Blogs from Ban Houayxay, West, Laos, Asia
April 18th 2010
Und wieder bin ich am Mekong, diesmal in der laotischen Grenzstadt Huay Xai. Das thailändische Chiang Kong liegt nur einen Steinwurf entfernt am anderen Ufer. Länger als normalerweise bleibe ich in dieser Grenzstadt. Ich habe noch ein paar Tage auf meinem Visum übrig und da ich erst am 20. April mit einem Couchsurfer in Thailand verabredet bin, würde ein früherer Übertritt bedeuten, dass ich unnötigerweise mein Thai-Visum anbreche, um zwei Tage in der thailändischen Grenzstadt zu bleiben. Außerdem ist gerade Wochenende und die laotischen Grenzbeamten verlangen für Grenzübertritte am Wochenende Extra-"Gebühren". Nach fast zwei Monaten Reisen nach dem Motto "Lao P.D.R. - Please don't rush!" kann ich nur sagen: "Kommt nach Laos bevor es zu spät ist." Vor dreieinhalb Jahren habe ich das schon einmal zu einigen Leuten gesagt und teilweise bekomme ich das Gefühl, dass ... read more
February 22nd 2010
fEB 22ND So we've decided to spend another night in huay xai because i'm pretty sick. I don't really want to be more than 2 minutes from a bathroom at any point. If my condition doesn't improve by tomorrow, I'll go see a doctor. We've spent the last day bumming around our hotel room watching asian HBO. Its been Fatal Attraction followed by the house bunny. Between the bad movies and the diarhea I'm ready to throw myself off the balcony.. I guess I shouldnt be so suprised, I've broken pretty much every rule about eating unrefridgerated street food and undercooked meat, it was only a matter of time before it caught up with me. Pooping aside, I'm really excited for northern thailand. Sounds like a really great place. For now, i'm going to go eat ... read more
November 11th 2009
Annelien and I left pai taking a minibus to chiang krong and what a ride that was! The driver was a complete lunatic weaving round twisting mountain roads at a fenominal speed, over taking on blind bends, the g forces on your body going from hard left to hard right literally every 20 seconds for a good 2 hours before stopping for a toilet/sick break. Everyone kinda flopped off the 15 seater and fell to the ground still spinning. A kind german girl went around handing out travel sickness tablets which I've never needed before but felt unable to decline on this occasion. 3 hours later at 1.am we arrived at a guesthouse near the river boarder with Laos, the next country I'm visiting. Got up and headed down to the boarder pier with some other ... read more
CHIANG KHONG TO HOAYXAI TO PATBENG THE SLOW BOAT DOWN THE MEKONG
Published: August 11th 2009Asia » Laos » West » Ban Houayxay
August 1st 2009
The night bus that we took from Pai to Chiang Khong was pretty harsh on our stomachs, partly down to the Sangsom we'd drunk the night before with Greg, and worsened by the bus constantly flying up and down hills and lurching around corners. As soon as we did arrive, we were ushered to some rooms for 3 hours sleep, before being woken abruptly and quickly ushered to the immigration point. We had to have our visas for Thailand stamped to say we'd left the country, and we were then ferried across the river to obtain visas for Laos. It was a little confusing but must have been organised as it all seemed to somehow go to plan. As soon as we were across the river at Hoayxai, the people on that side of the Mekong ... read more
November 27th 2008
Here's some photos from our two day voyage down the Mekong River from the Thai/Lao border at Huay Xai to Luong Prabang! Our boat was a rollicking, overcrowded vessel full of good-natured partiers. There was a young Dane playing Johnny Cash favorites to drunken applause, people perched on rice bags, car seats, and cushions, and amazing scenes of untouched jungle. We made some friends on this boat that we have continued to run into throughout our travels since, an Australian and a bunch of Canadians. We purchased our first street food that we couldn't finish in PakBeng (purportedly fish in banana leaves but actually raw baby shrimp and fish tails and heads, bones and all!) and ate a lot of Lao baguette sandwiches (usually chicken or tuna, lettuce, tomater, cukes, onions, mayo, and chili sauce-Lao has ... read more
November 6th 2008
We said our goodbyes to Pai as Jess, Josh and I headed to the Laos boarder via Chiang Mai where we dropped off Nancy as she was heading to Cambodia with a friend from back home. The day was spent in a minivan but thanks to Jess' drunken state the night before we kept ourselves amused with her hysterical antics. Don't worry girl, it happens to the best of us! 7 hours and one dodgy Pad Thai later, my stomach had finally caved in and I spent the night cuddling the loo. Oh the fun. There you go Jess...karma for laughing at ya! Weak tired and emotional we trudged across the boarder where we all parted as our plans no longer matched. I was excited by the prospect of my upcoming jungle trek but was seriously ... read more
LAOS: VIENTIANE, VANG VIANG, LUANG PRABANG, LUANG NAMTHA AND HOAY XAI...
Published: May 7th 2008Asia » Laos » West » Ban Houayxay
May 7th 2008
i am now in the Laos town of hoay xai, in the banks of the mekong river, opposite chiang khong in Thailand, to where i shall be taking the cross river ferry to tommorrow. since my last blog, i spent a few more days in the laos capital, vientiane, before making my way through northern laos to here, via vang viang, luang prabang and luang namtha. it cooled down in vientiane after some really bad thunderstorms, so that was a relief, remaining refreshingly cooler up until yesterday in luang namtha. i think that was something to do with cyclone Nargis. i had a pretty lazy time there, as its such a relaxing capital. spent a lot of time thinking about everything that has happened since i arrived in the region 6 months ago. i was looking ... read more
The Gibbon Experience, Boat Trips, Sambuca and Waterfalls
Published: May 5th 2008Asia » Laos » West » Ban Houayxay
April 29th 2008
Day 12 After a fairly boring couple of days we were pumped for the Gibbon experience! A rarely advertised three day trek aimed at preserving the jungle but allowing high paying tourists to visit it without destroying it. We'd been lucky enough to hear about it through Mark and Chrissie whom we meet in China (thanks guys!). We set off with four packed into the cabin and another four in the back. A very bumpy but scenic 2 hours we arrived at a small village laden pigs, chicks, kids and with two finished groups desperate for beers and raving about their last three days. We set off with high expectations and moderate confusion over where we were going and where the other group was destined. After only 15 minutes of walking we stopped for lunch curry ... read more
April 27th 2008
Alors pour une fois, je suis à l’ heure (et beh oui, je vais parler à la première personne pendant trois semaines... snif). Je vous livre du tout chaud car je viens de finir mes deux jours de trajet en bateau sur le Mékong. Pour une fois que je trouve un café Internet qui marche bien et rapide, j’en profite car cela faisait longtemps... Je crois que c’ est sans doute un des plus beaux trajets de transport entre deux points que j ai eu à faire pendant ces deux jours à voguer sur le Mékong. C est très très beau, très sauvage et très loin de la civilisation ( si je peux m’ exprimer ainsi...). Seules mes fesses ont mal supporté le trajet sur les petits bancs en bois de 10 centimètres de large.... Les ... read more
