After 10 long hours of bus ride, I finally arrived at Luang Prabang. It is a small town located in the Northern part of Laos. But hey, don’t get fooled by it’s small size. There is so much that you can see and do there. But first, let me talk about the accommodation that I took–Vongpanya Guesthouse.

From Naluang Bus station, Vongpanya Guesthouse can be reached through a short tuk-tuk ride. You just have to tell the tuk-tuk driver that you want to go to Vongpanya, OR if you haven’t book any guesthouse, you can just tell him to bring you to the city center. From there, you can just look for one–and it would be really easy.


We arrived at the guesthouse at about 7am and we were able to check in early. Yes, i booked a room through booking.com BUT the reservation was totally useless. Why? First, they didn’t have internet connection and so they weren’t able to check. Two and most importantly, LANGUAGE BARRIER. The staff can’t speak English. Through out the whole conversation, the only English term I’ve heard was check-out 12noon, and check-in OK. It was really hard trying to have a conversation and so, we just let it go.



So, about the room, it was okay. Considering that we only paid 100,000LAK for a twin room, I guess it was already a good deal. The room had the basic necesseties, thank God! It has aircon, TV set, hot/cold shower, towels, soap, mineral water.



However, my life was kinda hard when I stayed there. First, the TV has no remote control. I had to stand on a chair to reach the unit and change channels, volumes, etc. Another thing, no remote control for the aircon. The only option you have is to turn it on OR off. The toilet looks dirty.




MY THOUGHTS: Find another guesthouse! There are so many guesthouses located at the city center. (check this out) This hotel is VERY hard to find when you’re going on foot–and it is not correctly positioned in googlemap. You may say that you can just take tuk-tuk to and from the guesthouse. Yes, you may do that BUT take note that tuk-tuk charge so much. It’s convenient and cheaper (thus better) to stay somewhere in the city center. Plus, there are no shops close to guesthouse. It was difficult to find food. The most difficult thing in this place is that, the front desk is usually empty. There’s no one to ask if you need anything. When I stayed there, I wasn’t able to check out at 12nn. Why? Cause no one was there to check me out. It would be discourteous to just leave the guesthouse so I just waited and waited until someone came–and it was already 5pm. Furthermore, we weren’t able to talk cause he told me upfront ‘NO ENGLISH’. And so I just gave him the room key, walked out, goodbye.