Welcome to the enchanting country of Laos! Of all the countries I visited in Southeast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia), Laos turned out to be my favorite destination. I think it was due to a combination of the warmth of the locals, the country’s natural beauty, the charming city of Luang Prabang, the mystique of being a communist country, Beerlao - Southeast Asia’s best beer and the many friendships I made along the traveler’s trail.

Laos is a landlocked country bordered by China, Myanmar (Burma), Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand and has a population of about 6.5 million people. If you are looking to get off the tourist trail and into more of an “authentic” experience then Laos is the place to be. I imagined Laos was probably Thailand 30 years ago before Thailand blew up to be a major tourists playground.

Since the 1990s when the communist government decided to open the country to tourists, Laos has quickly developed a cult like following among independent travelers. Traveling through Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand I would ask fellow travelers what their favorite country was in Southeast Asia. Invariably their eyes would light up and their response was all the same, “Laos!”

I took this portrait of this lovely Lao woman on my first morning in the charming city of Luang Prabang, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Unbeknownst to me, the city was hosting a street parade to celebrate an award it had just received as, “The Best City in the World to Visit.” After spending a week in Luang Prabang it was easy to see why they deserved that recognition.

I have many fond memories of my time in Laos. Now all I need is a cold bottle of Beerlao!

Check back for more of my adventures in Laos!

Happy Travels!

Text and photo copyright by ©Sam Antonio Photography

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"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." - Mark Twain

I photographed this little girl on my two day cruise on the Mekong River to Luang Prabang, Lao. We stopped along the river to visit an ethnic minority village and this was one of many photographs I took of the photogenic children.

Stay tuned for more of my adventures in Southeast Asia.

Happy Travels!

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Would you like to walk around some beautiful Khmer ruins constructed in the 9th century, actually predating Angkor Wat in Cambodia?

Would you like to visit a UNESCO World Heritage site without the crowds?

Located in the former royal capitol of Champasak in Southern Laos is the lesser-known Khmer temple of Wat Phou. I was so impressed with Wat Phou that I visited the temple on two separate occasions.

The ruins are situated at the base of Mount Phu Kao and the main sanctuary requires a steep climb up a long set of uneven stairs.

The second time I climbed these stairs I thought of this passage I read many years ago when I use to photograph in the American Southwest:

With beauty before me, may I walk
With beauty behind me, may I walk
With beauty above me, may I walk
With beauty below me, may I walk
With beauty all around me, may I walk
Wandering on the trail of beauty, may I walk
- Navajo: Walking Meditation

Happy Travels!

One more photo in the comment section.

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I was going to post photos from my Southeast Asia trip in chronological order but that’s going out the window. I’ll be posting photos that I find compelling or I just happen to process at the moment. In the meantime if you do want to follow my trip with daily blog updates be sure to check out my Facebook and Twitter pages.

I’m currently in the beautiful country of Lao and in the southern region known as the 4000 Islands. I have a bungalow on the Mekong River (a whopping $6 U.S. dollars a day) and I spend all day in my hammock sleeping, listening to my iPod, reading and drinking Beerlao. Yes, life can be so hard.

So I have some time to write a quick blog post and surprisingly this place has a decent internet connection.

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I have graduated from my backpacker days to being a flashpacker. After Thailand I headed to Lao and a popular way to get there is a two day slow boat cruise down the Mekong River. There are many options and the most common and cheapest way is to take the public boat.

If you like being crammed in a boat with 100 passengers that normally seats 70, sitting for hours on a hard wooden bench, sleeping on a floor and having to share one bathroom (or more like a hole in the rear of the boat) then by all means choose this option. I chose to go with a private boat. In total we had 13 people on our boat: 9 passengers and 4 crew members.

We cruised down the Mekong River in comfort.We had wonderful meals on board (on the public boat you have to bring your own food), plenty of room to stretch out and a real bathroom with a flushing toilet!

The best part is that we made a couple of stops to ethnic minority villages along the riverside. The moment our boat pulled up this girl started to work her sales magic on me. She never said one word to me. She didn’t have to since everything she had to communicate to me were in her eyes.

Communication without words...simply powerful.

Stay tuned for more of my adventures in Southeast Asia.

Happy Travels!

Text and photo copyright by ©Sam Antonio Photography

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With candid photography you can’t be too picky with your subjects nor their respective actions.

Sometimes you have to pick and choose!

I photographed this little boy on my two day cruise on the Mekong River from Chiang Khong, Thailand to Luang Prabang, Laos. We stopped along the river to visit an ethnic minority village and this was one of many photographs I took of the photogenic children. It was very hard to see the poverty, living conditions and hardship of the village, but this comical moment lightened up my mood.

You may notice the lack of contrast in this photograph. In Northern Laos toward the end of the dry season, farmers burn their fields to prepare for the raining season which coincides with their planting season. I was in north central Laos in March and the air quality, especially around Luang Prabang, was very hazy.

As I mentioned in my previous blog post I’ll be posting more frequently with perhaps a photo a day since it will take me a decade to post all the photos from my six month sojourn to Southeast Asia at the rate I am going. Please do not feel obligated to comment at all my photos, but a fave would be nice just to let me know you stopped by.

Check back for more of my adventures in Laos!

Happy Travels!

Text and photo copyright by ©Sam Antonio Photography

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