Thailand and Laos: Pai to Luang Prabang

Will Boddington
Jan 4, 2018
2 min read

We had such a great time in Pai, although suddenly a week had passed and we decided we should probably move on soon! It was about a week before Christmas and we still had no idea where we wanted to spend the day. Vang Vieng in Laos had been mentioned a few times but we'd dismissed it previously as we didn't want to rush our journey around to there. However, the more we thought about it the more realistic it became - head to Chiang Rai, two days on a slow boat down the Mekong, a quick one night stopover in Luang Prabang then a bus to Vang Vieng, to arrive late on the 23rd.

We got a bus the next day at 7am from Pai back to Chiang Mai, then another from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai; a total journey time of about 6 hours. We stayed in Chiang Rai for two nights so we could look around here but we realised we'd actually seen the main temple (the White Temple) on our way into the city as our bus had stopped here! But we rented a moped and visited Huay Mae Sai waterfall, Doi Bo viewpoint, Huai Mak Liam hot springs and Uykeaw waterfall.

Somehow, getting from the viewpoint to the hot springs we ended up taking the bike down a hillside footpath for 10km! We decided we'd follow the map and stick to roads in future...

Once we made it back to the hostel, we looked around the night market and watched the light show at the clock tower.

The next morning we were picked up at 6am to get a bus to the Thai/Laos border, then another from the Laos side of the border to the slow boat. We spent the next two days squeezed in between bags and people, but surprisingly had a relaxing two days floating down the river. We stopped halfway for the night in Pakbang; a small village filled with guesthouses and restaurants.

When we finally got to Luang Prabang, a tuktuk took us about 5km into the main town. We walked through the town for about half an hour until we found a pub, where we stopped for some chips. Will still managed to embrace local culture even with our Western snack!

We carried on to the hostel we had in mind, which luckily still had room for us and was serving a free dinner of noodles or macaroni! We were chatting to a group of people who were heading to a bar/club called Utopia - we'd heard several recommendations that it was worth a visit and it definitely was! There was a small dance floor area by the bar, as well as comfy cushions overlooking the river and a man-made 'beach' to chill out on too.

Another early start later, we were on a local bus from Luang Prabang down to Vang Vieng. Unfortunately we didn't realise the local bus took about 8 hours through bumpy, windy mountainside roads, compared to the four hour ride a VIP bus would have been - lessons learnt! But the stunning views made up for it...