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Once a mere post town between Vientiane and Luang Prabang, and then a backpacker haven when Laos opened to tourism in the 1990s, Vang Vieng has a humble if somewhat wayward past.

These days, Vang Vieng’s hedonistic heritage of the ‘90s and ‘00s has all but gone. Instead, focus has moved to take advantage of the beautiful natural surroundings and its culture.

However, an edge of adventure and excitement still exists here.

Rock climbing in the stunning karst mountains, hikes through dramatic scenery, caving and even paramotoring (motorised paragliding) high above the town are all popular pursuits.

Kayaks slip by on the fast-moving Nam Song River, while hot air balloons reflect on its surface as they dip somewhat perilously low to the ground.

We travelled through Laos with InsideAsia Tours — a global tour operator that creates fully tailored cultural adventures around Asia and that creates superb itineraries around Asia and sorts out all the tricky on-the-ground bits and pieces to make your trip as enjoyable and interesting as possible.

Part of the Inside Travel Group and sister brand to InsideJapan Tours, InsideAsia Tours runs cultural adventure itineraries in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Borneo, Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Korea as well as Laos. Focus is on delving beneath the surface to explore parts of a destination that most visitors don’t get to experience.

You can book our itinerary — Laos by Rail — here, which includes riding Laos’ high-speed train line that’s changed the landscape of travel in this beautiful country. You can see our review of the Laos bullet train here.

Find a run-down of our full itinerary here and also the other destinations we visited in more detail in these articles.

Vang Vieng

Vang Vieng has changed a lot in the last decade or so. Friends I’ve spoken to who visited before the 2012 government crackdown talk of a place more like a permanent Full Moon Party on a Thai beach than the quiet country village it is now.

The mix of tourists has turned more towards affluent visitors looking for comfort and culture than thrills and parties. There are still plenty of young backpackers coming here, but there’s not a glowstick or whistle to be seen.

Although the streets here aren’t as well maintained as places like Vientiane or Luang Prabang, it’s fairly clean and feels safe.

Where to Stay in Vang Vieng

There are a surprising number of places to stay in such a small town. And there’s quite the range too.

Thanks to Vang Vieng’s backpacker era, there are still lots of budget options here — from homestay to hostels.

On top of that, there are lots of hotels too.

Our hotel, the Riverside Boutique Resort, is a beautifully laid out French colonial style resort right on the banks of the river as the name suggests.

The pool is surrounded by palm trees and lush gardens, and the dark timber buildings blend with the feeling of a closeness to nature.

Rooms are split into different cultural groups of Laos. Our Deluxe Room is in the Hmong building, and features traditional colours, textiles and art inspired by the Hmong, who make up Laos’ third largest ethnic group.

Things to Do in Vang Vieng

Our hot air balloon ride with Above Laos Ballooning is superb. Unlike many of the other companies here, Above Loas takes safety very seriously and doesn’t do things like low swoops over the river or dip to rooftop level of hotels.

They also offer a range of sizes, from medium-sized eight-passenger baskets to romantic two-passenger balloons, and are the only Laos-French owned, operated and regulated by the Civil Aviation ballooning company.

It’s a wonderful serene way to experience the mountains and paddy fields of this beautiful area.

The half-day trek into the Vang Vieng countryside is so memorable. From our hotel, we go with our local guide Toh to his village Ban Viengsamai in the back of a Laos tuktuk.

In Ban Viengsamai, we meet a blacksmith and learn how he makes knives and rice sickles for the village. Toh also shows us some traditional animal traps that are still in use today. He also shows us the local Kmhmu school.

We hike into the rice fields and learn about the Kmhmu way of life. It’s fascinating to hear about such a different culture, down to details like why every house has an odd number of steps going up (it’s bad luck to have an even number).

We finally arrive back at the village, where we meet two Kmhmu women who have made lunch for us. It’s a delicious mix of crispy pork, fish steamed in banana leaves, foraged greens, omelette and a kind of pâté made with rattan palm heart. And sticky rice of course.

Finally, we’re given a rare treat: we see how the ‘Lao hai’ local rice wine is made and then we taste some. This is only usually found at important festivals and weddings and is similar to Japanese sake.

There are lots of other things to do in Vang Vieng if you have time.

Hiring your own kayak and whooshing down the Nam Song River is one option, though the river is shallow in places and the noisy long-tail motorboat tours (run by a foreign-owned company by the way) impact the experience a bit.

Rock climbing around the towering karst mountains, longer hikes into the countryside and paramotoring. There’s also a huge cave down the river that has a shrine to Buddha inside.

There are also temples and markets to visit in town, and strolling its sometimes precarious streets are all worthy of your time.

Where to Eat and Drink in Vang Vieng

Like everywhere in Laos, there are plenty of places to find a feed. Perhaps because the town was such a busy backpacker thoroughfare once, you’ll find more Western style food here than other places.

It doesn’t make it bad, but it means you have to look a bit harder to find authentic Lao food.

We recommend a little Lao restaurant called Véla. Its laab is great but they also make an incredible noodle soup called ‘aw lam’, which has pork and minced eggplant that we didn’t find anywhere else.

Otherwise, find the lady in the market making kanom krok — wonderful little dome-shaped coconut and condensed milk dumpling pancakes. We first found these tasty treats in Bangkok and now hunt them down whenever we’re in Southeast Asia.

As for where to drink in Vang Vieng, there are lots of bars throughout the town, but the ones along the river have the best views and are usually more chilled out.

We really enjoyed a couple of beers at Phubarn Restaurant right next to the rickety pedestrian bridge. The sun sets between the mountains and shines off the river.

And though I wouldn’t want to be in the basket with them, the reckless balloon pilots flying low over the river create quite the spectacle.

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Hugging the western bank of the Mekong River and waving at Thailand across the water, Vientiane is the official capital of Laos.

You won’t find a throbbing night life in Vientiane or that zesty thrill that hits you from a manic, overpacked capital city.

Indeed, Laos’ full name ‘Laos PDR’ — or Laos People’s Democratic Republic, locals here prefer Laos Please Don’t Rush. It’s a joke, but it’s also kind of accurate. Like all of Laos, Vientiane’s pace is slower than you’ll find in pretty much any other Southeast Asian city.

But with fun dive bars, thriving little night markets and hundreds of Buddhist temples alongside the ubiquitous crumbing French colonial architecture, Vientiane offers the perfect stepping-off point for Laos.

We travelled here with InsideAsia Tours, a global tour operator that creates fully tailored cultural adventures around Asia that takes care of all the tricky parts of your trip, gives you a guide and lets you relax while having an immersive experience at the same time.

InsideAsia Tours is part of the Inside Travel Group and sister to travel brand InsideJapan Tours. Specialising in digging deeper beneath the surface of destinations, the Inside Travel Group is all about cultural adventure tourism. This brings you so much closer to local life wherever you are.

InsideAsia Tours operates not just in Laos, but also Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Borneo, Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Korea with bespoke tours to make your budget, timeframes and interests.

You can see our full itinerary in brief here and also the other destinations we visited here.

This is Vientiane’s massive new train station that services the country’s new high-speed train line. You can read our review of the Laos’ bullet train here.

Vientiane — Laos’ Little Capital

Vientiane is an interesting place. It’s the administrative centre of Laos, which doesn’t sound very exciting. However, it means the city’s well organised, safe and relatively clean (Laos still is a developing country), and still has plenty going on.

People have likened Vientiane to Canberra. There are even all the foreign embassies here, just like in the ACT.

I also think it feels a bit like someone’s taken several city blocks from Kuala Lumpur, stripped most of the traffic, cut down the population to 1/4 and dropped it alongside the Mekong.

Temples

Vientiane has the most Buddhist temples in Laos, and the oldest too. Wat Si Saket is the last remaining temple from before the Siamese (Thai) invasion of 1828, which saw the city sacked.

We also visited the Golden Stupa, an enormous gold monolith that tapers to a sharp point. It’s one of the most important Buddhist monuments in Laos and its surrounding walls house hundreds of Buddhist and Khmer statues and artefacts.

Visiting these temples with our excellent InsideAsia guide Sakhoe meant we had a much deeper understanding of what we were looking at with all the stencils and statues, the ceremonies and stupas, that surround Buddhism.

Monuments

Patuxay Monument. If this national monument and its road look familiar that’s because the Lao people modelled it on the Arc de Triomphe and Les Champs-Elysées in Paris. Unlike the French version, this arch has four, not two, archways, has five decorative towers on top and you can go inside this one. There’s a museum on Patuxay here and superb views of the city from the top level.

It took 11 years to build the Patuxay — between 1957 and 1968 — when Laos kicked the French colonisers out after a 60-year protectorate.

It is Vientiane’s war memorial, commemorating lives lost in WWII and in the war of independence against the French.

History and Culture

The Cooperative Orthotic & Prosthetic Enterprise (COPE) Visitor Centre. During the Vietnam War, America dropped some 260 million bombs on Laos, making it the most bombed country in the world. Around 30% (approx. 80 mil) of these bombs did not explode.

COPE Visitor Centre shows the damage these UXOs (UnExploded Ordinance) can cause, while also giving access to prosthetic, orthotic and mobility devices to thousands of injured locals.

Lao Disabled Women’s Centre. Helping disabled and vulnerable Lao women learn crafts and skills, the Lao disabled Women’s Centre is a brilliant enterprise. There’s also a shop here where you can buy some of the handicrafts the women make.

Buddha Park. This unusual sculpture park, started by an ex-monk, is home over 200 Buddhist and Hindu statues. It’s interesting enough to wander around looking at the statues, but when our guide Sakhoe explains the meaning of some of them, it sheds a new light on what we’re looking at.

Bars, Markets and Restaurants

While we’re exploring Vientiane, we find so many great food options.

The Vientiane Night Market in Ban Haysoke is excellent, with lots of local dishes to try, including some of the more exotic unusual things like grilled crickets and khai luuk (fertilised duck egg). But the best thing we found was the shredded slow-cooked pork belly stuffed into a crispy roti.

There are also plenty of restaurants on every street and some very cool bars.

We recommend Laodi Bar, a ramshackle place right on the river and is perfect for a sunset beer, and at the other end of the spectrum 525 Eat & Drink, a slick cocktail bar in the heart of the city.

Also worth mentioning is Doi Ka Noi Restaurant, which was included in the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2025 list.

Where to stay in Vientiane

Because Vientiane is the diplomatic and administrative centre of Laos, there are plenty of lovely hotels here.

We stayed at the Lao Poet Hotel, perfectly located in the Ban Haysoke District. Its elegant art deco decor inspired by 1930s Indochina, combined with all the modern trappings of a luxury hotel, make this an ideal place to stay in Vientiane.

There’s even a rooftop infinity pool and bar with views out over the city, and a wellness spa if you feel like a pampering.

This comfortable yet chic boutique hotel takes its name from a renowned poet from 19th Century Maha Keo, whose house was once where the hotel now stands.

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Sitting on the confluence of the mighty Mekong and the crawling Nam Khan Rivers, Luang Prabang is a pretty, prosperous town, full of interesting laneways, thriving markets, fun riverside restaurants and elegant temples.

Its colonial heritage is also well-preserved. The smart, brick-and-balcony French buildings blend with traditional Lao timber, wattle and daub architecture, which ramps up the romance of the town.

With the help of UNESCO protection as a place of Outstanding Universal Value, Luang Prabang’s historic riverine streets are here to stay.

This is the last stop on our Laos by Train itinerary, organised by brilliant global tour operator InsideAsia Tours that creates fully tailored cultural adventures around Asia. You can book this itinerary here.

Our trip is a perfect example of how InsideAsia Tours can create itineraries that look deep beneath the surface of a destination and bring you to experiences you probably wouldn’t find by yourself.

And it’s not just Laos that InsideAsia Tours travel through. They also have amazing itineraries in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Borneo, Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Korea, which they’ve developed since they started in 2013.

If you want to see our overview of our trip in Laos, click here and if you want to see the other destinations we visited in more detail, click here.

We have also written a review of the high-speed train through Laos.

Things to do in Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang was once the royal and religious capital of Laos. Civil war stripped the country of its monarchy and handed the capital to Vientiane in 1946.

Perhaps it because of this noble history that there’s a quiet confidence to Luang Prabang. A sense of deep pride.

Where to Stay in Luang Prabang

With its own international airport and the new high-speed train that hurtles in from Vang Vieng and Vientiane, Luang Prabang’s tourism industry is on the rise. There’s a healthy range of accommodation here, though there’s a lean towards more upmarket hotels than budget hostels.

Our hotel, the verdant Maison Dalabua, is a dreamscape of bamboo, broad-leafed tropical plants and lagoon-like UNESCO listed lily ponds. Little timber bridges and over-water walkways link the restaurant and bar to the rest of this low-key resort, and our room has a homely yet luxurious feel.

This is a Lao-owned hotel that’s been in the same family for generations. Its name is the perfect fusion of French and Lao cultures respectively — Maison Dalabua meaning House of the Lotus Princess.

Things to Do in Luang Prabang

There’s a lot to do in and out of Luang Prabang. We have listed our favourite ‘in town’ and ‘out of town’ activities here, but for more detail, head to two separate stories:

Things to do in Luang Prabang

Things to do outside of Luang Prabang

In Town

Temples

There are over 40 temples in Luang Prabang, but our favourites are Vat Xieng Thong, Vat Sene Souk Haram and Vat Xieng Muan.

Museums

We really enjoyed the Traditional Arts & Ethnology Centre, the former Royal Palace, now the National Museum, and the historical Huan Chuan House.

Cultural Experiences

Visiting local artist, bon vivant and member of Laos’ former royal family Tiao Nithakhong Somsanith, is truly incredible.

Taking part in a Baci ceremony, a Sanskrit celebration of the spirit that pre-dates Buddhism is a Laos highlight.

Luang Prabang’s night markets are awesome and take over most of the main street of the peninsula.

Sunset cruise on the Mekong

Our private sunset cruise on Southeast Asia’s biggest river is incredible. It’s just us, the pilot and our excellent IAT guide, AK on a traditional Lao riverboat.

The cruise ends with an easy walk to the centre of town and its night markets, now in full flow.

Monks’ Morning Quest for Alms

Known as ‘sai bat’, the giving of alms to monks at dawn is a daily ceremony around Lao. This is a very important cultural ceremony but also a fascinating spectacle.

Finding Coffee

The coffee in Lao is arguably the best in Southeast Asia. They grow their own beans here and have perfected the roasting process. You’ll find good filter drip coffee here, but also great espresso too.

For more detail on all of these and more, click here: Things to do in Luang Prabang

Out of Town

Living Land Farm Experience

Not far out of town, the Living Land Farm Experience takes you through the complex and labour-intensive processes involved with growing, harvesting and processing rice.

Kuang Si Waterfall

These beautiful falls, about 30km from Luang Prabang, are one of the most popular attractions of the area. There’s also a sanctuary for Asiatic Black Bears here and an excellent restaurant.

Laos Buffalo Dairy

The Water Buffalo Dairy Farm is a social enterprise that ‘rents’ buffalo from locals in a form of agistment, milking them for various dairy products. You also get to interact with the animals here and taste the delicious food the dairy makes.

MandaLao Elephant Conservation

Hike with Asian elephants in MandaLao Elephant Conservation, the only no-ride, no-wash elephant sanctuary in Laos and one of the few in Southeast Asia. Each group is limited to eight people.

How to spot an ethical elephant sanctuary

Where to Eat And Drink

Luang Prabang is full of excellent places to enjoy a drink and a nibble. Here are some locally owned places we recommend:

Limkong Restaurant is a rickety riverside bar and eatery perfect for views and ice-cold beer.

Artisan Bar is tiny and only sits about 10 people. Its cocktails would fit in anywhere in Sydney, Melbourne or even NYC.

For food, if you don’t visit the night market at least twice, you’re missing out.

Saffron Cafe is a lovely little cafe selling tasty cakes and great coffee.

Tamarind Restaurant serves well-developed local dishes like duck laab and chicken stuffed into lemongrass stems. It also runs a cooking school.

Find more detail on these recommendations, plus our best food experience here: Things to do outside of Luang Prabang

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Straight from the 55-minute high-speed train ride from Vang Vieng (a journey that would normally take upwards of five hours by road), we dive into a walking tour of the town.

Our guide here, AK, used to be a monk in Luang Prabang and takes us round several of his favourite temples, telling us exactly what we’re looking at.

But AK’s extensive knowledge isn’t limited to just temples. He’s done everything, from rescuing Asiatic black bears to running market stalls to working for the government.

So from the moment AK picks us up from the train station, we can’t help but soak up the culture here in Luang Prabang.

We’ve travelled to Laos with InsideAsia Tours on their Laos by Rail itinerary, which you can book here.

You can read our overview of the trip here but if you want more detail on each of the places we’ve been to in Laos, click here.

Things to Do in Luang Prabang

This story is all about the things you should do in town in Luang Prabang. There are also lots of things to do out of town in the countryside, which you can find here.

Temples

Monks in Luang Prabang are tasked with maintaining the temples using traditional methods. This is not only a self-regulating process, but one decreed by UNESCO. It’s not uncommon to see young monks doing restorative work to temples here.

Vat Xieng Thong is a beautiful temple at the end of the town’s peninsula. It’s Loas’ most historic temple, built in 1559.

Vat Sene Souk Haram is just up the road from Vat Xieng Thong and also has monks’ living quarters here. Though not quite as old as Xieng Thong, it’s still been here for over 300 years.

Vat Xieng Muan is a small, quiet temple but is right next to the Huan Chan Heritage House (see below) so is an easy temple to add to your list as you’re wandering around town.

There are so many temples squeezed into this charming town, it’s hard not to find yourself stumbling into one. In fact, as they have many exits and entrances into the temple complex, navigating through them using what we like to call ‘Wat Way’ is a neat shortcut!

Museums

The Traditional Arts & Ethnology Centre is an excellent museum that teaches you about the multitudes of cultures and ethnic groups in Laos. This is important for any visitor who wants to understand this fascinating country better.

It also highlights how ethnic groups’ fabric and decorative designs have been misappropriated by things like top-end fashion houses without any credit, permission or consultation.

The former Royal Palace now National Museum was built during French occupation in 1904. It’s a fascinating insight into Laos before the overthrow of the monarchy in 1975 and there are many artefacts here from those times.

The historical Huan Chuan House is a Laos home built in the traditional style and is now a cultural museum. It has lots of objects that Lao people have used through the centuries and its layout gives you an idea of what life here would have been like.

Cultural Experiences

Tiao Nath’s house and Baci ceremony

Tiao Nithakhong Somsanith is a renowned artist and descendent of the former royal family. He rarely allows people into his house, which doubles as his art studio.

From commissions from local temples to sculptures in the Smithsonian in Chicago, Tiao Nith is a remarkable person and his house is a grotto of creation.

While you’re here, you can also have a Baci ceremony with a Buddhist master. This celebration of the spirit pre-dates Buddhism and conducted in Sanskrit, it’s still common in Lao culture.

Markets

Luang Prabang’s night markets are awesome. They take over most of Sisavangvong Road – the main street that runs through the middle of the peninsula, starting at the Good Night Market open-air food court.

You can find all kinds of interesting things here, from clothes to woodcraft to jewellery. There are also food stalls here and in other adjoining streets. Highly recommended.

Sunset cruise on the Mekong

Winding its 4,350km way from the Tibetan Plateau, through six countries, the Mekong is the longest river in Southeast Asia. Our sunset cruise on this mighty river is incredible. It’s just us, the pilot and our excellent IAT guide, AK on a traditional Lao riverboat.

While we motor along, AK plates up some delicious local canapés and opens a surprisingly good bottle of wine (with Thailand just next door, we’re not expecting a fine Valpolicella from Venezia). The views are stupendous, with the sun setting in a glorious golden bath in the sky, turning the water to filigree.

Our 90-minute cruise ends all to soon and we disembark on the riverbank an easy walk to the centre of town and its night markets, now in full flow.

Monks’ Morning Quest for Alms

Known as ‘sai bat’, the giving of alms to monks at dawn is a daily ceremony around Lao. You’ll find the streets nearby bigger temples lined with plastic chairs.

Locals sell sticky rice between 20,000 and 50,000 kip (AU$1.50-$3.60) that you can hand to the monks as their procession goes by.

This is a very important cultural ceremony but also a fascinating spectacle. It’s important to obey the rules of conduct if you’re only there to watch.

Finding Coffee

The coffee in Lao is arguably the best in Southeast Asia. They grow their own beans here and have perfected the roasting process. You’ll find good filter drip coffee here, but also great espresso too.

This is not exclusive to cafes and restaurants.

A guy with a stall set up on the street outside his shop had a unique system of making superb espresso unlike anything we’ve seen before. After an intricate three-stage tamping process, the guy poured boiling water into a machine connected to a compressor, which he could set to different pressures.

The result was smooth, rich and invigorating — especially for just 20,000 kip a cup.

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This was our first time to Luang Prabang — our first time to Laos. And even though we did and experienced a lot, it feels like there’s so much more to see here.

We loved the town with its easy-going pace of life, its fascinating heritage and its riverside location. For more on all the things to see and do here in the cultural capital of Laos, click here.

But this story isn’t about what you can do in Luang Prabang, it’s what the beautiful countryside has to offer.

This is part of the Laos by Rail itinerary with InsideAsia Tours. This itinerary takes us through three incredible parts of Laos (which we’ve written about here), riding on Laos’ new high-speed rail line, which we’ve reviewed here.

You can also find more detailed stories on each of our destinations in Laos here.

What To Do In The Countryside Of Luang Prabang, Laos

Most of these things are pretty popular with tourists coming to Luang Prabang. The difference is, having InsideAsia Tours organise things means your guide and the timing of the activities are on top of everything.

Exclusive entry, the best tables, not to mention insights from a local who’s also an experienced travel guide.

Check out the rest of our itinerary around Laos here.

Living Land Farm Experience

Not far out of town, the Living Land Farm Experience takes you through the complex and labour-intensive processes involved with growing, harvesting and processing rice.

This is a hands-on experience, so expect to get muddy! There are several separate practice paddies at different stages of the rice-growling cycle so you get a full understanding of (and appreciation for) where the rice on your plate has come from.

Our guide Johnny first shows us how to plant seeds in the water-filled rice paddy, gently sprinkling them onto mud mounds. Next is harvesting seedlings.

We move to an untilled paddy field, where a water buffalo yoked to a hand plough joins us. We take it in turns to ‘drive’ the buffalo, shouting ‘hoy hoy’ to make it go and, more importantly, ‘yood yood’ to make it stop.

After that, we plant seedlings and cut fully grown sheafs with a sickle. Inside the homestead, we thresh the sheafs, mill the rice and many other processes. It’s a fun way to learn about Lao culture, but we’ll also never take a bowl of rice for granted again.

Kuang Si Waterfall

These beautiful falls, about 30km from Luang Prabang, are one of the most popular attractions of the area.

To get to these stunning cascades, which fall 60m down the limestone cliffs into the blue pools below, you have to take the electric cart up the hill to the entrance. This is part of your ticket.

You’ll also find the Asiatic Black Bear Sanctuary here. Rescued from poachers as cubs, these bears cannot be released into the wild and so live happily in the specially built sanctuary.

There is also a restaurant — Carpe Diem — near waterfall that’s very much worth stopping at. Positioned over the tumbling stream as it continues down its course after the main waterfall, it adds a unique and beautiful aspect to a tasty lunch here.

Laos Buffalo Dairy

Also in the area, we visit the Water Buffalo Dairy Farm. This social enterprise is the brainchild of two women — Susie Martin from Sydney and Rachel O’Shea from New York State.

Essentially, this ingenious endeavour ‘rents’ buffalo from locals in a form of agistment, milking them for various dairy products.

Deeper than this though, when the buffalo go back to the local families, they’re healthy and vaccinated, and they get a new, healthy calf as well. Locals also learn about best practice for animal care, which many have never had before.

Visiting this farm, we see how the buffalo are cared for, but we also learn how to hand-milk one of them. It’s a disturbing yet oddly satisfying process. We also get to wash and feed some of them, and we discover how affectionate and gentle they are, in spite of their intimidating horns.

We bottle feed some young buffalo and then check out the piglets the farm is raising as well as the rabbits and their kits.

Later, we get to taste the products from the diary. Brilliantly crafted in house, the different types of cheese – mozzarella, blue, curds, ricotta and marinated feta — as well as the ice cream (black sesame is wonderful) and the indulgently rich cheesecake.

MandaLao Elephant Conservation

The only no-ride, no-wash elephant sanctuary in Laos and one of the few in Southeast Asia, MandaLao Elephant Conservation is an incredible project that holds the needs and welfare of these Asian elephants as their ultimate priority.

Many of the elephants here — MandaLao currently has 12 (11 cows and one bull) — have been rescued.

Upon arrival, we chat with the impressive Prasop Tipprasert, a Thai man who has worked with elephants for many decades and is the project manager here at MandaLao. Then we climb aboard a longtail boat and pop across the river.

Waiting for us are two beautiful elephants ready for a feed.

We hand-feed them bananas, which is the only direct contact that visitors are allowed. Even their mahouts — their handlers — are supposed to touch them occasionally, and there are no hooks or hammers used here, an ugly feature in many elephant centres.

From there, we hike into the woodland of the sanctuary, where the elephants are free to roam and enjoy natural behaviours like eating (they eat around 18 hours a day and some 300kg of food per elephant), scratching and going down to the river to drink and bathe.

It’s wonderful to watch these giants in as close to their natural environment as possible. To see them happy, to see them thrive.

There are two types of trip you can do here: a half day, which is what we did, or a full day. Full-day participant numbers are limited to four people and each group will not exceed eight people.

This is an amazing place. If you want to see Asian elephants, it doesn’t get much better than this.

For more information on how to spot an ethical elephant sanctuary in Thailand, click here.

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