How I Spent My Christmas Vacation

After our first visit to Laos about a year ago, the New York Times announced that one of the Hottest Travel Destinations for 2008 was...LAOS. Damn them.

At that first visit we were so enchanted that we decided then and there that we would return.

I will tell you the truth about Laos and then you must never again repeat it. Keep this quiet.

Laos is FABULOUS.


Traveling to Laos from Manila is relatively easy. Three and a half hours to Bangkok and then another hour to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. Not bad. Feels easy.. We were all trying to travel with check-on luggage only (see earlier quest to lighten up) and the major issue was - guess what - contact lense solution. No, I'm not kidding. Try to get contact lense solution in something 100 ml or under. Just try. What kind of idiots are these manufacturers?

By the way, on the subject of traveling light, I'm now getting it down to a fine art, and am so pleased with myself I'm bragging to anyone who will listen or who will pretend to listen. Here's my luggage for a two week stay. A duffel bag and a purse. (Of course we later bought and filled two extra pieces on the return trip - for all the shopping!)

You read descriptions of Laos as being a "landlocked country". Which it is. But although I also love the ocean, there is definitely a lot of moving water in Laos, the type I adore as well. Rivers. Including the famous Mekong River. This is a beautiful country. We stayed in three city/towns during our two weeks there and we lived by the rivers in all three. Small hotels with terraces, balconies and porches overlooking the water. We spent many hours watching the rivers from our terraces, walking alongside them, crossing them on bamboo foot bridges, or traveling along them on hired boats.

Vientiane - the capital city. Our hotel was about 300 feet up the block from the Mekong. Our 5th floor balcony (just about the highest elevation in the city) had a view of the rooftops of the neighbourhood, the Buddhist temple across the street and the Mekong river stretching south. The river is low this time of year and at this part of the river there are huge sandbanks in the middle. In the distance is Thailand.

Vang Vieng - 3 hours north of Vientiane. We stopped here for 2 nights to break up the 10 hour bus ride between Vientiane and Luang Prabang. Our cabins were 30 feet from the river and our view from our porch was across to the limestone karst mountains. Beyond beautiful.



Luang Prabang - our second floor room with balcony overlooked one of the quieter roads in Luang Prabang. Across the street was the river called Nam Khan which joins the Mekong at the end of the peninsula. I spent hours pretending to read a book on the balcony, but actually I was just inhaling the peaceful, fresh air and watching people walk past. Here's one of the many monks in town strolling past the sidewalk opposite.


I've been back only a few days and I'm already planning my return.


Don't tell anybody.