We’ve been in the sleepy town of Savannakhet for 3 nights now, and I love it here!

To the untrained eye, it may seem as though there’s not much to do here.  It’s hard to believe it’s Laos’s second largest city; it’s quieter than Horsforth, the suburb of Leeds, UK, where we live.

But having come from some of the most hectic parts of Thailand, it’s a tonic.

Reasons to love Savannakhet:-

• Virtually no tourists – you can see the ‘real’ Laos going on around you and it’s lovely
• Virtually no traffic
• 130 years of French rule have left behind some beautiful colonial architecture
• Our guest house, Leena, has the biggest and nicest area we’ve had all trip for doing our morning yoga
• The years of French rule have also left a culture of French cuisine mixed in with the traditional SE Asian mainstays; so you can buy fresh baguettes with spicy Thai-style Som Tam for breakfast
• There’s an EXCELLENT French restaurant where you can get a 3 course set menu with beautiful house wine that you’d be happy to be served in Paris…and all really good value…Daosavanh
• You can get your Thai and Vietnamese Visas here without queuing
• All the above is a fraction of the price of being in Thailand
• And best of all…there’s a DINOSAUR museum…with real bones found locally.  We’re off there right now, can’t wait!

Happy days.