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Published: April 4th 2008
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So we crossed the border into Laos, got our visas & got a tuk tuk to the slow boat, this is to take us down to Luang Prabang, 2 days of 8 hours each day and an overnight stay in a village on the way down. And it was some experience! we got onto the boat and grabbed ourselves a seat each, the seats were like church pews with room for two people.....two people with really skinny backsides!! So we spread ourselves wise & pleded ignorance,keeping the seat for ourselves, one of d lads said he knew it wasn't full so we got away with it! We had bought cushions and boy were we glad, imagine 8 hours of mass & how sore ur arse would be!! We busied ourselves during the first day by reading,playing some cards, chatting to our fellow boaters & best of all - sitting out over the edge or the boat,legs hanging over the water watching the sights go by - absolutely gorgeous green mountains of jungle rising up either side of the river, beaches (or river banks i suppose) of white sand with either water buffalo grazing on them or else little kids playing on
them(so cute, they'd always wave at the boat). Sitting there with the sun shining on you was great although the edge was just as sore on the arse! It passed a few of the 8 hours tho! All along the way we passed little villages where we stopped and picked up laos people. Finally we came to Pak Beng where we all got off to stay the night, it was about 6pm and theres no electricity there,only generators from 6-10pm so we had 4hours to find somewhere to stay, shower in cold showers, get some dinner and drinks and get back to the guesthouse,which we did.The following morning we were back on the boat early and the second day took the same shape as the first. Once we arrived in Luang Prabang the whole boat split into about 3 groups & found ourselves guesthouses near each other which was great. We headed for a few drinks that night but were wreaked from d 3 days of travelling so didn't stay out late.....although i should probably point out now that theres a country-wide curfew in Laos so most places close at10pm, bars stay open til midnight tho - crazy eh!! so
it wasn't like we missed out on a nightclub by going home by midnight! The next day we just strolled around the town and got our bearings. Its a really small town, mainly bars,guesthouses & restaurants to cater for slow boaters who arrive, it has a really french feel tho which we didn't think we'd notice but we did, the ample presence of french baguettes kinda gives it away also!! We watched a film that night with one of the lads off the boat (Joe) and kept it quiet as we were going to the waterfalls the next day early. So we met the rest of them from the boat at a cafe the next morning. Someone on the boat had suggested we go as a group & it looked like people liked the idea....we ended up with a group of 30! So off we went in our tuk tuks! The waterfalls were amazing, the most turqoise water ive ever seen and metres of gorgeous waterfalls rising about it! just spectacular. After spending some time gazing at it in wonder we headed for the pool at the bottom where we all swam & there was a rope swing off a
high tree so me, jacinta and another irish girl jenny joined a few of the lads in an tarzan-like imatation swing! fun but scary!! Afterwards we headed back to town& arranged to meet for dinner a few hours later, me and jacinta took the time to climb the hill in the town to see some of the temples & get an amazing view. Out for dinner that night and for a few drinks then, since everywhere closes at midnight, the only place which remains open longer is the bowling alley so we got a group together & headed there til 3am! Here we picked up a Canadian girl Adrianna who we convinced to join us for tubing in Vang Viene (she was supposed to be going to Changmai & was travelling on her own). The next day we just did some bits around the town, internet, postcards etc (these little jobs need to be done u know!!) and then treated ourselves to a Laos oil massage (not as nice as thai btw). Bed reasonably early then because we had our bus to Vang Viene the next morning.........
Link for photos!
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