We finally arrived in Laos after a 14 hour bus trip from Phnom Phen (capital of Cambodia).
We can’t really pin point as to why we came to Laos. Originally we had a flight into Bangkok and another out of Bangkok 3 months later, but no plans. We knew we wanted to visit Vietnam (for the food and islands), Cambodia (for the temples), and Thailand (for the culture, food, and islands). Laos was mentioned because we’ve heard (don’t really know from who) that Laos is amazing. Based on that, we decided that Laos was the place to visit.
I find it funny that we’re here and a few years ago I had very little knowledge of what Laos was. When a friend of mine asked me where I was and I told him Laos, he’s like: “The capital of Cambodia?” Mind you, he has a Masters from UC Berkeley and I he is pretty smart. Can’t really blame him though, in the past Laos has had minimal international exposure since it’s been a “neutral” state for quite some time and has very limited exports.
China is now taking advantage of all the timber and the Laos government is “trading” the timber for some infrastructure. Tourism has grown in the past decade but the infrastructure is not quite there and your typical tourist here is currently traveling for 2 or more months.
Regardless, I’m happy we’re here. Nature is beautiful, food not so bad, and excited to explore the less explored!