Exploring the underrated towns in South Thailand

Khao Lak is a small town near the famous Phuket and Krabi towns in south Thailand. It consists just a row of shophouses along the 1-2 km stretch of the trunk road, but can be a relaxing place to escape.

Khao Lak Town

The key attraction is to explore Khao Lak National Park.  It takes about 30-45 mis to trek from one end to the other that ends with a secluded bay with blue water beach. Sitting there enjoying a breezy wind and dipping in the unwavering waves is truly a natural luxury.

Hidden beach in Khao Lak National Park

Approaching the end

A walk to the beach in town during sunset is another checklist,. Even though the big round egg yolk sun is partially hidden behind the rock, the orange and red sky illuminates the sunset scene. There is also a night market on weekend to savour the local street food.

Sunset at Khao Lak Beach

2 hours away on the other east side of South Thailand, lies Surat Thani, the gateway town to the less explored tourist triad islands, Koh Samui, Koh Phagan and Koh Tao. The port is just right in the town centre, where big passenger vessels can be seen parked along the river. 

Surat Thani Port

There is nothing much to explore in town but one thing that attracts is the night market on weekend which is gaining popularity as a tourist attraction. Varieties of street food can be found. 

Bugs for sale

Colorful local delights

I personally prefer the morning local market, where the typical local livelihood can be experienced. I like to go to the market to get the spiciest and hottest fresh chili paste to cook the famous spicy red, yellow and green curry. South Thailand cuisine is more spicy compared to North Thailand.

Spicy chili paste

My most memorable experience is to countdown for New Year on 31st Dec in this quaint Surat Thani town square next to the river where floral display was part of the countdown festival.

Colorful bridge

Firecrackers to countdown for new year

The Mystery Plain of Jars

Xiengkhouang province in North East Laos is an underrated tourist destination, but it holds the treasure of past in Laotian history. 

When we landed in Phonsavan in the province of Xiengkhouang, we had to walk 30 mins to our guesthouse in the town centre. I remembered it was a dusty isolated outskirt feeling during the walk. It was the lunar new year for the Chinese community when we we landed in this province, hence we could see some Chinese decorations in some of the Chinese descendants of the Laotian shops.

Phonsavan Town

The guesthouse we stayed was a famous guesthouse called Kong Keo, run by a Laotian family. It was the host of the guesthouse that brought us to the adventures of Xiengkhouang in the next few days.

Kong Keo Guesthouse

In the next morning, we visited the local market and some typical local villages in the outskirts. The roads were dusty and the houses were mainly made of attap and woods. The laterite roads plus the yellow sands transformed the village scene into a bright brown surroundings. There were bull carts and chicken coups around.

Squirrel for sale?

Beautiful land

Traditional village

Rice grinding

Memorable childhood

Nearby, there were big craters caused by bombing during the Vietnam war with US in the 70s, as the province is near North Vietnam border. Xiengkhouang indeed is an UXO (unexploded ordnance) district where there are still remnants of unexploded bombings around. Therefore, it is unsafe to stray from main roads and there could be unexploded bombs planted in the ground long time ago. Not far away, there is a beautiful waterfall.

Crater from bombing

UXO

The main and must see visit is the mystery Plain of Jars, the UNESCO megalithic archeological landscape. There are more than 2100 tubular stone jars scattered across Xiengkhouang plateau. There are different version of stories on how the jars came about. It is believed to be more than 2000 years old, starting from 500BCE. Some said the jars were used to store rice wine while scientists believe they were used as urns for the dead as human skeletons were found inside the jars.

The mystery Plain of Jars

For burial or rice wine?

On the 3rd day, we trekked to an unnamed beautiful hill, where the past could be partially explored. On the hill, there are tunnels made by the Vietnamese to escape and hide from the US armies during the 70s war. It was a wonderful trek, overlooking gorgeous barren valley below and passing by some farm houses.

Savannah in Laos

The hidden tunnel

Awesome scenery

A farmhouse

The endless road

This province is indeed one of the places I love the most in Laos besides the 4000 islands in the south. It is isolated, peaceful and less developed, therefore, giving a sense of tranquility..

The Swiss Alps of Vietnam

It was a long night train with sleeper bed from Hanoi to Lao Kai, the border town of Vietnam China in the North of Vietnam. Upon arriving on the cool December morning, we took another 1-2 hour van ride to the foot hill of Sapa, the trekking heaven of Vietnam. 

I remember vividly, the start of the trek in the middle of rice paddy fields. It was December, and some of the fields were empty or had only short paddy grass. 

Start of awesome trek

Lower landscape

The higher we went, the prettier the landscape

Midway through the trek

Along the trek, there were young hill tribe kids following us around, trying very hard to sell us the local ornaments by speaking in perfect English. They learnt English purely from tourism. 

Future English teachers as they spoke perfect English

The trek was a roller coaster walk, with ups and downs along the mountain ridges. The scenery was awesome, mountains and valleys near and far away. We passed by local villages, waving hands to the local black Hmong and red Dao hill tribes in their intricate and beautiful costumes with elaborate ornaments. 

The Red Dao Hill Tribe

Sewing in open air

Finally, we reached the village guesthouse in the afternoon. We were greeted unofficially ceremoniously by the local hill tribes who wore colorful headsets and dresses.

Traditional rice grinding machine

Dried corn

Cooking with firewood in the house

Our guest beds

A village view

Later, we explored the village. There was a small stream with bridge that formed part of a washing area for the villagers. There was even a mini waterfall after the stream for a refreshing cool down.

Crossing a stream in the backyard

Mini Waterfall

It was a cold winter night, where we had a nice warm dinner on a little table with low cute chairs. 

The next morning, we had a warm breakfast on the porch of the guesthouse, overlooking the mountain valley on a blessed Christmas Day.

Porch for breakfast

A western breakfast in an eastern home

It was time to leave the peaceful nature. As we trekked out from the village, my mind was blown away with the awesome scenery of the mountain and valley in bright sunshine. Wow, a Swiss Alps in Vietnam! 

A local school in the mountain

Approaching the finale of the trek