Impressions of Laos

Laos is kind of similar to Vietnam in some ways. They're both French influenced and the food is very similar. Laos food is excellent! Some main dishes are lapp, ( cold or hot meat "salad"), stir fries, noodle dishes, rice dishes, etc. As you can see, Laos food is very similar to Vietnamese food. Laos is a pretty quite place in general (the busiest place would be the capital city, Vientiane, but even that's not as busy as, say, Tokyo or New York City), and instead of lots of big cities, there are many small sleepy villages and towns. For some, sleepy towns are nice because they don't like the buzz of big cities, but I prefer big, busy cities. I also love the French influence here. When you walk down a street, there are all these cute little cafés and coffee shops, and the buildings look like European style buildings. I would never have thought that a country in Southeast Asia would have such a French influence and look so European. I really like the place in Laos were staying in right now, Luang Prabang. It's a very quite town, but the one Main Street is nice, and has lots of nice restaurants, boutiques, souvenir shops, and even a market. Laos is kind of interesting in the way that you can be sitting in a café sipping coffee in the capital, Vientiane, and the next day you could be zip lining through lush green mountains 150 metres above the ground. I really like Laos so far.