My personal favorite ‘Must Visit Country’ in South East Asia - 1

Let me do a country vise list and will start with the places I have been to then will continue with the places I intend to go sometime soon.

Laos

When I came to know that I am supposed to go to Laos for an official trip, more than the fact that I would have to slog my ass off, I was excited that I will get 2 weekends to myself which meant I could cover Laos on 1 weekend and Cambodia on the other.
But my dreams got shattered when I got a Single Entry Visa to Laos which meant that I could not leave Laos till I actually left. And when you have options like Cambodia, China, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam u get broken. And btw Laos has the river Mekong flowing from Tibet and is the 10^th largest in the World.

Newaz the first week at Laos was all work and finding out the must visit places near Vientiane (Capital City) where we were staying. After discussions, research and budgeting I finalized 2 cities of Laos.

Since it was a 3 day weekend, I decided to stay for a day in Vang Vieng and 2 days (including travel) in Luang Prabang

Vang Vieng: This seemed to be a heaven for backpackers in the SEA region. The number of Westerners was far more than what I had seen in Singapore, or even Vientiane for that matter. The reasons for the huge number was

1. Crazy number of Adventure Sports (Kayaking, Tubing, Rock Climbing, Swimming etc. etc.
2.  Places open till LATEE Nights unlike any other city in Laos
3.  Beautiful Location and Karst mountain
4. Easy gateway to Vietnam, Cambodia or China
5. SHROOM Shakes ( though haven’t tried but have seen the effects of it on people)

Took a gearless motor bike to cover the town of Vang Vieng, gas is cheap so you can take one on rent for the time you stay there.

Luang Prabang town is one of the only two World Heritage Site in Laos. LP and was the ancient capital of Laos in the glory days and Vientiane has taken the position now. LP has basically a enough activities which can take easily 2-3 days of yours

1. The Temples, a lot of them
2.  Museum
3. Night Market

I took a bike on hire (easily available) to cover the whole of LP and it was AN Experience.

In addition to these towns, there are some other places which are also a must visit, maybe on my next visit to Laos ill start from there J

1)      Plain of Jars

2)      Savannakhet

3)      Wat Phu ( The Angkor Vat of Laos) & Pakse

My Album of Laos.