The pace of life in Luang Prabang, Laos is so very charming. Charming is the only one-word description I can come up with for this low-slung city with wide streets (unnatural for much of Southeast Asia), French inspired post-colonial architecture, monks clad in sunny saffron robes, and a humming buzz of relaxed tourism. I wrote earlier about the changes three years and more tourism brought upon this sweet, sleepy country set between Vietnam and Thailand, but what cannot change in the intervening years between my visits,  is the history. Laos was …

Originating high in the Tibetan Plateau, the Mekong River is the life-blood of activity throughout the history of southeast Asia. Locally known as the Mae Nam Khong, the literal translation is Mother of Water River. The river runs through China, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, and over the centuries consistently remained an important focal point for locals, governments, and foreign countries.
Locals use the River to sustain life–food, transportation and local trade.
Governments dam and re-route the river in political power struggles between the nations sharing the Mekong River’s natural resources, and international political …

Returning to Laos was an education on how tourism can affect a country; the difference a mere three years has made in Laos at times seemed inconsequential—unpaved roads were still riddled with jolting, bone-shaking potholes, and a slow and syllabic “sabaidee” hello generously rang into the warm afternoon air  from sweetly grinning locals standing in their shop doorways. Then, the same as now, the (often excited) ring of falang, or rather westerner, dipped and flowed into conversation as I walked through the small towns with my niece, Ana.
So much my …

Ana and I left the other tourists traveling on the slow boat down the Mekong River with their jaws agape when we nimbly jumped off the boat’s thin, rickety ramp onto a giant sand dune with just a small smattering of thatch-roofed houses sunk into the hillside several hundred meters beyond. The boat reached Tha Suang, a tiny blip of a town, and we were the sole tourists venturing into the more rural Sainyabuli province in Laos. Our target end-destination? Hongsa, a town I visited on my round the world …

Hats off to the traveling parents out there, the homeschooling, road-schooling, traveling adults with children in tow because man, it’s harder than I first imagined. My niece and I are a month into our trip and the pace of life has changed significantly for both of us. As a serial solo traveler, this past month plus was so much harder than syncing travel rhythms with another adult; instead I plan and plot out our days around school-time, downtime, fun-time, educational time…
So many “times” to figure out each day!
Our first month …

Travel Memories:
A “Glass” of Milk Doesn’t Go Far in Laos
 
As is the norm in North America and Europe, I drink milk.  In fact, my dad is the poster parent for the National Dairy Council because I drank at least two glasses a day well into my twenties.
Then I went to Southeast Asia.
And stopped drinking milk. Outside of Western countries, dairy consumption often drops down to almost nil – anything that needs milk will have either powdered milk mixed just minutes before served to you or soy milk as a normal substitute. For …

Travel Memories:
Reassessing Pak Ou Caves Near Luang Prabang

This is where I admit that my initial assessment about a travel experience was wrong. When I wrote my opinion about the Pak Ou Caves near Luang Prabang, Laos nearly two years ago I noted that ” although it was cool, I personally think it was fairly skip-able in the long run.” Ouch – harsh assessment at the time – but it was my honest opinion back then…in the craziness of traveling and constantly moving locales, the Pak Ou caves weren’t “Holy cannoli, …

Travel Memories:
Sunrise Zip-Lining in the Laotian Jungle

My naively idyllic imagination of what it would be like to wake up every morning perched in a tree house in the upper canopy of the Laos jungle did not take into account the song-like call of the Gibbon monkeys competing with the strangely cicada-like bird songs floating through the air as I clutched on to the last remnants of sleep at some ungodly predawn hour.
The jungle is LOUD!
And yet surprisingly peaceful. This shot was taken in the early morning hours from one of …