Laos: An instagram photostory

In the past when I have posted up a bunch of photos from a trip, they’ve generally been photos from my dSLR. But as time goes by and I find taking glamour shots with the dSLR time-consuming and cumbersome, my iPhone has started to take its place. Many people hate those filters they see used so liberally in Instagram photos, but I think photos with these effects look much better than photos without. And with my dSLR, I have to go back to my computer and manually alter a bunch of sliders just to make a photo look half decent. I know many bloggers go to the extent of manually editing thousands of photos in programs like lightroom. I can’t think of a bigger waste of time, to be honest. I’ve got better things to be doing like drinking coffee, sleeping in and laughing at grumpy cat videos.

So with that off my chest, here are some of my favourite instagram shots from my 4 months in Laos. You’ll notice food shots aren’t included and that’s because they’ll come later.

It all started on a buffalo boat in September and was the perfect introduction to my worst month of travel ever. We slept little more than a couple of metres away from these beasts overnight on a remote stretch of the Mekong, bugs by the score.

But the Mekong never looked so good as it did while bedding down next to those buffaloes.

The Mekong has a charming quality as seen here in Luang Prabang…

…and here in Vientiane where it dries up in parts due to its immense width.

Down in the southern reaches of the Mekong the river becomes a delta of sorts and thousands of islands pop up out of the river much to the benefit of the local backpacker crowds on Don Det.

In far northern Laos near the Chinese border is a small provincial capital called Phongsali. Few tourists bother making the trek here due to the arduous bus journey involved, but those that do are rewarding with an atmosphere not found elsewhere in the country and certainly a million miles away from anything experienced down south in Don Det.

In the northern parts of the country you are more likely to encounter people who still wear traditional clothing and not merely for the benefit of tourists.

There are some quirky attractions in Laos…

…and some quirky animals such as Grumpy Dog.

But one thing that endures is how beautiful this country is. The mountains…

…the lakes…

…the waterfalls…

…the temples…

…and the desolation during the height of the dry season.

Laos truly is a wonderful country that deserves more than just a passing visit. Most people zoom along a well-trodden route that includes a 2-day slowboat ride along the Mekong, Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng and Vientiane. But Laos is so much more than those places and the true colours of this magnificent country are only seen when you step away from those places with the thickest of tourist veneers.

Take your time and soak up all that this fascinating country has to offer.