Blogs from Ban Houayxay, West, Laos, Asia - page 3

Somehow we managed to choose the one day of the dry season that it rained to catch a boat 6hours down the Mekong River....and it didn't just rain, it poured. We were woken up at about 4am by rain bucketing down and it still hadn't subsided when we boarded at 10am...and it continued ALL day. The slow boat is one of the 'must do' trips in Laos. It’s basically a 2 day ride down the Mekong River from Huay Xai (on the Thai border) to Luang Prabang in Northern/Central Laos. We had read many horror stories about the trip as the boats tend to be packed full of tourists until they practically overflow - there’s no guarantee of getting a seat, and all the available space is used, including inside the engine room. In order to ... read more

Saturday December, 29th 2007 I’m taking the bus from Chiang Rai to Chiang Khong, last city before the border. There is a bus every half hour. The bus is already full so, it leaves 10 minutes ahead of schedule. I’m standing at the rear on pretty crowded floor but I cannot go in the alley as my head would touch the ceiling though I’m not tall by European standards. The border crossing is easy and without any problem. On the Laotian side, Huay Xai doesn’t offer much except for a small pagoda and the herbal sauna and massage, but the sunset over Mekong is something good. ... read more

Our next station in the Southeast Asian cherry-picking tour brought us directly from Siem Reap to Luang Prabang in Laos. You think that Laos is remote and that few travelers would spend their dollars in this obscure country? Forget it... it is almost as packed with tourists as every corner of Southeast Asia! There are less tourists than in Thailand and because Laos is landlocked you won't find the beach tourists here but sometimes we wish these governments would never had softened visa regulations... this would vastly reduce tourism! Nevertheless, don't believe we are not enjoying our trip or that we would not encourage you this visit this part of the world... just be prepared to bump into your neighbour! ;-) The town of Luang Prabang is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site (by the ... read more

Day 15 - Monday 15 October 2007 Today we cross the border into Laos (pronounced Lao). Crossing was a pretty easy affair. After making the 1k trip from our guesthouse to the border we joined the queue to get our exit stamp. When we arrived we were surprised to see the Danish couple from the trekking also in the queue. They'd actually arrived at 3am to find everything shut up and deserted so had to sit on a bench until morning. Russ went to one booth and got charged 5 Baht for his exit stamp, I went to the next one and didn't pay anything. Thats how things work over here. Once we had our exit stamps we walked down the river and paid our 20 B plus an extra 10 B for our bags for ... read more

Brochure TextDay 5 Mekong River: Travel through Thai Immigration, which is only a couple of 100 meters away, then cross the Mekong by boat to Ban Houaysai and the Lao Immigration. Begin your journey down the Mekong by slow boat, stopping overnight in Pakbeng. OK, so this computer is so slow I've not uploaded all my photos, and the blogs I wrote up on the boat today - I've left the SD-card converter in the hotel, so tomorrow (probably!) in Luang Prabang... Meantime, go and see if I can put my Mosquito net up and try not to get more Deet all over my mouth... Friday 5th A very early start today! Alarm goes off 610am - Cassandra first to use the 'interesting' shower. I get up 630am - ready for breakfast 710am - mm - ... read more