A River Runs Through It

Thirty kilometers upstream from Luang Prabang, the Mekong channels between the dramatic flanks of Lao hills, scenery that very well may be unrivalled in the river's 4,350-kilometer journey to the sea. In his book about a landmark journey from the river's source to its delta, modern explorer Edward Gargan describes this stretch of the Mekong this way: "Here, wrapped on both sides by jungle, sometimes dense, sometimes scrubbed by slash-and-burn agriculture, the wagon train of globalization had yet to venture."

Unlike the major rivers of China, where civilization crowds the waters, the river running by Kamu Lodge is relatively pristine. Boatmen drink its waters. Villagers wash clothes in its shallows. This is Laos as the Lao have lived it for ages. No wonder the New York Times recently identified Laos as the #1 place in the world to visit. Our full board package feature return transfers from Luang Prabang to Kamu Lodge.