Luang Phabang, Laos – I bought Opium at 10,000 kip!

For every country, there’s a prize town/city/state, the one town that sets itself apart from the rest, known internationally and locally for its beauty, extravagance or monumental history background.


Or for their women.


In Laos, it’s Luang Phabang.


Mekong River


A city intersecting at the curve of the famous Mekong River which separates Laos from the Thai border, Luang Phabang is a gorgeous river city that puts you in awe, not to mention extremely romantic.


Posing with the locals


Yes it sucks to be traveling alone right about now. As I left Raj in the city of sports – Vang Vieng, I made my way up north, this time on an aircond bus for the price of 85,000 kips, to Luang Phabang.

Little did I come to realize what a small world indeed we all are living in. Remember that Irish guy John I met while tubing? Well, I met him on the bus and then we began to travel together for the rest of my Luang Phabang journey.


There’re few things you have to do in Luang Phabang, whether if you have time to travel out of town to visit the plain of jars (a trek that takes three days to visit a village full of hundreds of jars. errrrr.. sounds…. interesting), or to climb the Phu Si hill to see the sun rise (which I did, Phu Si hill. Tee hee hee…)

But there’s one thing strongly recommended by a friend whom I met in Sipadan that has traveled in Laos for a month, is to rent a tuk-tuk and head out 29km south of town to this amazingly gorgeous KuangSi Waterfall for a swim.




And I did.


On the tuk tuk to KuangSi Falls


You can get tour agency to fetch you there on a minivan, but then it would have cost each person USD6. My advice is to get a group of travellers and rent a tuk-tuk to the falls, and spend as much time as you wish playing with the water. The minivan usually don’t let you play for more than an hour.


I know it says 200,000 kip for a whole tuk tuk but it is possible to haggle down to 150,000 to 180,000 kip the ride.


Prepare another 20,000 kip for the entrance.


Come to think of it, every tourist destination I went in Luang Phabang cost me a blinking 20,000 kip! What a rip off!!!


But for 20k kip, you can see some bears and tigers.







And some really nice flowers.







Eat some raw plants stem shown by the locals.




It might be poison but I wouldn’t know.


Taste rather sour.


Take some really nice shots of nature.








O shit, it’s going to rain. Again.


Not before the tedious trek up the waterfall on some crazy steep rocks.




But then at the end of the day, the best of the journey is you get to play in the freezing cold water under an amazing waterfall.




No kidding the water was cold as ice. If I have balls, they would have froze.

But it’s all worth it.





Me and rainy (her boyfriend help took this photo)









View from the edge of the waterfall



Squatting at the edge of the waterfall, omfg.



Diving inside and behind the waterfall with John, ultra zoom in shot.


It's beyond words, but I had the most grand time in KuangSi fall, highly recommended to visit. Btw, don't forget to bring dry towels and food.

I also tried Lao lao, Laotian whisky given by the locals. Aweful drink. Aweful aweful drink.




With more trekking, you can reach the top of the waterfall where the flow is steady and slow.







And a view not to be missed.




In the evening, when I finally had all the fun, a slow cooling ride on a tuk tuk back to town was just what I needed.




At night, you can take a stroll in the famous night market of Luang Phabang, selling all sorts of tribal accessories and handicrafts.





Remember to haggle till your jaw dropped.




Prices of everything you see here has been hiked up for tourists around the world.











I bought two of these. They’re soooo comfortable!


Situated at the Golden Triangle, Laos, Thailand and Burma were famous for being one of the largest opium production region after the World War Two in the late 80’s, producing close to 3,900 tons of Opium every year.

That’s a lot of drug to get you high.

Nowadays, you still find that influence all around Laos. With shroom shake, “happy” shake, weed and opium selling at every corner of the town, it’s hard NOT to try it.

Even for a person as careful as me, who shun drug like it’s AIDS to the far corner of the earth, became a victim of the golden region.

I got sicker that night you see (with all the cold water in the afternoon, it’s no wonder I never recover, duh)

So I went to a local pharmacy to buy some cough syrup to cure my phlegm problem. To my dismay, they only sell some dodgy thai cough syrups which I have never seen before.




Which looked like sewage water, and by god I swear taste like one too!!

UGH! I can’t believe I drank it.

For 10,000 kip, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try. (Afterall it’s only RM4)




Just when I finished two spoonfuls of it, I turned the bottle around to speculate the ingredients, wondering what in the world makes this liquid taste so foul.




I swear. I didn’t know!