Laos

*Spending a night in the tallest tree house in the world in Nam Kan National Park*

*Border crossing from China to Laos, Chinese gate*

*Spent our first night in Boten, the modern border town just over the border from China in Laos*

Our initial entry into Laos did not feel much different from China, we entered at Boten which is a Chinese built modern town right over the border in Laos. The architecture, the economy and the food were all still very Chinese. The town was alive at night with large scale gambling casinos and nightclubs. We heard rumors of an active red light district but chose not to explore it.

*Our two week, 2 ,140km route through Laos. Also shown, an unplanned route through Cambodia (more on that later)*

As with many countries in South East Asia, Laos has a complicated relationship with China. It shares a communist values-based government, and accepts infrastructure investment, but that investment often comes with strings attached. China is now the largest investor in Laos and funds are focused on mining, electrical and transportation projects which benefit and are largely controlled by the Chinese. The people of Laos welcome new economic opportunity but also fear losing their national identity and freedom to their powerful neighbor.

*Went out for our final Chinese hot pot dinner with motorcyclists Jacob and Max from our crossing China group. Happy to still have our son Trevor with us although we will be parting soon.*

But as soon as we left Boten and hit the road the next day everything changed. As we left the border with China, the roads deteriorated and the scenery became more interesting. We welcomed the cultural shift from the modern cities of Yunnan to the small mountain villages of Laos.

We did not know much about Laos before we arrived. It is shadowed as a tourism destination by its more well known neighbors - Vietnam and Thailand - but has a growing tourism sector. We had spent some time in Cambodia a few years ago so had some familiarity with the South East Asian culture, but Laos had a rhythm all its own. The poorest country in the region, Laos’s economy is largely based in agriculture but in a familiar story worldwide, young people are vacating the rural villages seeking job opportunities in the bigger cities or abroad. It was a common site to see fields filled with older people working hard in the heat of the day, growing rice, coffee, bananas and casava. One young man we spoke with explained that the overriding goal of most families is to have enough rice fields to be able to plant them for food for the family for the year. Typically young people return to help with the annual planting.

The people were welcoming but generally more reserved and introverted - we were not surrounded by curious people as we had been in India which was a bit of a welcome relief. It also meant that when we wild camped people left us to ourselves, maybe slowing down as they passed by to see what we were but never stopping. Courtesy is deeply embedded in South East Asian culture, we quickly learned the local greeting in Laotian (sabaidi) always spoken with hands in prayer position and a quick nod or bow. All over the world we have noticed that if you greet people in their local language you quickly earn a huge smile and a return greeting - sometimes accompanied with a little laugh if your pronunciation is a off. But we always try.

*Typical mountain village architecture - houses and food storage on stilts to protect from flooding and rodents.*

Our first planned adventure was an investment but was well worth it. As full time travelers we choose carefully what we pay tourist dollars for but the Gibbon Experience felt like a lifetime opportunity and supporting a good cause. Located in Nam Kan National Park, the organization has built a series of tree houses in the jungle accessible by zip line. Proceeds from the $200 per person two day, one night experience go to preservation efforts in the park and to support the local villages in developing alternatives to burning the jungle to create room for grazing and agricultural lands.

*Appreciating the unique Laos temple architecture. The country is majority Buddhist and faith is a dominant factor in the culture.*

*The sun goes down on the Mekong River in sleepy Ban Houayxay*

We made our way to the village of Houayxay where the Gibbon Experience is located, arranged to leave our truck at their office, and met up with our guides, Enjoy and Kiew to set off hiking in the jungle.

*The beginning of the hike - not sweaty yet*

*Gearing up for the first zip line of the day - 12km of zip lines in all*

*Visiting the largest tree in the area - a sacred site for local villages*

*We arrived at our beautiful shelter for the night*

*It had everything we needed, even a shower*

*Women in a camp nearby made extraordinary food for us*

*Next morning we paid a visit to the kitchen where the women cooked for us*

*Our guide Enjoy showing us the woven rice steamer*

*Hiking back out through the bamboo forest*

*A moment of appreciation for our local guides Kiew and Enjoy - they made the journey safe and fun*

*Then we are back on the road - we are just skirting the beginning of the monsoon season so things are starting to get muddy but not bad yet*

Tucked into the jungle for the night, we loved the wild camping but struggled with the night long heat and humidity. We were putting our little USB fans to use (we have two SkyGenius clip on mini fans we attach to the camper right by our heads at night - a live saver)

*We appreciated the rare bits of pavement - usually through the villages*

A common site that hurt Andy’s forester heart. Large swaths of jungle were being burned to convert the land to agricultural use. We understand that people need to eat so it is a complicated issue, but it still made Andy sad.

Our next main stop was the charming city of Luang Prabang on the Mekong River. Its location meant it had been a center of Laos civilization for millennia. The city was literally covered in ancient Buddhist temples - or wats. Although it was a bit of culture shock to see all the fellow tourists roaming the streets, we did take advantage of the restaurant scene to have our first real french bread and pizza for a month -which we did not even realize how much we had been missing.

*River through Luang Prabang - side tributary to the Mekong*

Driving along the Mekong with motorcycles and monks. Monks are revered people in Laos and it is common to see them walking in their orange robes. People consider it an honor to provide assistance or feed them as they go by.

*Typical Buddhist wat with the guardians out front*

*Always ornately beautiful and with a huge statue of Buddha inside*

*Taking a boat trip along the Mekong River - we had been driving along it on and off for a month - since Tibet*

*Ancient Buddhist cave temple. Dawn appreciating our last day with Trevor*

*Lots of large tour boats - we came on the tiny one on the right*

*Huge cliffs along the river - a burgeoning rock climbing scene*

*Visited a village of silk weavers - had to buy one from this artist*

*View along the river from Luang Prabang*

*Our last night with Trevor - he treats us to an incredible local dinner*

*Visited Garavek Storytelling theater in Luang Prabang for an evening of Laotian folk tales*

*Back on the road - heading up to the mountains to escape the heat*

*Our only “official” campground in Laos - and one of our favorite places, view for miles, cool breeze and lovely garden. We paid the family who owns it $5 to camp for the night.*

*Heading back down out of the mountains*

*Plain of Jars - areas in a field and woods covered in 1000’s of pre historic carved out rocks - thought to be used as burial chambers*

*Andy standing in a bomb crater from the war in Viet Nam.*

*Nearby caves were used as a hiding place from the fighting.*

And more jars, listed as a highlight for Laos, the site was impressive but little is known about the real history. It reminded us of visiting the ancient stone circles hidden throughout Ireland and Scotland. You have a sense of historical significance but are not sure exactly what it is.

*Impressively large agricultural farms too*

*Popped up at a guest house - we needed a night of air conditioning but still cooked in the truck*

*Our last big Laos adventure - heading in to Kong Lor Cave*

*Making our way to the boat where we will ride 7 km and two hours through a dark cave*

*Beautiful formations - some lighting provided in places where we got off the boat and walked boardwalks, but we also had headlamps*

*Out from the cave through the jungle - it was an extraordinary excursion and definitely a highlight for us*

*Camped at an awesome river side spot - continuing to use and value iOverlander as a resource to find wild camping*

*Looking out over the river, it was one of those moments of really appreciating the way we travel*

Laos treated us well and we enjoyed our time in this small country with its mountainous jungle and courteous hard working people.

But we were beginning to realize that we were facing possibly our largest overlanding challenge yet. Our plan was to enter Thailand from Laos and continue on to Malaysia where we would ship the truck to South America to embark on the last leg of our journey. However, Thailand was tightening regulations related to foreign camper trucks and vans. They had for a few years a law forbidding their entry, but many overlanders had successfully talked their way through, especially at more remote borders. We tried our luck from Laos, and were denied. Laotian officers cheerfully checked us out of Laos but we were denied by Thai customs officials. They were all very kind and tried to be helpful but explained the law, that we were not allowed entry. One officer even called the Department of Transportation for us to try to find a way.

There is another level of confusion in that Thailand requires what they call a Foreign Vehicle Permit, or FVP for any foreign registered vehicle to enter. You have to apply through a registered travel agency and fees run about $250-$400 for a car or pickup truck. Overlanders had also successfully talked their way out of this costly step in the past, but as we were approaching, exemptions to this rule were becoming rarer. The Thai law also states that an FVP cannot be issued for a camper truck or camper van. We reached out to a few reputable agencies with a picture of our truck and were told they could not issue us an FVP as we looked like a camper and it is illegal. However, some agencies are promising FVPs for campers for a cost of $1800-$2000 and a 45 day lead time. We do not know the success rate for this, but with the huge cost, time delay and uncertainty we were not willing to take the risk.

We had heard of people recently being able to enter Thailand with a camper from Cambodia, skirting the FVP process so we decided to drive south through Cambodia to a remote border and try our luck. The saga will continue! (Spoiler alert we were also denied at the Cambodia-Thailand border) If anyone out there is looking for more specific information about entering Thailand with a camper don’t hesitate to reach out, we did a few weeks of solid research and are happy to share what we found and our final solution. Thanks for reading and safe travels out there!

Crossing Tibet and Yunnan in China