Northern Laos: Luang Namtha & Nong Kiauw

Oh my, as I think back to our 18 days in Laos, I realize it was filled with so many things: drinking with fellow backpackers at the Thai-Lao border with a view of the sun setting over the Mekong, mountain biking through rustic Lao countryside, partying at a Lao village party (which was amazing!), chilling out in Nong Kiauw (and dodging the dodgiest scam we've ever encountered!) and eventually heading down south to Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng. 

As we've learned in SE Asia, sometimes not everything goes by the plan. We crossed the border to Huay Xia with our minds set on taking the 2-day slowboat to Luang Prabang. One thing led to another and after the sixth Beer Lao with a traveling Dutch couple and a solo Canadian, we decided to ditch the boat and head up north to Luang Namtha and Nong Kiauw instead. And we're so glad we did.

In Luang Namtha we kayaked down the Namtha river, biked through dusty villages and ricefields, and eventually got invited into a village party. Beers were poured, Christian danced with the Lao ladies, beers were poured, smiles and hand signals were the language of choice, beers were poured, we were the only foreigners and even more beers were poured. It was such a unique experience and one of the highlights of our time in Laos. If it hadn't been at the urging of Denis that we "just go check it out" then we never would have known how hospitable the Lao people were (and such party animals!!).

A few days later we braved a rather bumpy ride through the mountains to Nong Kiauw. Once again we biked through the mountain roads (and Christian got a flat tire but Lao motorcycle guy came to the rescue together with an audience of Lao kids) and joined a kayak trip (which is where the scam came in and uggghhh it's such an annoying, long story but on a positive note: we didn't fall for the scam. Just trust me when I say don't join any tours with Jewel Tours anywhere in Laos!). 

Christian and Denis got up bright and early one morning to hike to the viewpoint over Nong Kiauw but I just couldn't peel myself out of bed and opted for a solo sunset trek up the mountain instead. First ever solo trek and quite a difficult one (especially after being lazy on the Thai beaches for so long!) but I made it up just in time to snap some pics and start my descent as the forest around me got dark and I turned on the flashlight. It felt really good to do it on my own.

And it was a very sweet surprise to see Christian pacing at the bottom of the trail for my safe return :).

{Our magic bus to Nong Kiauw...and quite a bumpy ride}

{Viewpoint at sunset}

{Delicious Laos laap}

{Biking the back roads of Nong Kiauw}

{Action pic courtesy of Denis!}

{And a Lao guy shaming Dutch bike repair ;)...he changed the tire in about 40 seconds flat}

In Love with Cambodia

Cambodia was on our SE Asia route from the very beginning. But we didn't know how long or where to go exactly. We, unfortunately, let opinions on the internet skew our excitement a bit as we heard that Cambodia was increasingly falling victim to tourism...meaning that people were rude, theft was common and places were saturated with tourists. We found a cheap super promo flight back to Bangkok on Air Asia so we planned a good week in and around Siem Reap.

Our first impression of Cambodia was not good...we braved the 9 hour overland border crossing via Poipet and dodged all of the bribes and tourist scams. Well almost...we ended up getting scammed into a $10 tuk tuk ride when we arrived in Siem Reap. All in all, the first day we were thinking that the rumors were true and we were kinda bummed about it.

But boy were we wrong. After our week in Siem Reap, we were straight up bitter that we only planned a week. Cambodians were the sweetest people we ever encountered---EVER. Siem Reap and Pub Street were the exact mix of backpacker town we expected around SE Asia. And not to mention, motorbiking around the countryside and exploring the temples around Angkor Wat completely exceeded our expectations.

Our first glimpse of the temples was actually on my birthday! I'm not so keen to wake up at 4:30AM on my birthday (or any day for that matter) but we were picked up by our very very sweet tuk tuk driver and we watched the sun illuminate Ta Phrom right in front of our eyes! That kicked off a full day of climbing over ruins and venturing away from the main temple Angkor Wat (which isn't the most beautiful one in my opinion!). And to cap off the celebration, we partied into the wee morning hours on Pub Street with 50 cent beers.

More on Cambodia later but this is one birthday, and one country, that I will never forget.

Koh Lipe, Thailand

We are currently nestled in a tiny $7/night guesthouse in Krabi Town. We're reading some books, sleeping in (as much as the heat and humidity allows) and Christian is fiddling away on his tech stuff. Sometimes it's great to have down days. 

Ok fine, we're just trying to keep some cash in our pockets and get ahead of our budget before we venture into the jungles of Khao Sok National Park in a couple of days. Apparently Khao Sok is the most beautiful jungle in Thailand. And it has one of the largest populations of King Cobras in the world...wtf. And leeches. 

Krabi definitely isn't the prettiest place we've seen but it's definitely a super cheap travel hub with a nightly food market down the street and it's not too far away from the famous Railay Beach.

We are missing beautiful Koh Lipe though...we just love that island!!

{A meet 'n greet with Nemo! Thanks for the amazing pic, waterproof camera!}