going as we had to weave all over the road, picking our way between large holes, puddles, jagged rocks, patches of [read more…]