This is a first-person travel vlog by Nate Buchanan (with Kara Buchanan) documenting a luxury two-day Luang Say Cruises trip down the Mekong River from Thailand into Laos. The clip shows their departure from a hotel, tuk-tuk ride to the Friendship Bridge, fast processing out of Thailand, shuttle to obtain Lao visas, crossing into Laos, boarding the luxury boat, a stop at the village of Banh Hoy Palam (brief 30-minute tour), scenic river travel, an overnight lodge with dinner and mosquito-net turn-down, and small travel moments (souvenirs, 1 million kip, unlimited tea/coffee).
Questions this video answers
Two days down the Mekong River.
Banh Hoy Palam.
The Friendship Bridge.
1 million kip.
Chapters
Foreign.
This morning. We're starting here at our hotel. We're taking a tuk tuk all the way. Oh, this way. We're taking a tuk tuk down this road and then we're gonna cross the Friendship Bridge. So we leave Thailand here? Yes, and then we'll cross the bridge and we get our visa for lao here. And then we have to come all the way back down the river basically to right across from our hotel in order to catch the boat. If you're ever going to cross the border into Laos, stay here.
We just got stamped out of Thailand as soon as we got here. They whisked us through security. I don't know if it was like a VIP lane or what, but it took like less than five minutes to make it through the Thai border. And now we just bought our tickets for the shuttle bus and we are taking a shuttle from here to where we get our visa for Laos.
Good morning. Yes.
May I check your name here?
Yes. I think we're at the very bottom. Kara and Nathan. This is a nice change.
Officially made it into Laos.
His help.
Once we got to the Laos border, the exact same thing. We were walked through every step of the process, which was a very nice change.
And now we're getting on the boat.
That's your other option. You can either go on the luxury boat or you can sit in car seats with a hundred other of your closest friends.
This is so nice.
And we're off two days down the Mekong River.
I had a pleasure to be a tour guide and happy to go after all of you during the time you stay with me.
We just got our introduction to the boat and our schedule for today and we just set off down the river.
So far it's been great. The weather is fantastic and the boat is super smooth. And pretty soon we're gonna.
After lunch.
We are pulling over to the side to pay a boat tax to these people. We're all paid up and we're pushing off.
Look how cute the cats are.
Now we are at the Banh Hoy Palam. Ban is mean village. Hoi Palam is the name of this village here. And there are camo people. So the Camus people in Laos, they are the first people who arrive in Laos and also they come from Cambodia.
We just got a 30 minute tour around the village.
The kids were so cute. They were all running around and waving and smiling. But they were really shy too, which made them even cuter.
And now we're going back to the boat.
Bye, bye.
Bye bye.
That's so nice.
I think we used this.
Unlimited coffee and tea all day is the fastest way to my heart.
That's where we're staying tonight.
It is 4:30 and we just got to the lodge that we're staying at tonight. The ride was awesome from the second I got on the boat. It was one of those things where like I already didn't want it to be over and thankfully it's not. We still get to do it again tomorrow but like I could have just stayed on the boat forever.
It was so nice.
And there's just like this haze that sits over top of the rivers and the mountains that makes everything this really cool orange color.
Sam it.
Should you get some good shots. Yeah.
I started videoing when he came over here though.
It's dinner time.
We're having a feast.
Today was awesome. The boat ride was so much fun. The place we're staying is absolutely beautiful. The food was amazing and now we're going to sleep.
And the best part is we get to do it all again tomorrow.
They even set up our mosquito nets and turned down our bed for us.
Elephant souvenir.
About to be a millionaire. For the first time in my life I have 1 million kip.
I feel like the guys behind us are just laughing like haha. Watch them get a little bit closer and get ran over. Oh my gosh. I just like Are you kidding me right now? This would be one of my favorite shots.
