Eat your heart out, Martin Denny! Spending a night at Vanvisa was one of the highlights of our trip. Definitely worth splurging to get the extra-deluxe room with a terrace overlooking turquoise pools from the small waterfalls on the property. Very clean, nice big comfy bed, and the terrace is a great place to chill. It looks onto a popular swimming hole for local kids, and even though I'm totally not a kid person, it was charming to watch them splash around in the afternoon. At night, we went for a stroll in the village, and that was also a highlight--just exchanging simple greetings with the people who live there and enjoying a few hours in a world not built for tourists. An earlier TA reviewer whines that this is "basically just a village," which I find frankly infuriating. I felt lucky to get this small glimpse into rural Lao life. It's authentic, and authenticity is hard to come by these days. The homestay also faces a working monastery, and we awoke slowly to the sounds of drumming and chanting and the smell of incense. Yes, there were insects around (duh, it's a waterfall in the jungle), but none got into our room and it wasn't an issue. Getting up early to watch the sleepy bears at the sanctuary wake up--and to enjoy the magnificent falls and swimming holes before the tour buses made it out from LP--was the icing on the cake.
