Laos forum

Hi all,

I'm heading to South East Asia for a 4 month trip covering Singapore, Malaysia (peninsula), Vietnam (HCMC and Mekong Delta only), Cambodia, Laos, China and Mongolia.

My original plan was to cross over into Laos overland from Cambodia and work my way up through the country, beginning in the 4000 Islands and taking in Pakse, Tha Kaek and the Konglor Caves, Ventiane, Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang (and probably more once I do more research!).

But I am starting to think (with a lot of help from the tips on the site and forum) that this is ambitious and probably a bit too much to cover.

Any tips on a more concentrated but still interesting itinerary, perhaps focusing on just the north or south?

Another option would be to just see a couple of things in the south (4000 Islands and Pakse) for just a few days and then fly from Pakse to Ventiane to spend 2-2.5 weeks in the north.

I will be travelling solo, so while I would desperately love to get off the beaten track as much as possible, there is only so much I can manage as a lot of great places sound like they are best tackled in couples/groups (save for meeting like-minded travellers along the way). I can always go back to really delve into the more remote and challenging places!

I plan to travel on to Yunnan, China next so I'd like to take a route that is cognisant of that next step.

Thanks :)