Stray Tour through Laos

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Stray Tour around Laos

The minibus arrived in Chiang Mai around midday to collect us and we got chatting to our new travelling buddies. The first stop was the thermal pools just outside of Chiang Rai, where the locals actually boil eggs in the natural hot spring water. The second stop was the White Temple (see pic), which was amazing. The White Temple was basically designed by a very wealthy Thai famous artist, who refuses to charge admission into the temple or accept handouts or donations from the government. His vision is quite different from anyone else’s (inside the temple, theres hand painted images showing Osama Bin Laden and George Bush painted in the devils eyes!!), and he does not want to be controlled by anyone who may influence his ideas. Its a 90 year project, currently 20 years in, and he has a team of young volunteers working with him for free to finish off this masterpiece.

We arrived in Chang Khong around 6pm, and checked into our accommodation ‘Sawadee House’ which was nice. There wasn’t much to do in Chang Khong, so we all went for our last fix of Thai food, then played pool and had an early night. It was so cold as we were the furthest away from the equator since New Zealand, so Jen was moaning and we both slept terribly, but hey its preparing us for coming back home at least!

The next morning, we packed our stuff and walked to the Thai/ Laos border, which was a crazy experience. We queued up for around 30mins on the Thai side then and got on a chao lay (very narrow) boat across the Mekong River to Laos which was literally a one minute boat ride. When we arrived in Laos, we had to fill forms in, pay our US dollars for our visa and queue for around an hour, it was packed out with everyone pushing, just crazy! Once all sorted, we headed into the town to get the first sight of our big orange Stray bus. The bus was not like the one in New Zealand, it was smaller and had no legroom at all, not good for me! We all piled in like sardines and hit the incredibly bumpy and dusty Laos roads.

We arrived in Luang Namtha around tea time, and there was nothingmuch to do.. A few people were feeling really poorly, including me, from the bad roads and the equally bad Thai food from the previous night. We headed to a fantastic restaurant run by a Kiwi couple to get a fix of Western food with some of the group, while the others went to the night market to try chicken feet, duck anus etc. Our chicken and bacon carbonara was the best meal we had tasted in ages, especially when washed down with a BeerLao - sooo good!

Whilst in Luang Namtha the craziest coincidence happened, our best friend Kate, had a best mate called Josie, who she mentioned to us was travelling around S.E Asia. Kate never mentioned where, or for how long Josie and her fella Steve were travelling for, but we couldn’t believe it when she came up to us at the hotel we were staying at, and asked us if we were Kate’s friends. Small world or what! At night we all went out to a Chinese Disco down the road, which was packed and loads of people were already dancing at around 9pm, if only Manchester clubs were like this one! It was such a funny night, watching everyone getting drunk, but me and Jen agreed again to not drink whilst we were here to save some dosh and also due to the long bus journey the next day. The reason why they party so early is that there is an 11pm curfew on the bars etc around Luang Namtha. They have curfews in the whole of Laos out of respect for the monks who get up at dawn to collect their food for the day, so you hardly ever see people around after 11ish.

The next morning, we headed off to Nong Khiaw, further north (even colder!!). A few people hungover and we had to pull over on the side of the road for people to go toilet or be sick - maybe due to the night market food they had?! We got there around 4.30pm, and just had enough time to visit the Phathok caves. The caves were where the Laos people hid during the Vietnamese war when the Americans bombed them, thinking the Vietnamese were hiding there. The most interesting and nerveracking fact, was when we were told that still 70% of the 270 million bombs that America had dropped, had still not been detonated! When we arrived we checked into our rooms at the ‘Sunrise Bungalows’ which were great, and very comfy, right next to the Mekong River. At night, we all split up, got a bite to eat then met later on around the fire at the guesthouse, where they had locals playing guitar and singing traditional Laos songs (An amazing experience).

We woke early today, as we had to set off on a six hour slowboat trip down the Mekong River. It was amazing, the sights, the local villages, the wildlife etc, although the seats were very uncomfy. We had little wooden stools for the six hour journey. When we got Nearer to Luang Prabang, we stopped off at the famous Pak Ou Cave where there were over 4000 Buddha statues and our local guide Tsai gave us loads of info about the different Buddhas and what they all mean.

Once we arrived in Luang Prabang, we checked into our 8 bed dorm hostel room for the night ‘E3‘. Most of the stray crew paid to go to the Kuang Si waterfall, however it was expensive and we were on a budget, so we went to the temple to see the amazing sunset. It was 327 steps to the top, which doesn’t sound much, but in this heat it kills you!

When everyone arrived back we split up and went for tea, and agreed to meet at the Utopia bar, which was a popular bar. This part, I couldn’t believe! Me and Jen were walking down the street, when two guards approached us and pushed us onto the sidewalk. We asked why, and the guard just said ‘VIP‘. Then all of a sudden, we saw lots of guards pushing people back, and I realised it was ‘Thaksin Sinawatra’ the Billionaire, ex-Thailand prime minister and previous owner of Man City. He had been playing golf in Luang Prabang, he plays once a month apparently as it is a very highly ranked course. I managed to get close enough to shout ‘Manchester’ thinking he might come over, and it worked. He pushed his guards out the way and asked if I was from Manchester, so I said yes (didn’t tell him I was actually from Stockport or even a Liverpool fan though) ha-ha. He let me have a picture, whilst all the guards kept everyone else back, it was crazy! At night, we all met up at the Utopia bar, and chilled around the gardens, whilst me, Steve and a couple of the other stray crew played volleyball.

The next stop the following day was Vang Vieng (the entire reason why we came to Laos, to do the famous tubing) The bus journey was another horrible 5 or 6 hour one, and we didn’t arrive until 2pm. We checked into our accommodation for the night (The big green hotel) then quickly got changed and headed to the tube rental place. The tuk tuk drivers literally throw ur rented tube on top of the tuk tuk, and take you 10mins away from town towards the tubing area. As soon as we arrived, we could hear the music blaring out from the 15 bars they have there. Me and Jen decided to break the no drinking pact for this day, but agreed to take it easy as we were back on the bus the next day.

When we arrived it was just crazy.. the place was amazing! There were people already dancing on tables, swinging off zip wires and rope swings, and tubing down the river. We had a few drinks, then I grabbed the tube and off I went, floating down the river with a can of BeerLao in my hand and tunes blaring out from all the bars on the side. The best bit was that if you wanted to go to a particular bar, they had locals who would throw you a rope and pull you onto shore, for you to get out. It was far better than we ever imagined, but you can see why so many people die here each year. The water was so shallow in some areas, and there were so many hidden rocks that we hit even whilst in the tube, never mind jumping from 15 meters into the river onto them. Needless to say, me and Jen fortunately survived the tubing (and the parasites that poison everyone from the river that get Into your drinks). Jen made me laugh when she, along with some girls tried to walk across the river, thinking it was all shallow, then fell and dunked herself under, before being pulled into some rocks by the current (only scrapes and bruises) and swimming to the side. We were very careful though, as the week before we were there, an Australian guy died swinging from the rope swing and hitting a big rock, so the adrenaline side of Jen’s personality was kept under wraps for once!

We reluctantly left Vang Vieng the following day (we really wanted to stay longer but our time constraints and budget wouldn’t allow!) the journey down to Vientiane was uneventful and we were all feeling tired and ready to get the tour over and done with. We did a city tour on arrival, to look at the presidential palace, famous gold stupa and fountain of wealth which were all really impressive. Vientiane itself seemed really nice, however there was nothing really to do, although it was good to see paved roads, and street lights again. We went for some really good street food, and a nice sunset at Bophanghan rooftop bar, but that’s about it for the rest of our time in Laos.



Next Stop… Hanoi (Vietnam)

TTFN folks xxxx

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Comments

[pauline bass]

Your blogs and pictures are amazing, the whole place looks fantastic, wish we were there!