First, you’ll be met at the airport in Vientiane by your guide and translator for the duration of the tour and taken to your guesthouse.

After a good night’s sleep in Vientiane, we’re on the road early headed to the spectacular town of Vang Vieng. This area is home to the Nam Song river, set against a backdrop of stunning karst scenery. In the afternoon we will visit a nearby silk farm where we will witness the entire process of producing silk, from mulberry trees and silkworms to beautiful woven handicrafts. There will then be opportunity to swim or tube in the Nam Song river or just relax and take in the late afternoon atmosphere.

We’re then off to iconic World Heritage listed Luang Prabang where we will spend two days exploring temples, stupas, night markets, waterfalls, caves and weaving and paper-making villages. While here we will get a chance to respectfully view and photograph the early morning procession of saffron clad monks as people line the streets to offer them food.

We then drive north to the the beautiful Province of Luangnamtha, which borders both China and Myanmar. This area is home to many different ethnic groups and we will spend 5-6 days here photographing the place and it’s warm and friendly people. The provincial town is set in a picturesque valley full of ricefields and surrounded on all sides by mountains.

While in Luangnamtha we will visit a number of different ethnic villages including at least one overnight stay, giving us the privilege of a small peek into daily village life. In some of these villages we will have the opportunity to photograph a development project that an NGO is implementing in the area. We will each donate a selection of our images to the NGO as a way of giving back. A 1-2 day trek will be organised through a local eco-friendly trekking company, giving us further opportunities to meet local villagers and see some of the forests of the Namha National Protected Area.

After our time in Luangnamtha, we fly back to the capital Vientiane just in time for the Awk Phansa festival. This festival celebrates the end of Buddhist Lent and is celebrated by people presenting monks with gifts and food after their three month long stay in the temple grounds during the rainy season.

On the evening before Awk Phansa, we will witness Lai Hua Fai, a ceremony where people release banana-leaf boats with candles and flowers on top onto the Mekong river. The people of Vientiane also hold colourful boat races on the Mekong river during Awk Phansa. On the last day of our journey there will be the option of photographing the excitement of the boat races and/or visiting some temples and stupas around Vientiane.

The tour concludes with the end of the Awk Phansa weekend, and you are free to fly out that evening or stay and soak in some more of life in laid-back Laos.