Arrival:
We arranged with the hotel for pick up by a driver and when they didn’t show up we got in a cab which was easy enough by just mentioning the name of our hotel.
Transport: We could walk everywhere through the town, but for trekking out to waterfalls we hired a Tuk- tuk. As always we recommend negotiating the price before getting in.
Visa:You apply and pay on arrival. They say you need to bring a passport photo, but really it is just 5 bucks if you forget it.
Money: Everywhere took USD and they were awesome at converting. It is currently 8,333 kip to 1 USD.
Language: Once again a majority of people spoke some English or French, but official language was Lao.
Accommodations:
We stayed at Cold River guesthouse which we booked on Hotels.com. It was run by a very nice French couple who were more than willing to give recommendations and help with booking reservations. The rooms were well kept up and had private bathrooms. We loved how eco friendly the place was. For instance, they provided reusable water bottles in the room and filtered water in the common areas. We purchased the room with breakfast which was about 27 USD a night, and breakfast was incredible with homemade yogurt, pastries, coffee, and your choice of Pho, fried rice, porridge, or American style.
Food:
The first day there we went to the top yelp place for dinner a place called Utopia bar, a total hipster place to hang out and drink. It was all white 20 somethings there, so naturally we hated it. One place we would recommend is Café Toui, the food was amazing and they had a tasting menu which allowed us to try multiple dishes. The service was the best we had and the owner and staff were so kind.
Activities: The first full day there we had booked a bike ride to Kuang Si waterfall the website said it was road biking so we thought that would be fine. But it was uphill the whole way and as I had just gotten over food poisoning from Vietnam we got to the second false summit and had him call Lee and I a tuk-tuk while Natalie pressed on. The Next day we took a tuk-tuk out to catch a boat to the Tad Sae waterfall. We bought a ticket and got on a very skinny boat to head up the river to the waterfall. There we bought a ticket to the waterfall.
We arranged with the hotel for pick up by a driver and when they didn’t show up we got in a cab which was easy enough by just mentioning the name of our hotel.
Transport: We could walk everywhere through the town, but for trekking out to waterfalls we hired a Tuk- tuk. As always we recommend negotiating the price before getting in.
Visa:You apply and pay on arrival. They say you need to bring a passport photo, but really it is just 5 bucks if you forget it.
Money: Everywhere took USD and they were awesome at converting. It is currently 8,333 kip to 1 USD.
Language: Once again a majority of people spoke some English or French, but official language was Lao.
Accommodations:
We stayed at Cold River guesthouse which we booked on Hotels.com. It was run by a very nice French couple who were more than willing to give recommendations and help with booking reservations. The rooms were well kept up and had private bathrooms. We loved how eco friendly the place was. For instance, they provided reusable water bottles in the room and filtered water in the common areas. We purchased the room with breakfast which was about 27 USD a night, and breakfast was incredible with homemade yogurt, pastries, coffee, and your choice of Pho, fried rice, porridge, or American style.
Food:
The first day there we went to the top yelp place for dinner a place called Utopia bar, a total hipster place to hang out and drink. It was all white 20 somethings there, so naturally we hated it. One place we would recommend is Café Toui, the food was amazing and they had a tasting menu which allowed us to try multiple dishes. The service was the best we had and the owner and staff were so kind.
Activities: The first full day there we had booked a bike ride to Kuang Si waterfall the website said it was road biking so we thought that would be fine. But it was uphill the whole way and as I had just gotten over food poisoning from Vietnam we got to the second false summit and had him call Lee and I a tuk-tuk while Natalie pressed on. The Next day we took a tuk-tuk out to catch a boat to the Tad Sae waterfall. We bought a ticket and got on a very skinny boat to head up the river to the waterfall. There we bought a ticket to the waterfall.