As a Travel Company, we love to share stories from our lovely clients, and this week, our blog post has been contributed by Nicolas Houzelot, who recently took a trip with us to South Laos.

Read about Nicolas’ adventures and enjoy his wonderful selection of travel images.

Hello Nicolas! Can you introduce yourself a bit to our readers?

I’m Nicolas. 56 years old (but always 20 in my brain). Deputy manager of French National Archive.

Since about 20 years, my partner and I go to Asia (Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar…) and since that time we can not go to another part of the world!

Why did you decide to go to Laos?

We have been in Laos before, but just in Luang Prabang (loved it), proceeding from North Thailand by boat cruise.

This time, we wanted to discover South Laos, from the Cambodian boarder to Vientiane. We went to Laos because we love Asia!

What did you want to experience in South Laos?

Of course, we wanted to see the temples (we love temples), but also the beautiful landscapes at the end of the rainy season: we were lucky, just one or two thunderstorms during our trip, we wanted as well to enjoy the Lao food and meet the kind people.

This was like a day in heaven.

Which moments would you like to specifically share? And Why?

A very amazing day was the day on Boloven Plateau. To go there with a jeep (on unprobable ways), to share the day with the owner of a coffee plantation and his family, walking around in the forests and fields. This was like a day in heaven.

The trip from Thakhek to Kong Lor caves was also very special : to see the karstic mountains was absolutely beautiful, as well as the trip (about 7 km by boat) in the cave.

She was laughing, touching us, and give a very special intensity to my trip.

Where did you have the most intense emotions during this trip to Laos?

We were lucky: when we were at 4,000 islands (Si Phan Don), we had the chance to see several dolphins in the Mekong.

But of the emotional moment was when we went to have local chicken barbecue. There was a very old and beautiful woman, who did not meet European people in her whole life: she was laughing, touching us, and give a very special intensity to my trip.

Each travel experience is different so what made yours unforgettable?

We are used to go to Asia, and what I like when I organize a tour with a company is the possibility to tailor it: I like avoid places with too many tourists. I want to have time to visit the temples, I like local food: with Backyard Travel it is possible, we had a long preparation with Hom (thank you) and at the end, the trip was like I imagined it. As it was last year in Myanmar.

Would you go back to Laos later on?

Yes, for sure, we will come back to Laos again. The next time we will plan a trip departing from Vientiane to the North of Laos. May be next year!

Warm thank you Nicolas for your travel story and beautiful pictures. We wish you a lot of other nice adventures in Asia!