Still trying to stay off my feet, I continued my trip by traveling from Laos to northern Vietnam, starting first in the iconic Hạ Long Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Cát Bà Island. My primary means of transportation were ferry, cruise boat, and motorbike to explore amongst the thousands of karst islands over a few days. This allowed me to see this incredible landscape in various weather conditions and at different times of the day. Please enjoy some of the photos I took.
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Southeast Asia 2023 – Laos: Around Luang Prabang
My next destination was beautiful Luang Prabang in Laos, where the entire city and surrounding villages have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Nestled alongside the meandering Mekong River, it is filled with numerous Buddhist temples and is popular with both foreign and Lao tourists alike. Every morning, hundreds of monks from the various monasteries walk through the streets collecting alms. The surrounding mountains offer wonderful trails for day hikes to surreal waterfalls and multiday trekking opportunities to hill tribe villages, which I’ll describe in my next post. Despite all these attractions and the fact that I was there for the city’s busy annual Fire Boat Festival (Boun Lai Heua Fai), attended by visitors from near and far, Luang Prabang remains quiet and peaceful – much like Lao culture at large.
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