{"id":16062,"date":"2023-04-09T09:55:55","date_gmt":"2023-04-09T13:55:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sunflowerit.ca\/travel\/auto-draft\/"},"modified":"2025-07-03T15:01:02","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T19:01:02","slug":"air-quality-struggles-and-mekong-river-cruise-in-laos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sunflowerit.ca\/travel\/trips-asia\/other-trips\/south-east-asia-2023\/air-quality-struggles-and-mekong-river-cruise-in-laos\/","title":{"rendered":"Air quality struggles and Mekong river cruise in Laos"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It was not due to a virus pandemic but a large proportion of folks in the town of Luang Prabang were wearing face masks in the last few days. The health authorities were recommending this health protection as the Air Quality Index reached hazardous level. Sadly the sky haze from the farmer’s field burning also robbed us from some amazing views during our 2 day\/1 night long-boat cruise on the Mekong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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2023.04.03 – Vang Vieng – Vang Vieng (Laos)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After breakfast, we stepped out of our hotel and started negotiating with the first tuk-tuk driver we saw for the price of a transport to the Blue Lagoon #3 – there are seven different Blue Lagoons in the area. The driver referred our request to, we guessed, the next driver to take on some passengers. With a bit of back and forth, we finally agreed on a reasonable price. We briefly returned to our hotel room to get our day pack with all the stuff we needed for our outing. The gravel road made for a very dusty ride on the back of the open-air tuk-tuk. After a 40 mins ride, we realized the driver had brought us to the Blue Lagoon #2 – not #3 as we had requested. We offered a bit more money to continue the journey to the Blue Lagoon #3. We were very surprised that the entrance fee to our lagoon included free access to all sorts of water activities and equipment. We had a very enjoyable two hours on-site along with a few other guests. The lagoon was surprisingly small hence it was easy to move around on the water. I even built-up the courage to try the small zip line over the lagoon. Back in town, we visited the nice coffee shop from yesterday for some refreshments and snacks. After more clothes washing and a well deserved shower we relaxed for the remainder of the afternoon. In the evening, we also returned to the same Thai restaurant from yesterday.<\/p>\n\n\n