Laos is a very laid back country with friendly locals, tasty food and spectacular scenery. We spent the last few days of May 2017 here as we drove north to meet our convoy before we crossed the Chinese border.

We drove towards the first major town, Pakse and enjoyed the green scenery interspersed with locals and huts.

 

Arriving in Pakse, we stopped for a bite to eat by communicating in our introductory Lao and pointing at the menu. Thankfully a large number of menu’s have English translations on them.

We bought SIM cards (~$2 AUD) and 1.5GB of data (~$2 AUD) and headed further north.

We stayed in a group of wooden chalets called Sala Thong Yon in Savanakhet and had dinner in a restaurant quite familiar to me.

 

As we walked through the streets and travelled throughout the country we found the Laos people were incredibly friendly and welcoming towards us. We would often receive a smile and a drawn out “Sa Ba Dee” (Hello in Lao) when we walked past someone. Lonely Planet stated that the people of Laos are very laid back and many live by the premise of “No problem” and we echo that statement.

We drove to the capital Vientiane and visited the Night Markets.

We continued the next day driving around winding mountain roads past small villages and spectacular scenery. We got to observe the Lao village lifestyle, seeing the basic houses perched on cliffs and the outdoor showers by the side of the road.

We ended the day at Fandee Hotel (formerly known as Sa Sa Laos) in Luang Prabang, just on the river.

 

The next day Alastair and Paris went to make knives with a blacksmith at a company called Bang Me.

 

We also visited the Xuang Si Waterfall.

We concluded our trip to Luang Prabang at a restaurant called Lao Lao Garden where we cooked our own meal on a hot plate over coals, similar to a Korean BBQ but in Laos style.

Our final night in Laos was spent in Luang Natham where we camped with members of our China convoy. That same night a Lao family were having a party to celebrate their son getting married and invited all of us to attend! We enjoyed very tasty Lao food such as sticky rice, fried greens and soup and incredibly generous Laos hospitality.

The next day we continued towards the Boten border with China. We had no issues with our vehicle paperwork. Passport Control required us to get our license documents and car registration along with our passports before we could proceed.

Once we were through the Laos border we drove the long sealed road to park in front of the shiny chrome China border where we met our guide from Navo Travel, Leo and continued our journey north.