Laos - Mekong to Luang Prabang

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So we left Thailand and crossed the boarder into Laos by boat, a very cool way to cross a land border we thought. We then had to pass though Laos immigration, which was quite a laid back affair, $35 for the visa not $60 as we were quoted in Thailand, but as we crossed on a Saturday we had to pay the ‘official’ overtime fee of $1 per person.

So the plan was to travel for 2 days on a slow boat along the Mekong River until we reached the UNESCO world heritage town of Luang Prabang, the ancient royal capital of Laos. We found our boat which was a long, flat bottomed, wooden barge type thing. We were given very tiny wooden benches to sit on. It was very clear to us the boat was full, with all benches taken up but the captain kept trying to cram more tourists on board. This was the point where we started a mutiny… we began shouting for another boat as there were no seats. This was quickly taken up by the rest of the passengers and very quickly another boat was made available… Power to the people! In a communist country eh?

So the journey still wasn’t comfortable but it was a definite improvement, as we set of along the Mekong we soon forgot about the discomfort and began a love affair with ‘Beer Laos’ and the gorgeous scenery along the river. The night before in Thailand we had teamed up with an Aussie called Vic, an English guy called Andy and a German named Rene, and man could they all drink.

So we had a nice time floating down river to our over night stop in Pek Beng. The guide book had given the impression that this place was a bit of a truck stop for the river boats and that accommodation was a little iffy; to find and in it’s quality. So we formed a plan, when we reached Pak Beng Danny and Vic left the boat at high speed to get us some rooms and we stayed to get the bags off the boat. When we arrived it was dark, trying to find your bags in the darkness and total chaos was an adventure, it didn’t help matters that the local kids were climbing on board the boat and taking any bags they could carry off the boat and then asking for money. This was easy to cope with IF and only If you could see where the little buggers had gone!

So, all worked out ok and we headed off to our very basic but only thing around accommodation, We went straight over the road to a nice looking bar/restaurant for food and were welcomed very warmly by the owner and staff. We had a great time with them and the local whisky (Lao Lao) stared to flow, then the local weed was offered about and it was rude to say no really as they were being so nice :). We left Pak Beng with a very favourable view and think it deserves a much better rep in the guide books.

The next day we arrived in Luang Prabang, and were very pleasantly surprised as to how pretty the town was. We got somewhere to stay and then sought out the local night market, not as vast as the Thai markets but very good food all the same. You can get any bit of meat on the many BBQ stalls they have and the river fish was amazing. We also got offered a lot of shots of Lao Loa whisky again to the point where I was quite drunk, hic.

We chilled out the next day, and took it easy with an excellent Lao Massage… they really do pummel you but you feel great afterwards and it was an hour for the equivalent of £3. We joined the others for a drink later more Beer Lao was consumed and as the town has to shut its bars at 11:30 we teamed up with some locals that the guys had met earlier and went ‘Bowling’. We really did go ten pin bowling but as it is just outside the town limits all the ‘falang’, foreigners go there to drink. I of course won the bowling but everyone so utterly pissed on the return that we crammed as many falang into, and onto the tuk tuk as we could for the return. How we didn’t get arrested for breaching the peace I’ll never know.

So, today we visited the local waterfall and it’s is the most amazing place. It has so many tiers and due to the mineral content is turquoise blue and the minerals have formed gentle pools that work there way back up the hill side. We had a swim in one of the lower pools and Danny seeing the rope swing kept launching himself into the air and dropping into the pool below.

The water wasn’t that warm but we felt better afterwards for the dip. We will be staying here another day or so before moving onto Vang Vieng, where we will be doing a lot of outdoor stuff. Look out for the links to the photos on Facebook and I’ll hopefully remember to add the links to them here as well.

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Thailand Continued...

So the last blog entry was back on the island of Koh Samet, We had such a great time there, it couldn't have been more different from Nepal, we left Samet and took a 3 hour bus ride to koh Chang the biggest of the island that are on to the south of Bangkok.

The best part about Ko Chang was the amazing sunset from our hut on the cliff top and the fact that it had a hammock which i couldn't prise Danny out of for 3 days. The seafood was great there if a little expensive for our very small budget of £5 for a meal for 2 lol. ko Chang was very 'resort' centred and we didn't like that so much so we bought a ferry ticket from a nice ladyboy who gave us a 100bt discount... Danny smiles at him/her nicely :)

So we took the ferry to Koh Wai a very small island that was about 1 hour away. We had a little hut on the beach and at hide tide the sea was just below our bedroom window. We were happy stranded on our desert island for 4 days, we spent most of our time sunbathing and snorkeling and we had great fun with the underwater camera taking pictures of the fish. There is a marine conservation project running on the island where they are building new coral reefs and its a great place to see all the fish. The little Damsel fish were like a pack of dogs and as soon as you got in the water you had a little shoal of them following you around :)

So, we left Koh Wai and stayed in a little town called Trat, where we discoverd the 'night market' Danny has decided that night markets are the best place on earth, they sell so much amazing food and they are sooo cheap. You could happily eat yourself to death at them and Danny seems determined to try to do jsut that. We spend a total of 12 days in the islands whic was jsut what we needed after weeks in Kathmandu.

The return to Bangkok was a Long 7 hour bus journey, followed by a local bus ride from some remote bus station north of the city centre. By the time we got back to central Bangkok we were both ready to drop, Danny was in pain and i was in need of a serous amount of beer.

We had a day or so in Bangkok traveling around on the water taxis, which is really the only way to travel round Bangkok. The Tuk tuk scam makes that form of transport not viable, and the taxis are metred when they feel like it and you don't look like a tourist. Otherwise you end up paying a fortune as tourist equals money in downtown Bangkok.

We, had a tour booked with TAT the Thai tourist office who are very efficient. We took a day train to Ayuttaya the old capital of Thailand which you'd think was interesting until you get there and realise it's a shithole with some ruins in the middle of it. It was baking hot and not the weather for stumbling though ruins of buildings that all look the same. Danny was so unimpressed, although we saw 1 cool thing the Buddha head covered in tree roots. That was it for the whole town.. so don't go there!

After we left the boring towns behind we took the night train direct to Chiang Mai in the far north. We have hired ourselves a moped and we have found the local climbing site which is really nice. All sport routes but great quality rock and really well looked after areas for belaying. photos of this will follow I'm sure.

When we arrived we took a 3 day jungle trek which is worth a blog all of it's own. It was good fun and it was great to see the countryside of north Thailand as opposed to the coast.

So that's about it for the Thailand story, we will be leaving for Laos in 4 days where we take the slow river boat (2 days) to the city of Luang Prabang which is supposed to be lovely. We should be spending Christmas in a place called Vang Vieng, lots of rock climbing, river rafting, trekking and the most important of all 'tubing' floating down the river in a tractor inner tube stopping for beer all the way.., we've even bought the Santa hats to where on the way!

Merry Christmas folks!