Gallivanting Solo across Laos

by Shravan Yelburgi (India)

A leap into the unknown Laos

Being a solo traveller myself I try to visit some places which not many of my fellow country people explore and thus stumbled upon the country called Laos. So I packed my bags and headed over to the beautiful country called Laos. The country is so little explored by my fellow country people is that when I boarded plane to Laos with pitstop in Bangkok, I felt alone with sense of excitement that I was the only Indian on flight to beautiful UNESCO world heritage site called Luong Prabang. Headed over to the place called Muong Ngoi via Nong khiaw and this little town has only 1 main street!!. And only way to explore this town is via boat from nong khiaw. This place is so chilled out that locals guide you to places that you can visit easily. If you check online then you'd notice hike and cave exploring in Muong Ngoi, however if you visit this place and go to nearby towns you are in for satisfied travel place where you would love to stay here for life time away from hustle of the city. The laid back surrounding towns are must visit as they do not have much of internet services you feel like a place where you entered in history before the internet technology boomed. Unfortunately, I had planned other places to visit so I could not explore much of the nearby towns and one more thing, you can also teach students in local schools which will be an exhilarating experience for you. After spending a week exploring like a local, getting lost and by chance discovering a different place of attraction I wish to explore more but time was ticking. Headed back to Muong Ngoi and went to the town called Vang Veing, notorious for party place but it has its share of picturesque locations. Made a friend and headed over to some places less explored where me and my friend entered a cave. Literally, this place is less explored that there were not many tourists, locals too to guide us. Found a bumpy path and when we explored the cave, both of us felt to explore more caves and vang veing has more caves that are not marked on maps. Searched for caves and when traversing if we found even a small opening we explored that too. This sense of exploring made me think of my love for traveling and exploring that I having worked in corporate didn't get that satisfaction. I had a leap into unknown moments on my whole trip to Laos, where I learnt cooking from a local, explored unknown caves, explored nearby regions of a place where not many Indian visitors make a trip, made friends with tourists, locals and being an introvert this was a new experience. Although most of the youngsters are into party scene, I took a detour and explored places that are in the lap of the nature. Coming back home, I made a list of places to visit which was not in my list a couple of years back which I discovered on my visit to Laos. This was my 2nd leap into the unknown moment where I discovered my love for traveling solo and exploring solo. Nevertheless, I wish to continue exploring places and want to have many stamps punched on my passport. Never will I ever preplan my trip which usually tends to get cancelled. I wish to let know people that every country has its fair share of beautiful places to visit and thus they can also experience a leap into the unknown moment. On the other hand, I also want to experience the leap into the unknown moment for the rest of my life. Concluding this, I want to thank people here at world nomads on checking out my content. And If I win then it'll be another leap into the unknown moment which I'm eagerly waiting for.. Finally after returning back to home town, been answering questions and getting replies saying please take me to the places which you are planning to as they are beautiful when I noticed you posting images on social media platform. Thank you, Shravan M