SE Asia Vacation: Get Out of the Crowd in Laos

I am a new teacher living and working in Bangkok. I grew up on the West Coast of Canada and trading a quiet island lifestyle for busy Bangkok has been a change and a challenge. Thailand is exhilarating and intoxicating, but I look forward to soon going home. That’s not for another six months, so whenever there is a school holiday, I am not looking to fry in the hot sun on a sandy beach packed with dozens of other bronzing bodies drinking fruit shakes and cheap beer. I look for a cooler climate, roads with more bicycles than cars, and sunset views without construction developments obscuring the horizon. Something closer to home, I guess.

And hey, I’m not out to knock what Bangkok (and Thailand) have to offer to other single tourists my age. The same exotic and chaotic qualities that seduced me to start my career here will be the reasons I will be sad to leave this amazing country.

We had a week off at the end of January this year and, after returning in December from three weeks indulging in Thailand’s islands and beaches, I began to research where to find a quiet, uncrowded place in SE Asia. The mazes of many Google searches all directed me to the same place; I booked my flight to Luang Prabang in Laos.

It’s only an hour and a half from Bangkok before the decent upon the picturesque town, a lazy river looping around a cluster of red roofed houses, a fine mist shrouding the early morning scene. From the air, Luang Prabang looks like a quant ski village in the Swiss Alps. No sharp skyscrapers reach up towards our tiny plane, no neon eyesores scream out names like “Tesco”, “The Mall”, or “Big C” that have become familiar components of the Bangkok cityscape. The surrounding hills appear as mountainous peaks; Bangkok, after all, is as flat as a banana pancake. Even from the air, I am instantly charmed.

Arriving in the morning is pleasant. The dry air is cool, shirt sleeves are required. The agreeable experience is nothing like getting off the plane in Siem Reap, Cambodia and being greeted by swelling night air infused with strange, thick bugs.

In arranging a tuk-tuk to take me from the airport to the city centre, I notice that the Lao people are helpful, happy people, the general attitude being casual and relaxed. Reaching city centre, there are dozens of attractive guesthouses, with equally attractive rates. Luang Prabang is preserved as a UNESCO World Heritage site and there are strict

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