In total, we spent about 10 days in Laos (Vientiane, Vang Vieng, and Luang Prabang) and thoroughly enjoyed our time here. Even its capital city felt like a small town and reminded us of what our home towns might have been like back in the day if they were a bit bigger. We enjoyed all destinations save a bit of a downer in Vang Vieng where the tourists were always too drunk and obnoxious by noon for us to get a real good feel of the town. Here we go:

Best of: The people, landscapes and hotel value for money.

Worst of: Bus rides that made you want to shoot yourself. They broke down, never ran on time, went under 30 km/hr and just plain sucked.

Surprising Fact: The shear variety of restaurants and the quality of food. The huge number of Indian restaurants and lack of their Chinese counterparts. Plus, the most fellow Canadians we ran into throughout our whole adventure was in Laos!

No Thanks: The sometimes too laid back atmosphere that completely went against the grain of someone who is in a hurry...good for a few days, trying after that. Also, there were some uppity tourists in Luang Prabang who seemed like they just got dropped in from Boca.

Yes Please: Huge value for money in hotels, being able to bike everywhere, friendly people, and the lush greenery.

Best Meal: Indian food (Leigh) and localpork meatball soup (Jarret). Albeit, Leigh fed a local cat half of Jarret's meatballs. The cat looked like he thoroughly enjoyed them!

Worst Meal: The meal at Coconut Restaurant that gave us both food poisoning 4 hours later (spaghetti for Leigh and local fish laap for Jarret).

Laos in a nutshell: Friendly people, terrific food, cheap beer, and the most laid back place we have ever been too complete with the laziest dogs on earth. It is a destination that not many people think about going to and that, we both agree, is a real shame.