Read here and here about Vientiane and here about Vang Vieng.
After some days in Vang Vieng we moved further to Luang Prabang - a beautfil city in a mountainious area of Laos.
night market of Luang Prabang
Again the bus was our choice of transport since its the easiest one. It takes about 4 hours from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang and road goes across some mountains and offers a really wonderful view.
On the way we had some stop at a market.
restaurant
view from the restaurant and market at around half way to Luang Prabang
first view of Luang Prabang itself - look how green it is
For Luang Prabang we booked already some hotel in advance and since the bus stopped at a main place we had to find the way to get there. We asked some tuk-tuk driver who offered to bring us there. To negotiate to get a better price he agreed to a lower fare and we agreed too. After around 1 minute he stopped again and we arrived already. Lol - it was around 300-400 meter from the main place. By foot it would have taken maybe 2-3 minutes. We could enjoy a short tuk-tuk ride.
students going home after school
temple in the centre of Luang Prabang
As european it took me a while to understand why many used an umbrella. I could clearly understand that its helpful not to get a sunburn and to keep someone cool. But why then on a motorbike. I guessed they won't drive on it for hours so it doesn't make much sense. Only after a bit I finally got the connection of umbrella and bright skin and bright skin and beauty. lol.
In europe people go to a solarium to get tanned and somewhere else people carry an umbrella to not get tanned ^^
In europe, especially northern europe a tanned skin is a sign that those people can afford time and money to have holidays in some southern area to enjoy sun there. So a nice and healthy tan is seen as a must have for beauty. Not too long ago also in europe a bright skin was seen as beautiful. A thinking behind it was that people with a tanned skin had to work on a field and those with a bright skin lived in a city and didn't have to do a hard work outside.
Luang Prabang from above
temple on the hill
Mekong river
kids dancing
night market
I really liked the night market. The vendors there offer many wonderful handmade things and some also their famous "Lao rice wine". A must try.
We went also to "tad sae waterfalls". Its an area with several small waterfalls a bit outside of Luang Prabang - a wonderful half day trip. (don't forget your swim wear ^^)
there are several pools and you can crawl from one pool into the other
In my opinion best things in Luang Prabang were the night market and also the waterfalls. I would definitely recommend to go there when you are in Vang Vieng. It's not to far and doesn't take too much time.
The only remaining question then where to go from Luang Prabang. In our opinion there have been basically two choices:
*to go to Chiang Mai in Thailand
*or to go back from where we came from: Vang Vieng and Vientiane