After Thailand, Julianna and I joined a Contiki trip to Laos and Cambodia as part of our southeast Asia backpacking trip (#JLAsia2018).

Contiki

Contiki is a travel tour company for 18-35 year-olds. Your contiki trip includes all your accommodations and major transportation to different countries and cities included in your tour. They usually cover 1 meal a day and there are add-on activities for additional fees. Your contiki also comes with a Contiki tour guide as well as a local tour guide.

We decided to try a Contiki for Laos and Cambodia because we didn’t think Laos or Cambodia was as safe as Thailand for two girls to travel on their own. We also wanted to try traveling in a larger group after backpacking together.

We chose the 9-days Laos & Cambodia Uncovered tour for $1,539 CAD per person.

Accommodations

Luang Prabang Inn

We checked into our hotel, the Luang Prabang Inn, and that was where we first met our Contiki tour guide and some of the other Contiki members.

Our room was on the first floor and it was very spacious. There were no tubs in the washroom, it was an open floor shower, but we had a modern toilet and water never got into the toilet or sink area so we were pleased.

Half of our Contiki group was staying at Luang Prabang Inn. The other half were staying at a different hotel across the street which had an insane hotel name and I will not attempt to spell it. At the other hotel, things were stolen. Several people had all their USD stolen as well as a camera.

Even though both of these hotels had been vetted by Contiki, it doesn’t mean you should leave your belongings not locked up.

Things to do

Utopia

Utopia is a restaurant our Contiki took us to on our very first night in Laos. It is run by a Canadian who hires local Laotians and teaches them hospitality and gives them “experience”.

I would’ve loved to visit Utopia in daytime as it was quite dark when we got there. Utopia is an outdoor restaurant & bar so everything was dimly lit with candles but the restaurant was super cute. Everyone was sitting on cushions and low tables and the restaurant was situated right on top of a river so it was a great unobstructed view.

This was when I tried my very first Laos beer, which was light and fruity. One thing you should know about Contiki is that people drink a lot. Like all the time. Everyday.

Bowling

This may seem really random, but after eating and drinking at Utopia, everyone wanted a round 2 and our Contiki leader recommended this bowling alley to us. We arrived in multiple tuktuks and it was an almost empty bowling alley that serves alcohol and also has an archery site outside.

Bike Tour

We started the next morning with a bike tour by our local guide. He took us to see some interesting things:

1. A pink-haired grandpa who makes snake whiskey. Disgusting. They consider it a form of medicine at times.
2. A temple and other surrounding buildings.
3. Down a road next to the Mekong River (brown but very important river to the Laos).
4. A textiles company where they teach women how to create beautiful patterns on scarves and accessories.

Kuang Si Falls

Kuang Si Falls is an additional excursion for $20 USD. Our guides took us through a quick trail to see the beautiful waterfall and then we continued to walk down a bit more to an area where you can actually swim.

It was really cool to swim in or nearby a waterfall. The water was quite cold but you get used to it after awhile. There is a little ledge on the corner where you can jump in.

Night Market

At night we walked through the night market, which was a lot of fun and more interesting than the markets we saw in Thailand. The items sold looked different and they had lots of different souvenirs for us to choose from.

The currency Laotians use is kip and the exchange rate is roughly 6400 kip to 1 CAD. So yeah I felt like a rich lady who could buy whatever I want. They do, however, accept USD but only if it is in mint condition. This means no folds, tears or marks. If your bill is not in mint condition, not even the bank or border immigration will accept it. It’s strange that they will take your $20 USD bill and then give you thousands of kip back. Often times I think they prefer receiving USD (which is why it was stolen from the hotel).

The weather in Luang Prabang that night was cooler, which was a great relief for Julianna and I as we had been sweating so much in Thailand all week. However, this temperature was apparently very cold for Laotians. When we walked through the night market, we saw little babies bundled up in blankets and hats.

Haggling at the night market was no different from night markets in Thailand or any other places in Asia. You can easily haggle a pair of pants to 40,000 kip ($6 CAD) and long dresses to 45,000 – 60,000 kip ($6 – 9 CAD). One thing that you may want to keep in mind is that Laos is one of the poorest countries around. Julianna kept this information in her head the whole night and never ever bargained because she is a sweetheart and I’m not.

Tangor Restaurant

At the end of the night market strip, there is a restaurant strip filled with trendy bars and restaurants. We looked up some top-rated restaurants and decided to visit Tangor Restaurant.

Tangor specializes in French-Laos cuisine and surprise again, it’s run by a French guy who hires local Laotians to give them hospitality experience.

It was a nicer restaurant and the prices were more expensive than Utopia or the local restaurants near our hotel, but it was still cheap compared to anything you can get in Canada. We ordered the fish ceviche and a steak which only came to around $20 USD total.

Buddhist morning ritual

The next morning, we woke up at 4 am (yes you read that right) to participate in a Buddhist morning ritual that starts at dawn. We were told to wear temple clothing and as a woman to never ever touch a monk. Don’t even walk on the same street as them as they will cross the street to avoid you first. If a woman touches a monk, they will have to perform a cleansing ritual and you will have ruined their day.

So this buddhist ritual seems more like a tourist thing because I didn’t see a single local doing it, but we basically lined up outside the walls of the temple garden and kneeled on little mats. We were taught to wear our scarves over our left shoulder in a certain way and to wait for the monks to come out.

This ceremony is to give back to the buddhist community and we do so by scooping out sticky rice and dropping little bits into the monks’ pots as they walk by. At the end of their walk, they will pour all the rice they collected into a bigger pot and eat it.

Each monk was carrying a bowl and some of them will stop and let you put some sticky rice in, and others will just continue walking by. I tried to keep up but I definitely missed some monks and I was told that’s totally fine. Most of the monks were boys and they avoided making eye contact with me.

I really hope they cook the rice again before they just eat it. I washed my hands but still.

Final thoughts

In terms of the Contiki, I had fun meeting new people but there was definitely a difference between the new members (everyone who only signed up for Laos & Cambodia) vs. the other half of the group as they have already been traveling together for one week. Everyone was still friendly and most of the other travelers were from Australia and New Zealand. We had a few people from London, America and even Dubai. I was the only Asian person in the group.

As for Luang Prabang, I had never heard of Laos before I signed up for this Contiki trip. I didn’t even know where it would be on a world map.

Laos and Luang Prabang is certainly more poor and rural than Thailand. Some people don’t even live in real houses or buildings, they just have a straw roof and everything else is out in the open.

The level of English is standard and you can make basic conversation with a local. What I noticed is that Laotians are very friendly and seem genuine.

In comparison to Thailand, we found Luang Prabang to be very refreshing. We also found it to feel quite safe when we were walking around at night near the markets. It was a nice change of pace and we looked forward to learning more about Laos culture.

Sincerely, Loewe