{"id":1028,"date":"2013-04-08T09:52:34","date_gmt":"2013-04-08T09:52:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/?p=1028"},"modified":"2020-01-20T16:28:24","modified_gmt":"2020-01-20T16:28:24","slug":"a-fabu-laos-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/2013\/04\/a-fabu-laos-time\/","title":{"rendered":"A Fabu-Laos Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

The reality of traveling is that we all try to visit the country that most intrigues us.\u00a0 And sometimes those triggers can stem from seeing that country on a travel show, on a movie (New Zealand surpassed the two-million mark the year after the first Lord of The Rings<\/em> was released, according to Tourism New Zealand) or my personal worse, when your friend comes back from it and demands that you sit through the mandatory 2-hr slideshow.\u00a0 You\u2019ll never forget that country\u2019s name.\u00a0 The worse must be if your friend takes door knob or napkin pictures, because you know that is going to be one amazing slideshow.\u00a0 I know we all have them.<\/p>\n

Another reality is that when someone has time to visit South East Asia, about 80% plan on visiting Thailand within that trip.\u00a0 In 2011, Thailand set their own record with over 19 million despite suffering thru the major floods.\u00a0 How many visited Laos?\u00a0 According to JICA Team Project, that number was 2.7 million.<\/p>\n

When I first visited Laos (officially Lao People\u2019s Democratic Republic), I was really curious to see what the country had to offer.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t know anything about Laos, and I was ready for a surprise.\u00a0 Here I am going to share with you my Laos experience having led tours in SE Asia for 18 months.<\/p>\n

After an overnight train from Bangkok<\/a>, we got to the border and filled out our visas to get in.\u00a0 And just happens that us Canadians pay the most, a whopping $42 US vs $30 for our Aussie counterparts.\u00a0 From there, we hopped on a van and arrived in the capital, Vientiane.\u00a0 Pronounced Viangchan in Lao, the capital has a small population, about 230,000 in the city,\u00a0 compared to Bangkok\u2019s whopping 10 million.\u00a0 As soon as we went for a walk along one of the main streets in Vientiane, Setthrathirath Road, you will understand why Laos is known as the most relaxed, chilled out country in the region.\u00a0 It seemed like everyone was slowing down and going slower than the already slow pace of Asia, in general.\u00a0 So this gives you the perfect tempo to soak it all in.\u00a0 So put on your flip flops and make sure you visit these places when you go to Laos, you don\u2019t want to miss them.<\/p>\n

Being the capital and the cultural and economical centre, you should see the National Museum where they exhibit most of the historical and current state of the country, which will give you an understand on how Laos became what it is today, after the French left here after World War II.\u00a0 You should also not miss seeing Patuxai, the Laos\u2019 version of the Arc de Triomphe<\/em>, which was built in the 60\u2019s with the cement the US provided for a runway at the local airport.<\/p>\n

You can climb Patuxai for less than $1 and get a pretty good view of the Presidential Palace<\/p>\n

Vientiane also has a great promenade where you can enjoy the view of the Mekong River and across the way, its neighbour, Thailand.\u00a0 Here you will have some restaurants that will have makeshift outdoor lounges, a simple carpet with cushions for you to admire the sunset while sipping on fruit juice or a La Beer.<\/p>\n

Lastly, the most important wat<\/em> (temple) in Vientiane is the Phra Thatluang (Great Stupa<\/em>), built sometime between the 9th<\/sup> and 14th<\/sup> century.\u00a0 The gold-covered stupa stands at 45 metres high and it\u2019s the national monument where most Laotians gather on an annual basis to celebrate the festival of the same name.<\/p>\n

\"Phra<\/p>\n

Phra Thatluang with King Saysetthathirath<\/p>\n

A nice little side trip worth the hour tuk tuk journey is to visit the Buddha Park.\u00a0 Yes, a Buddha park.\u00a0 It\u2019s an outdoor park with several large concrete sculptures of both Buddhist and Hindu deities.\u00a0\u00a0 Here is the largest of them, the Reclining Buddha.<\/p>\n

\"Buddha<\/p>\n

From Vang Vieng, hire a bike for $3-5 and head out to the outdoor swimming hole known as the Blue Lagoon, especially in a super hot day.\u00a0 The bikes range from the coaster, single-gear to well, mountain bike, Laos style.<\/p>\n

One of the bridges you\u2019ll cross<\/p>\n

\"Bridges<\/p>\n

The views on the way are spectacular, with limestone formations and loads of chances for amazing pictures.<\/p>\n

\"Vang<\/p>\n

One of the rest stops<\/p>\n

If more adventure is in your blood, then you\u2019ll be pleased to know that you can kayak through different caves, go dirt biking, rock climbing, or hot air ballooning to get a panoramic view of this stunning place.<\/p>\n

The last stop in Laos also happens to be my favourite, the stunning city of Luang Prabang.<\/p>\n

Upon arriving in this UNESCO World Heritage city, you will see some breathtaking temples tattooing this former French colony.\u00a0 You will see many remains of great colonial architecture along with traditional Lao wooden houses.<\/p>\n

\"Panorama<\/p>\n

Panorama of Luang Prabang<\/p>\n

With many things to do, you can easily spend a week here seeing most of this area and still not do it all.\u00a0 One of the highlights is the unavoidable and ever-tempting (nightly) Night Market.\u00a0 Here you will be able to do all your shopping under many roofs. You can buy clothes, jewelry, paintings and loads of unique Laotian handicrafts.<\/p>\n

\"Laos<\/p>\n

The next day, get on a tuk tuk and take a ride to the ever popular Kuang Si waterfalls.\u00a0 Here you will have an opportunity to swim, have a picnic and meet some Asiatic Black bears who are housed in a conservation center to keep them from being poached.<\/p>\n

\"Luang<\/p>\n

It is such a memorable trip that really completes the Laos experience.\u00a0 You\u2019ll be surrounded with locals,\u00a0 stay in a off-the beaten track small village, sample some more local cuisine while taking stunning pictures and having chill time to read your book and soaking up life in true Lao style.<\/p>\n

When I left South East Asia, I felt a true connection with Laos and its peaceful ways, its culture and its beautiful people.\u00a0 It is the neighbour that doesn\u2019t get all the press, all the attention or all the tourists.\u00a0 But I can assure you that no one leaves this wonderful country disappointed and it is a true gem within this wonderful region.\u00a0 Kob jai lai lai<\/em> for showing me your beauty and I hope everyone gets a chance to see it for themselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of Tucan Travel’s most experienced Tour Leaders, Tony is now their Sales Executive for North America. Here he shares his favourite things to see and do in Laos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":4698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[57,16,41,59],"yoast_head":"\nA Fabu-Laos Time - Tucan Travel Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/2013\/04\/a-fabu-laos-time\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Fabu-Laos Time - Tucan Travel Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of Tucan Travel's most experienced Tour Leaders, Tony is now their Sales Executive for North America. Here he shares his favourite things to see and do in Laos.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/2013\/04\/a-fabu-laos-time\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Tucan Travel Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/en-gb.facebook.com\/tucantraveladventures\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-04-08T09:52:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-01-20T16:28:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Phra-Thatluang-with-King-Saysetthathirath.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"290\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@tucantravel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@tucantravel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tony Perdomo\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\">\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Tucan Travel Blog\",\"description\":\"Inspiration, Information & Experiences\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/2013\/04\/a-fabu-laos-time\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Phra-Thatluang-with-King-Saysetthathirath.jpg\",\"width\":450,\"height\":290},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/2013\/04\/a-fabu-laos-time\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/2013\/04\/a-fabu-laos-time\/\",\"name\":\"A Fabu-Laos Time - Tucan Travel Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/2013\/04\/a-fabu-laos-time\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-04-08T09:52:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-20T16:28:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8135b906b23a596617d2085c294d65f1\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/2013\/04\/a-fabu-laos-time\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8135b906b23a596617d2085c294d65f1\",\"name\":\"Tony Perdomo\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/44781559d4596a18100949f2701fb3e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Tony Perdomo\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1028"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10207,"href":"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028\/revisions\/10207"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}