We love Laos! There is nothing to not love about Laos. If we hadn’t booked a (relatively) expensive flight to Cambodia we would have changed our plans and stayed longer. Ultimately we only had 10 short days, but that was sufficient time for us to fall in love with Laos, and for every member of the Price family to agree Laos has been the favourite country visited.

An arrival on a slow boat floating down the Mekong River was memorable, Luang Prabang is hands down our favourite town in South East Asia, the scenery in Nong Khiaw is breathtaking and food everywhere was exceptional. And everything for a fraction of the cost of any other country. How can you not love Laos?

Entering Laos from Thailand

Our Big Family Adventure entered the 4th country of the trip crossing at the Thai border town of Chiang Khong. We surfaced early after a spending a restless night in a large and perfectly pleasant hotel, but a hotel void of a single guest. For high season something felt strange, so on this occasion Jennie and I took on protection duties across our two rooms. I had the pleasure of Elsie’s sleep-talking and her feet. Jennie drew the short straw of Rory ‘the wriggler’.

Chiang Khong did offer up one home comfort…a Tesco on the edge of town. With no Grab taxis, no tuk tuks and no staff…I hopped on a death trap of a bicycle and cycled the 3 miles to the edge of town to stock up for the coming days on the slow boat. The snacks were both a mitigation for a boat menu consisting of poultry (with I don’t eat) and bribes for silence from our kids.

At the border we bid goodbye to Thailand and our luggage for an hour, in the confident hope they would arrive at the boat mooring. On reflection we have no idea how they could prove or disprove if you were crossing the border with something illegal. “Did you leave your bags unattended? Yep, for about an hour as they crossed your border”. 

As for our entry. After about 20 minutes of being ping-ponged back and forth between officials collecting paperwork, stamping passports, adding visas and scrutinising the quality of our dollar notes we were in Laos. In Laos ready for 2 days floating down the Mekong River. 2 days floating down the Mekong River with 3 hyperactive children.

Slow Boat down the Mekong River

We chose Nagi of Mekong for our transportation to Luang Prabang. We shared the boat with about 14 other guests (busier than normal), but sadly no families. For 2 days we passed the hours simply taking in the scenery, enjoying the great food cooked aboard and generally just relaxing. Elsie and Rory caught up on sleep, Molly caught up on her blog writing and Jennie and I caught up on conversation. And when the kids needed some alternative entertainment. They drove the boat and they found new competition for Uno, in particular Fraser who they endearingly gave the nickname Grumpy Grandpa, the same moniker their Grandpa has in the UK. Overall the kids were great and the unique tour was well worth the investment in time and money.

Along the route, we stopped at several villages and sights on the riverbank. To be honest we never feel comfortable visiting local villages to taste whiskey or see handicrafts, and this was no different. This time we stayed at the waters edge, and instead spent a delightful 45 minutes racing the kids from the local village along the beach. Just north of Luang Prabang our final deviation was to Pak Ou caves. For anyone interested…give these caves a wide berth, they’ve jumped straight into the top 10 of our underwhelming holiday experiences.

Be careful of the [hot] water!

On the first day the boat pulled into Pak Beng just before sunset for our overnight stay. Pak Beng is a small village halfway to Luang Prabang offering basic through to high-end accommodation. The tour comes inclusive of the basic accommodation overlooking the river and elephant sanctuary. If we had spent a little longer researching we realised we could have booked accommodation separately and stayed in the higher end accommodation for the total tour price. But our place had a bed, it had a shower and it had air con…what more do you need? Perhaps some springs in the bed and a shower with consistent water temperature! 

As for the shower. Well…I should really stop joking about injuring Rory when he shouts. In Abu Dhabi I dislocated his elbow readjusting an arm band in the swimming pool. Apparently it is very common. In Laos I was responsible for showering him at the moment that the cold water packed in and he was scalded all across his back! Cue panic as we comforted him and cooled the burns in the hope they wouldn’t blister. The nearest hospital was 4 hours away over the border in Thailand.

Fortunately blistering was only minimal and after a dosage of trusty calpol and lots of cuddles he improved. A week later his skin was still peeling. No more jokes about injuring him (for a week or two) from this guilty parent. Fortunately he doesn’t hold a grudge as he continues to come to my side of the bed in the morning or insists I take him to the toilet…joy!

Relaxing in lovely Luang Prabang

Back on dry land, Luang Prabang is unlike almost any other town we’ve been to in Asia. It feels like the combination of UNESCO status and a town planner have all ensured the town has maintained its historic charm. Everything moves at a slightly slower pace. The town caters for children exceptionally well. There is the rarity of pavements (sidewalks for our US friends), the town centre is walkable and if venturing further, it is possible to ride a bicycle without fearing for your life. 

In the town we visited the impressive Wat Xieng Thong temple, crossed the river on the temporary bamboo bridges and took a leisurely climb up Phousi Hill to catch the sunset. Arguably if the climb had been slightly more strenuous it might have discouraged the hordes of other tourists from making the ascent. Honestly I think you can catch a better sunset without the climb just sat in a restaurant or bar on the banks of the Mekong River, in particular we loved the surroundings and sunset at Ock Pop Tok.

Jennie and I both carved out personal time for each other. Jen had a pedicure and long overdue chat with friends back home. And I grabbed a relaxing massage for the princely sum of $6. Relaxing in the sense I was without the family, excruciatingly painful both throughout and after the massage. Sometimes it is good to experience a local variety, although my legs and back can attest to not recommending a Lao massage.

Continuing the home schooling in Luang Prabang

Laos is a landlocked country that possesses the unenviable record of the being most bombed country in the world as a result of the Vietnam War. At current pace for the next 100+ years they will be clearing unexploded cluster bombs from the countryside. Molly continues to learn a lot about the impact of past wars, in Luang Prabang the informative UXO museum, a small exhibition highlighted the long lasting impact of land mines and unexploded cluster bombs upon the Laos local rural population. We’ll be in Vietnam in a few weeks, the war education will continue. 

As budget travellers (said Dave never), there is nothing to love more than sitting in a library (said Dave never) and reading books with our kids. Yearning for some respite from the heat and making good on the temptation to use the silence card. With books being a luxury in our limited luggage, we spent a couple of quality hours reading old favourites and new books with Molly, Elsie and Rory. And afterwards, happily donated to the local mobile school library in Luang Prabang. The other small donation we gave came in the form of joining a 2 hour English language class for local school children. We spoke English, although in hindsight I think our screwed up accents probably set the locals back a few weeks.

Luang Prabang’s alms-giving Ceremony

Of course this is the Price family, so not everything goes 100% smoothly. On our final day in Luang Prabang we woke the children at 5am to observe the daily alms-giving tradition where monks receive their meal from locals at sunrise. The kids were brilliant, they woke super early without any whinging.

We steered clear of the main street as we knew this was busy, and stayed close to our accommodation and temples. Did we see a monk? Did we see anyone handing out food? Nope…after an hour or more of desperately searching for a monk (and they stand out in those orange robes), we called it quits and went back to bed! We didn’t even get a bonus sunrise. I’m sure the experience is spiritual and memorable, but perhaps today they had a Food Panda / Grab home delivery.

Discovering waterfalls and parks outside of Luang Prabang

The most popular and famous sight lies about 30km outside of Luang Prabang. The multiple levels of the Kuang Si Waterfalls are spectacular. So spectacular that a fellow traveller on our bus used them as the setting for his proposal to his partner. She said ‘yes’. Although some of the gloss must have worn off jumping back on a bus with 3 kids who were tired out from splashing in the pools and having been mesmerised by the bears in the sanctuary you walk through to the falls.

Other than Kuang Si Waterfalls, we also found a tuk tuk driver to take us to Nam Dong. A less well known park in the hills on the outskirts of Luang Prabang. The park has ziplines and high ropes, but our kids just enjoyed running around the river and impressive gardens.

Nong Khiaw – Getting off the beaten track

While Luang Prabang was relaxing and beautiful, we wanted to explore more of Laos. We opted to head north to Nong Khiaw and Muang Ngoy, rather than taking the more common route to Vang Vieng and Vientiane. While we can’t compare the south, this was definitely a highlight of our trip.

Nong Khiaw is a small town on the banks of the Nam Ou River surrounded by karst hills. It is less than 100km north of Luang Prabang, but 3 hours in a minibus. The duration perhaps indicates the quality of the road. Many bends and big potholes being ever expanded by the constant stream of construction vehicles navigating between quarries and the site of dams on the Nam Ou River the Chinese are financing. Similarly the Chinese are building a high speed rail line straight through SE Asia from Kunming to Singapore. Incredible construction but a stain on the environment and of questionable value to their host countries.

The twisty road had the inevitable impact on Elsie and Rory. The former won the race to be sick first. We were well prepared and all was under control. Except in my haste to stop Rory having a sympathy vomit. I swung the bag across only to realise there were holes that allowed sick to spray across the bus. For the next couple of hours the windows were wound down and a distinct smell of vomit lingered in the vehicle. Sorry to anyone on that journey!

Exploring Nong Khiaw and Muang Ngoy

Nong Khiaw offers amazing hiking, cycling and activities on the water. It also felt the most friendly place to date, with an almost constant stream of conversations with travellers. In particular we enjoyed learning about the exploits of Turtley Travel and The Roving Scribe.

As for hikes, in collaboration with the motivational soundtrack of Elsa, Anna, Olof and the rest of the Frozen cast, the 5 of us climbed up above Nong Khiaw in the midday sun for incredible views from Pha Daeng Viewpoint. 

We also completed a PE lesson like no other during a day trip to Muang Ngoy. Muang Ngoy is a small village about 20km further north which is only accessible via the river. During the day we hiked, or rather climbed, to another viewpoint. We grabbed torches and delved 200+ meters into pitch black Phanai Caves. We kayaked downstream while Rory and Elsie raced in the boat. And after a walk through rice terraces we swam in waterfalls in our finest underwear. I forgot to pack our swimwear.

Kids seen at the cash register, but not after.

In Laos we have only one minor irritation. Whenever booking anything, when taking money people will always see 5 people. But get to a bus, boat, accommodation etc, and they mysteriously overlook Rory, and more often than not Elsie. As a result despite paying for 5 seats:

• Both kids sat on our knees on the return minibus from Nong Khiaw to Luang Prabang.
• We squeezed into 3 back seats for the trip to Kuang Si waterfalls.
• We had to abort our first day trip to Muang Ngoy as all 5 of us would have been sitting on the floor of the boat. Obtaining a full refund required an act of deception involving a 1 minute countdown as I opened this blog and Twitter and started to write a negative review of their company for our millions of followers 😉 

Amazing Food

Throughout Our Big Family Adventure we have hugely enjoyed experiencing the variety of Asian cuisine. Luang Prabang and Nong Khiaw further dialled up our food adventure. The mix of Lao, Asian and Western dishes have all added to our waistlines. But we expect to sweat that off given the stifling heat in Asia. If anyone heads to Luang Prabang or Nong Khiaw in the future, these are a few places we loved:

In Luang Prabang

• Two Little Birds. We can’t recommend this Vegan place highly enough. Our kids would have eaten their delicious smoothie bowls everyday. Elsie begged to stay with Hayley rather than continue our trip.
• Hua Hua Yim a small Japanese ‘front room’ restaurant in a side street with only 3 or 4 tables. Blink and you’ll walk right by, but seek it out, the food is delicious.
• We also really enjoyed Bouang, Epoca, and the slightly more expensive Bamboo Tree Restaurant. Finally, it would be remiss to not mention the great breakfast we had every morning at our hotel, the Merry Riverside Lodge.

Nong Khiaw

• In Nong Khiaw for the pure experience we couldn’t beat Mama Laos. A house with 3 plastic tables and chairs positioned in the front porch. Each time someone came in to order, the proprietor would hop onto her motorbike in search of the fresh ingredients to buy. The 5 of us were fed with dessert for less than 6€!
• Noymany Restaurant also deserves a shout for their great juices and the local Lao Pork Laap (so good we ate it twice). 

We love Laos, and without a doubt will return to explore more in the future. Next up Cambodia.