Thing To Do In Laos Once, Thing To Do In Laos Twice: 3 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Thing To Do In.

It should be noted that of the two times I visited I only saw the elephants once. Just down the road from Tad Leuk but also in the Phu Khao Khuay national park is the well known village Ban Na. The locals have constructed a large tree top platform with cooking and sleeping facilities cool enough by itself, but when the local elephants come to taste the salt lick it becomes incredible.

Unfortunately for anyone over 182cm in height they aren't that great as the mini in minivan really means that - Laotian minivans built for Laotian sized people. The smaller minivans are definitely the better way to travel. It should also be noted that almost all Bus stations are out of town and you will have to pay for a tuk-tuk to your guest house or other destination.

The busses are large and on small windy roads this does nothing for motion sickness. This means missing out on some amazing stuff along the way. The worst I found was the fact that they were point-to-point direct busses, stopping once along the way for a combined food and toilet stop.

A common occurrence is busses not leaving until they are full and timetables changing minute before busses leave. So with a lack of tourist infrastructure and this laid back nature you get one of the most charming and generous countries you will ever visit as well as one of the final bastions of true explorative travel. This is by far from a negative though, as it provides respite from what can often be seen as the blur and fury of activity of South East Asia.

Slowly getting accustomed to Laos is the only thing you can do. And slowly (read Lazy) is the most apt way to explain how Things to do shouldn't missed in Laos get done in Laos. It was transformed into a museum after the royal family was overthrown in 1975, never to be seen again; the bedrooms and living quarters of the family have been preserved from that time. In style, it's a stunning mash-up of French Beaux-Arts and traditional Laotian and it contains art, religious artefacts and ornate furniture.

The Royal Palace, or Haw Kham, was built in the early 1900s for King Sisavang Vong. It does take some getting used to, but you adjust! I had been in Asia for some time though and had grown accustomed to the heat.

I was in Laos in April/May, which is the hottest time of the year there and temperatures frequently top 100 degrees. Hopefully this time I'll do so with a little bit less food poisoning going on. That would be ideal. However, I'd be happy to return some day and to revisit that sauna again and hit up all the other sights I missed.

I did some interesting things and saw some bizarre sights, but I didn't depart the city with the passion that I had hoped for. Despite my best efforts, I did not fall head-over-flip-flops in love with Vientiane.