Blogs from Ban Houayxay, West, Laos, Asia - page 4

Asia » Laos » West » Ban Houayxay September 18th 2007

We had our first big thunderstorm last night it started at baout 430 and went on for about 2 1/2 hours. damian got a bit over excited and thought he said it was a cyclone! we were up early and headed to the border crossing where we got our passports stamped tehn went down to teh river (mekong i think) and got a dodgy little boat across to Laos which took less than 5 mins we then had to fill in forms for our visa and stamps for our passports all quite exciting stuff! we are staying in Huay xai which is just across teh river and 2moro we will head off.... its the same here i dont feel like i'm in a different country coz i aint been on a plane!... read more

Getting involved in the Gibbon Experience

Asia » Laos » West » Ban Houayxay September 1st 2007

The Schmergles

mark and chrissie

Day 150 After a pretty good night's sleep in our dodgy room, Mark got up at 6.30 to get the tickets for the bus to Huay Xai (it is a really busy route and tickets for the bus can go early) before going back to bed for a couple of hours before making our way down for the bus. At the bus stop we bumped into two Canadian girls, Keely and Kristel, who we found were also on their way for the Gibbon Experience. We had heard about this from a few people along the way and decided it sounded amazing so had booked it up a few weeks ago. As you read on you'll get an idea of what this actually is! Arriving at Huay Xai we found a hotel with Keely and Kristel before ... read more

Huay Xai

Asia » Laos » West » Ban Houayxay July 23rd 2007

Dannyk

The next day we took a minivan to the Thai/Laos border at Chiang Khong/Huay Xai. The minivan dropped us outside a hostel on the Thai side of the river, and we had to retrieve our bags from the hostel owner and explain that we weren't staying there, and were heading over to Laos that eveing. About a 500m walk brought us to the border, where I waited with the bags whilst the other lads went and fetched the US dollars we had forgotten to get earlier. We eventually made it across about 5pm, in a really dodgy longtail boat, with the driver acting like he had never done the trip before. At the Laos immigration, it took about 20 minutes to get our visas sorted, and then it was a 2 minute walk up the hill ... read more

Gibbon Experience

Asia » Laos » West » Ban Houayxay June 26th 2007

Dan 87

Huay Xai

Asia » Laos » West » Ban Houayxay June 24th 2007

Dan 87

ASIA - TRIP: LAOS

Asia » Laos » West » Ban Houayxay June 8th 2007

Photo 2

Manuela Funke

aa... read more

Chiang Mai - Huay Xai (Laos

Asia » Laos » West » Ban Houayxay May 13th 2007

Leaving Thailand

00jase

Got up at 7:30 and left the guest house at 8:00 with Venetia and Chressie. It was going to be a day full of travel as we tried to make our way towards the Laos boarder. Took a Tuktuk to the coach station. On arrival we were informaed that the earliest bus to Chiang Rai and cheapest was a goverment bus with no air con, in an hour and a half time (4hrs). Not wanting to hang around for an air con bus (3hr wait) and pay 4 times the price for a VIP, we went goverment. It wasnt that hot today. Relatively cool and cloudy. While I was trying to pay the lady at the kiosk for some reason stood up to attention and refused to take my money. I kept saying "heres the ... read more

Gibbons Experience

Asia » Laos » West » Ban Houayxay May 10th 2007

Bird,Plane or Tarzan

goodaontour

Well sorry for for the lack of updates! Its hard to believe im actually in Sydney writing this and have travelled through Thailand,Malaysia and Singapore since we went to the Gibbons! I know from the emails that Ive had, that you want to see and here more of the fun Im having on this trip. Its unbelieveable how time dissapears when you are having fun there is so much stuff to catch up on so I suggest that you take it in stages!!! So what can I say about the Gibbons Hmmmn this was only the best experience ever and this was made even more so by the group that we had. This was what I was looking forward to most in Asia and it did not disappoint. Imagine what it must be like to ... read more

Gibbon Experience

Asia » Laos » West » Ban Houayxay May 5th 2007

sunrise

EmmieLou

Hello from Laos! I can't believe that we are here already when it seemed like a distant country in our planning. Time is certainly flying (quite literally) as we have had some great experiences since I last bored you. Having crossed the border between Thailand and Laos, which is in reality a river, I managed to part with another couple of those awful photographs for my visa (I'm surprised they let me in-I expected to see a Wanted poster). We had to stay in the very functional border "town" (one street) of Huay Xai for a couple of days as we had previously organised our treat for Laos which was...."The Gibbon Experience"!!! This was the moment we had been waiting for, we were so excited. It basically translates as staying in the jungle for three ... read more

Thailand to Laos

Asia » Laos » West » Ban Houayxay April 29th 2007

Dels

It's my third time lucky updating this blog entry...the internet connections haven't been super reliable here, and I have lost my entries a couple of times. We caught the bus from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai..I've lost track of days, so can't tell you when. Australian and NZ bus services could learn a lot about bus service from these guys. We were the only Farang (white people) on the bus, but they had movies (Thai), complimentary snacks, water, and freshener towels. My heart almost stopped when the police stormed on for a passport cheque (we were kindly informed by a guy across the isle with limited english). The police officer said a lot in Thai, then to my great relief (but probably not his) dragged off the guy sitting next to me...the joys of entering the ... read more

Brief history of Laos

Laos was under the control of Siam (Thailand) from the late 18th century until the late 19th century when it became part of French Indochina. The Franco-Siamese Treaty of 1907 defined the current Lao border with Thailand. In 1975, the Communist Pathe...more history

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