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Published: September 16th 2006
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I was forced to leave Thailand due to those stupid 30 day visas. However it was getting a little too comfortable and I had at this point only seen just a small piece of what I set off to do. It was off to Laos next. I headed up to the north of the country where there is a boarder crossing at Chiang Kong. From here I would catch a two day slowboat to Luang Prabang in northern Laos. In Chiang Kong I had met three other people, 2 British girls and a German guy who were planning on doing the same trip so we stuck together. I really had no idea of what to expect from the slowboat, just something that everybody making this leg seems to do. Its a bit frustrating sometimes here because it isn't nearly as easy to find out what important information you need, such as costs, times, and methods of transport. Everybody that you ask always has something different to say and always tries to sell you on their tour or use their ticket without even answering your question. Commissions play a huge role in this.
I had had this problem with my Laos
Who's in my Seat?
8hrs + 8hrs = PLEASE LORD KILL ME visa, being told you couldn't buy the 30 day visa at the boarder, so I went through a travel agent. When I got to the boarder and realized they could be purchased, my suspicions had been true and I was scammed out of $12 for a commission to the guest house for offering this good service out of the kindness of their heart. However in most circumstances, mainly all here, you HAVE to go through a travel agent to get what you need taken care of. If you want a bus ticket, you can go to the station directly, but there is no advanced sales (unless you want to pay an extra $1). How it works is that you begin to buy your ticket an hour before the bus leaves. Advanced sales are required when you want to get a good bus (hard to find here, unless sitting next to chickens, ducks and bags of rice doesn't bother you) on a popular route, and if it leaves early in the morning it keeps you from waking up extra early to buy a ticket. The road conditions are horrible here so most buses leave starting at 6am because it can take
hours and hours to reach your final destination. The station is usually a few kilometers away from where you are located, so you either rent a bike or hire a tuk-tuk which will usually cost another $1 (if you have a group or people, more if you are by yourself) or more becuase the transport hubs are usually far away from the center. When all said the difference between the price at the station (including all transport to the station) and the price at the travel agent becomes almost nominal. The fact that there are so many companies around thriving is due to the market which allows them to be in existance. Thailand is a little more user friendly in that you can find the times and prices on the internet in English, but unfortunatly you can't book there, so you kind of run into the same problem.
Back to the boat...
It was probably just shy of the most horrible experience in my life, and it would have been #1 had I had diaharrea (my street side noodle meal before the journey was no match for my iron stomach). This stretch of the Mekong historically has seen
When the Going Got Good
Finally something pretty and new to look at a lot of trade, and I figured we would casually float down the river on a merchant ship, no more than 30 people, playing cards, having a few beers, sleep, but no, skinny-ass river boats that can "seat" over 100 people with no purpose in life than to carry overpacked convoys to their destination. The first day wasn't so bad as there were two boats and some people had a seat to themselves, whatever that is worth when you are talking about a wooden bench at a 90 degree angle, eight hours straight. They say the scenery is beautiful, I found it a bit repetative and nothing new from what I had been seeing (and everybody else in the Golden Triangle, northern Thailand area) the past three weeks. We stopped at a town called Pakbang for the night, a nothing little town run off of generators, where I managed to get the second cheapest room ever in all my travels, the cheapest being in Bolivia. As we sat and played cards and drank the infamous Beer Lao, a DAMN good beer, we were told the lights were going to go out in 10 minutes. This was 8:30pm. What they guy meant to say was 10:00pm (its partly my fault for not knowing any Lao). 10:00pm really meant 10:15pm with no warning. At that point he just laughed at us when we all were in a rush to find our torches.
The second day could have got nothing but worse which was a good sign because yesterday hit the breakpoint, but it did. Two boats became one, and we were stuffed way beyond capacity. There were even 30 people sitting in the engine room, I can't complain, even thought I had three smelly Italian sitting next to me, because I didn't have to listen to the monster diesel 16 cylinder engine or breathe in the fumes the whole time the boat was in motion. On a positive note two hours before we reached Luang Prabang the weater took a turn for the best and we had our first sunny sky, perfect timing for the new limestone peaks that began to emerge on the horizon. Soon enough though we reached our destination and it was all over.
Looking back, the boat ride was manageable but I would never do it again. People say "aren't you glad to have done it." I don't see the point in this question. I did it, but didn't enjoy it. Had i missed it, I whink I could still manage to live a normal and healthy life.
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