It's such a long and tired on the road from Luang Prabang to Vientiane, Laos. The distance  is about 340 km away, takes us 8 - 10 hours on bus. The bus price  is 110k / person ( ~  15$). The Bus rided too slow because of dangerous mountain pass . After about 2 hours riding, the bus got trouble with the tires. The customers still waited and waited with hope that they should fix the bus. Because no much of peole come here, few of houses lived far from our location. We  worry that the bad situation can be happen, we had to overnight here. Lucky, we prepared some fast foods ( snacks, cookies...) for our dinner and shared them to others. After more 6 hours with the help of local people and customers, the bus is alright and we continued on the road to Vientiane. Now it was 6:00 pm, we had the chance to see the sunset in the mountain.

The bus  stopped for dinner, the expected time to Vienna is around 5:00 am the next day. So we sleep one night on the bus. At the bus station in Vienna, there are many tuk tuk was waiting to transport you to the center.  Depend on how many people go together,  If you joined with a group from 5-10 people on tuk tuk, the price is cheper- about 20k Kip.  This really is not a bad experience, instead we welcome the dawn on the road.

We walked over 1 km to find hostels, 5:00 am, the capital of Laos still sinking in deep sleep. Walk around for a while we chose Funny Monkey Hostel to stay, cheap and very clean rooms, but shared toilet and bathroom.  The price is 100k Kip / night without breakfast, had aircon. Check in at 6:00 am, check out at 12: 00 noon. 

We rent Motorcycle with  60k Kip (~ 9$ ) for 24 hours.  So if you rent at 3:00 pm, it counted to 3:00 pm tomorrow .  Almost the hostel, guesthouse in Vietiane had this service. You should rent at your hostel, they can give you some discount and good bike. We discovered over some famous place of Vientiane  as Vat Sisaket Vientiane, Ho Phara Keo, Presidental Palace, ...

Evening in Vientiane is quite busy, after dinne,  we decided walk to night market. Before leaving, the owner of our hostel  told us that be carefully when walk along the riverside. This place is every complicated, many local people sell ilegal items.
The second day,  we got up early to go to visit the Buddha Park. This place is a lot of Buddha statues  in Laos, far about 26 km  from Vientiane (1h running motor). Entrance fees for 2 people is 15k Kip  (~ 2 $).  What impressed me in Buddha Park is the story behind each of Buddha.  There is an entire gallery and explain the meaning of each statue. An impressive architecture here is the giant pumpkin, with 3 floors inside symbolizing Hell, Earth, Heaven level. Visitors can go inside through demon mouth gate with 3 meter height  to climb stairs from Hell to Heaven. At the top, you can see the Viewpoint of Buddha park.

In the afternoon,  we came back  to Vientiane, visit Patuxay. It were built between 1957 and 1968. The architecture  is the same as the Arc de Triomphe  was built in Paris, the capital of  France. However, there  still had unique features in Laos, especially as Kinnara (half-bird and half- human creatures, dancers in Theravada Buddhism and Hinduism.

Wonder where to go during Lunar New Year 2016? Here is my experiences in Laos, hopefully it will give you new ideas.

Start from Luang Namtha, down to Pakse!

The itinerary should be at least from 8 – 12 days at least to travel without rush feelings. It is little adventurous in my guide.

Overall itinerary: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zvUOTgukgo_M.kFwJIaMR-xSI&usp=sharing

Day 1. Start the trip at Luang Namtha, rent the motorbike then ride to Muang Sing/ have lunch with local foods then back to Luang Namtha. The scenery on the way is very beautiful. Do not miss a chance to have dinner at night market.

Day 2. Take a bus from Luang Namtha to Luang Prabang, be noted that the trip is about 8 hours on the bus, but it could be longer as 10 – 12 hours. Our bus was broken after 1 hour, and we waited for fixing the bus for 3 hours. We came to Luang Prabang at 7:00 pm. It was delay but we had a chance to see the magnificent SUNSET on the way to Luang Prabang. I am surely that I will come back to this road to see the SUNSET again one day.

The bus stop at Luang Prabang is quite close to the center, about 3 – 4 km and could walk in for about 30 minutes to 1 hour. There are the accommodation in the bus stop but you will never want to stay as there is no attraction around.

Day 3. Rent the motorbike then take the trip to Kuang Si Waterfall, it takes you 2 hours to travel there through the hill. The Waterfall is must-see here, so beautiful, and remember to find out your way to go up the top of waterfall and go down another way.

It is better back to Luang Prabang before SUNSET, you will not want to miss a chance to see it on Phou Si Mountain, there are the Mekong river, the far away mountain, the sunset with the red sky. AMAZING, isn’t it?

Day 4. Take a bus to Vientiane, many tourists stay in Vang Vieng – middle of Luang Prabang and Vientiane. We went directly from Luang Prabang to Vientiane by overnight bus. We arrived Vientiane about 4 am. It was very early, and we had to walk quite long way to find the accommodation.

Day 5. Rent the motorbike then take the trip to Buddha Park (Xieng Khuan), it takes you 1 hour to go there, the park is full of Buddha statues. If you are adventurous traveler, do further ride to Dane Soung Viewpoint to see the SUNSET.
Such as capital of Laos, Vientiane is quite develop with its own culture. Rest in there for a day to push up your energy. If you are short of time, skip to next day.

Day 6. Take a bus to Thakek. Start early at Vientiane and arrive Thakek. There are the famous bike route which all bike lover could not pass. I rent the bike for 2D1N, little shit motorbike for our tight budget. I should pay more careful to the bike before renting it. The key to start the motorbike was weak and broke then we had to replace the new whole key for the motorbike. It costed us 5 times more.

2D1N trip, start early at Thakek, travel to Kong Lor Cave. The cave was very impressive me, and worth your money. Back to Ban Nahin to stay overnight. Ban Nahin is little cold, and lack of restaurant for dinner. Next day, you drive back to Thathek, return your rent bike.

Now, it finishes 8 days, so you will decide to stop your holiday. OR continue it.

Day 9. Take a bus to Pakse, it also takes you a day on a bus.

Day 10. Visit Champasak, and Wat Phou within a day. It was a part of Lao culture in there. No museum which I visited such as Wat Phou, I would like to spend whole day in the museum to understand further about Lao culture.

Day 11. It is long journey within a day but very worth to take a motorbike to Khone Phapheng Waterfall, the biggest waterfall in Indochina. And visit 4,000 islands, stay overnight there if possible to enjoy the peaceful village.
Completed the trip here.

Next, I will suggest the accommodation which I stayed in Lao trip.

Luang Namtha: Khounsub Guesthouse – about 30 minutes walking from Luang Namtha Mininus station. Its Guesthouse is owned by Chinese. Quite a lot of Chinese visitors to this town as very close boarder with China. (50k Kip/night)

Luang Prabang: Next to PP Guesthouse, but not PP Guesthouse. Its Guesthouse is owned by Vietnamese. Many Vietnamese came to Luang Prabang from the past, and they have several generations in Laos. You could easy find “Banh cuon”, “Pho” or even dog meat here. (100k Kip/night)

Vientiane: Funny Monkey GH, Its Guesthouse is owned by Vietnamese, quite friendly and the room is very clean with

Southern Vietnamese style Guesthouse. Cheap & Good. (100k Kip/night). Surprisingly, the Vietnamese communities in Luang Prabang and Vientiane are quite large. They also have motorbike for rent.

Thakhek: Samy’s Guesthouse, not very clean with basic condition. June one night or two is ok. The internet is very slow or no. Compared to the price 40k Kip/night, we do not expect high. The guesthouse is very convenient to walk from the bus stop, but quite far to the center. It is 4 km to walk to center and rent the motorbike for the next 2D1N route trip.
Renting the motorbike in Thakhek, you have two options: at Wang Wang or Mad Monkey Motorbike. I rent at Wang Wang with 50k Kip/24 hours. The owner is Chinese and his wife is Vietnamese. I did not like the way he spoke with client such as only them in Thakhek to provide the rental motorbike. I would give the chance for Mad Monkey Motorbike next time.
Ban Nahin: We do not remember the name as it is very new guesthouse with very good price. It is next to Inthapanya Guesthouse. The room is very clean with good price 50k Kip/night. They also serve good food cooked by the owner, and they have the speaker in the restaurant which you could turn on your favorite music.

Pakse: Phonsavanh GH, not very clean with basic condition. The owner is quite friendly. (50k Kip/night)
Ms Noy is Chinese woman, who rent the motorbike, she is very professional and very different with the one in Wang Wang. Her way to resolve problems is fast and effective. 100% vote for Ms Noy when you want to rent the motorbike in Pakse. Plus, her motorbike is well maintained with good enough condition to go little far such as 4,000 islands.

In general, the street foods are higher than street foods in Viet Nam. I love Lao food and great beautiful nature of the country.

Have great journey!

Vo Quyet