At sunrise today, Buddhists accross the country will make offerings at their local temple to gain merit and to ensure peace of mind in the coming year. Later, as dusk falls in the evening thousands will head to riverbanks to release their incense and flower laden banana leaf boats under the moonlight to pay homage to the river spirits and to dispel bad luck, marking the end of Buddhist Lent in the annunal Ork Phan Sa Festival. These special ceremonies take plac...

Kenny has raved about Vientiane and Lao in general for the last year since his last visit, so I expected a lot! And while it wasn't exactly what I'd pictured, it's been even better! We took an overnight sleeper bus from Pakse, and arrived early Monday morning. Kenny was shocked at how busy the city was. Generally, it's quite sleepy, even though it's the capital. We walked around to about 5 different guesthouses and hotels, but all seemed to be incredibly expensi...

We had originally planned to spend only a few days at the very southern tip of Laos in the 4000 Islands region, but we loved it so much that we stayed a few extra days! Our first stop was on Don Det, which one could say is the most "touristy" of all 4000. However, it was very chill and since it was low season, not many people were there. We managed to get a riverfront bungalow at Mr B's Sunset Bungalows (highly recommended) and stayed for 3 nights. During the da...

This may not be interesting to many of you, but if you're considering crossing overland from Cambodia to Lao, this was our experience. We began early morning in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Our bus picked us up at 5:15 am. I'd assumed it would be a backpackers minibus or something of the sort, but it was a public bus. At this time, we were the only two on the bus, so not bad. Due to the early hour, Kenny and I both promptly fell asleep on the chairs. Luckily, we took a ...