Vang Vieng | Smiling Albino

Gnok! Our Favourite Bars in…Laos

admin — Thu, 17 Aug 2023 01:27:48 +0000

Gnok! Our Favourite Bars in...Laos

17 august 2023

If we mention nightlife in Southeast Asia, you'll probably think of classy Bangkok rooftop bars, barefoot beach bars on Koh Phangan, Siem Reap's famous Pub Street, or the charming old French colonial cafes of Hanoi.

What you probably won’t immediately think of is Laos. But, just like its food, its landscapes, and its people, Lao nightlife is scandalously little known and underrated. Like its neighbours, Laos has a vibrant drinking culture, dominated by its national brew and a huge source of pride to all Laotians: Beer Lao.

Drinking in Laos often means perching on a plastic stool swigging cold Beer Lao, occasionally (if you’re lucky/unlucky, depending on your experience of this lethal substance) accompanied by rice wine shots; further up the scale, it means sitting at a riverside bar watching the sun set over the Mekong as longtail boats chug by in picturesque fashion.

What Laos hasn’t traditionally been known for is the kind of sophisticated, upscale nightlife available in Bangkok, Saigon or Phuket, but that is gradually changing and there is a growing range of bars catering to those looking for a classy night out. So it’s time to tham keo (clink glasses), say a hearty gnok! (cheers), and check out our pick of the country’s best places for a drink…

Vientiane

525

Housed in a beautifully restored colonial villa in downtown Vientiane, this British-owned, Lao-Aussie managed cocktail bar oozes charm from every corner, whether you’re sitting inside or out in the garden.

525 offers a wide range of cocktails, fine wines and beers, and runs special theme nights (recent events have included a Nepali cocktail & snacks night, and a Thailand cocktail festival). The food, served from breakfast to late night snacks, is well worth the visit too, and runs from traditional Lao dishes to popular Western fare.

Tipsy Elephant

Laos may not have a rooftop bar scene to rival Bangkok, but Tipsy Elephant – situated on the rooftop of the SureStay Hotel by Best Western – does a pretty good job of conjuring up that high rise Bangkok vibe.

A lively crowd of expats, partying locals, and hotel guests enjoys cocktails and snacks while savouring magnificent views of the Mekong river, the rooftops of Vientiane and, on the opposite riverbank, Thailand itself.

Luang Prabang

LAODI Bar Mekong

A craft rum distillery with its own bar on the banks of the Mekong? Take our money! LAODI creates a range of quality, award-winning rums using local Lao sugarcane, including white, brown and blended versions (coffee rum? Passion fruit rum? Yum!)

As well as visiting the distillery to learn about the rum-making process, guests can relax at LAODI’s riverside bar and sample rum cocktails and Lao food. At 40km south of Vientiane it’s a bit of a hike, but well worth it for some truly unique Laotian flavours.

Tangor

A beautiful Indochinese bistro located close to Luang Prabang’s famous night market, Tangor offers creative fusion cuisine and snacks as well as one of the best drink selections in town, including original cocktails, fine wines, and craft beers (and take it from us, good craft beer is still pretty rare in Laos).

Sit inside on a comfortable sofa, or out on the terrace and watch the world go by along Sisavanvong Road. Whether you need a livener before visiting the night market, or a nightcap after doing your shopping, Tangor is one of the most pleasant spots in a town that is full of them.

Vang Vieng

Sip & Chill

Vang Vieng is a town slowly shaking off its reputation for backpacker hi-jinks and transforming itself into a hub for experiential travel, and its nightlife scene is also becoming a tad more sophisticated.

Located on the rooftop of the S Vang Vieng Boutique Hotel, Sip & Chill has a loungey vibe and stunning views over the town’s inescapable limestone karsts. It’s a great place to watch the sunset, as well as marvel at hot air balloons and paragliders as they float over the town.

And if the mood takes you – as it may well after a few of the bar’s signature cocktails – you can channel your inner diva in one of the karaoke rooms downstairs.

The post Gnok! Our Favourite Bars in…Laos first appeared on Smiling Albino.

Best Spots to Watch Sunset in Southeast Asia

smilingalbino — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 01:49:59 +0000

Photo: Travelfish.org

There’s something primal and ageless in seeing the sun rise or set. It’s one of the few connecting tissues that crosses all barriers – time, class, age, race, location. For as long as we’ve been here, humans have been staring at that huge ball of fire in the sky and going “Whoa.”

Don’t get us wrong – watching the sun rise is pretty awesome too, but if you’re anything like us, you’ve seen plenty more sunsets in your life than you have sunrises. With that in mind, here are a few of our favorite spots to kick back and watch day become night.

Kuta Beach, Bali, Indonesia

Yes, it’s overloaded with tourists, but they come for a reason – Kuta is a truly spectacular beach that just happens to face directly west. Come sunset, that ball o’ fire in the sky starts to dip toward the horizon, and if the conditions are just right, your entire field of view gets lit up as if the sunset is actually happening inside your eyes. Great photo ops too, especially the ol’ ‘silhouetted-people-walking-on-the-beach’ kind.

Bagan, Myanmar

Bagan Sunset

Did you know that in 1286 Kublai Khan – Genghis’ grandson – sent his Mongol forces into Myanmar and defeated the Bagan army? Perhaps they came for the sunsets. A few centuries later, the thousands of temples that remain scattered across the barren, grassy plain make for a superb backdrop as the sun drops behind the Arakan Mountain range, with each successive ‘layer’ of temples and hills fading into shadow the further away they get. Truly an amazing sight.

[Tweet “Did you know that in 1286 Kublai Khan sent his Mongol forces into Myanmar & defeated the Bagan army? Perhaps they came for the sunsets”]

Ko Lanta, Thailand

Koh Lanta

Because most of Lanta’s best beaches are on the west side of the island, almost any place with a view gives you a superb sunset. Our favorite is the rocky outcropping at the northern end of Kantiang Bay, where you can stand on a cliff overlooking the ocean and watch as the sun turns the sky from blue to purple to orange to red. It also helps that there’s a bar right there. You know, for soda and juice and healthy thinks like that.

Vang Vieng, Laos

Vang Vieng

This popular backpacker town used to be like the Las Vegas of Laos, but after a social order crackdown, things have calmed down a bit. If you’re able to head up into the hills to the east of town, you’ll be rewarded with a superb view across houses and temples, over the Nam Xong River, and into to the Luang Prabang mountain range as the sun dips behind the limestone peaks. Just make sure you bring a flashlight for the trip back home.

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Angkor Wat

Let’s be honest – this stunning, massive temple complex would be amazing even if you had to explore it by touch alone. But standing on top of a centuries-old temple looking across a thick jungle canopy to the setting sun is a pretty spectacular way to experience the end of the day. The bad news is that everyone knows it’s awesome and lines up with cameras ready. The good news is that Smiling Albino knows a few secret spots that the masses don’t…

Ngwe Saung Beach, Myanmar

It’s hard to find an awesome beach with a great sunset that allows you a people-free picture (see Bali, above), but when you do, oh mannnnn, it’s great. Whenever SA heads to Myanmar, we try to make it to Ngwe Saung Beach, which is in the southwest corner of the country. Only recently opened to tourism after decades of isolation, this part of the country has almost no development, thus, no buildings or huge crowds to cramp your style as you watch the sun set.

Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

The endless, rolling tea plantations of Malaysia’s central highlands are a stunning place to watch the end of the day. If you manage to get to a place where there’s no traffic (which is fairly easy up here) you can enjoy the event in almost total silence as the light filters through clouds and casts mountain shadows across the tea leaves in striking, changing patterns.

[Tweet “The endless, rolling tea plantations of Malaysia’s central highlands are a stunning place to watch the end of the day”]

Plan For the Perfect Sunset

Have someone on the ground plan the perfect trip and help with knowledge of the best spot and best time to watch the sunset. Contact Smiling Albino info@smilingalbino.com.

Check out our upcoming Myanmar tour “Asia’s Golden Land” with founder and Adventurer-in-Chief Dan Fraser this November 2014.

The post Best Spots to Watch Sunset in Southeast Asia first appeared on Smiling Albino.