Thyra Travels: Lounging in Laos 2019

Laos was probably the country where I was the “laziest”. I wasn’t sightseeing every day, I binged netflix shows, and sometimes I only left the hostel to eat. In my defense, I was in less than peak physical condition most of the time but also, I needed it. Luckily, I don’t give a dang what anyone thinks of me and I live my best life.

Luang Prabang

I cruised into LP at five am, after a night bus from Thailand. After having coffee with Argentines, I went to meet my friend Andrea at her hostel. We would travel all Laos and then Myanmar together. Still limping from my accident, she looked at my knee and arm because she is a nurse. Declaring me without infection she did admit my knee looked gross and like ‘meat’.

The next few days were glorious: relaxing in the hostel, eating good food, and walking around the super cute little town of LP. We went to Utopia, a local bar, with friends, and even a boozy bowling alley. We saw the famous waterfalls and climbed the small mountain in the middle of the city. Both of us were feeling ~funky~ with our stomachs and I can say this was a trend that continued throughout the whole country.

Nong Khiaw

After ten days in LP, we said a sad goodbye (could have stayed forever) and headed north to the small village of Nong Khiaw. HOLY gorgeous. We had a private room with a balcony overlooking mountains and the river. We spent hours and hours on that balcony. The only thing besides balcony-living that we did was take a hike to a viewpoint in the town. This was almost two hours straight up, super muddy and rocky. But, the view was worth it. Andrea tried indian food for the first time and we got tipsy off wine next to the river.

Vang Vieng

Vang Vieng is a notorious party town along with being famous for tubing, which we did not participate in. As is our trend, we spent a lot of time eating food and walking around. We did spend a day biking in the countryside and hiking a small mountain. The bad thing that happened: food poisoning. I spent a lovely night curled around the outdoor squat toilet. The night before we left we met several catalan guys (Andrea is from Catalonia) and a group of young Lao people. Without planning it, we found ourselves at a bar dancing the night away with them and also the manager of the hostel, who fell in love with me a little too hard. We will never forget the experience of taking the bus the next day (sorry, liver).

Vientiane

What did we see in the capital? Absolutely nothing. We arrived after the worst bus ride, thanks to Beer Lao from the night before. There is honestly not a lot to do in Vientiane anyway. All the travelers we had met complained about this and left after a day. However, the night market is fabulous and they have a lot of good food. Therefore…we had a great time. We were there about four days and were suffering from all the bed bug bites (curse you Vang Vieng!) combined with vicious mosquitos.

We treated ourselves, eating korean (Andrea’s first time) and indian food, going to the luxury mall, and buying things at the night market. We frequented the same noodle place every day for dinner. Perfect ending to a great country.

After two flights, we landed in Yangon and….I am super sick. Headache, sore throat, runny nose nonesense. One last present from Laos. 😉

T