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Published: October 15th 2008
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So, we crossed the boarder into Huay Xai. We stopped one night while we arranged to get the slow boat to Luang Prabang the next day. We considered doing the 'Gibbon Experience' as planned before we left home (where you trek a little, and zip wire into treehouses to sleep overnight) but it was really, really expensive. Figured it would have to be seriously amazing to make it worthwile so gave it a miss.
The currency in Laos is so funny. 15,000 kip is one pound. We are multi-millionaires. Excellent. We got dinner for 10,000 kip each and thought 'yes, finally we're in Laos. Unfortunately it has not been like that since.
Anyways, the next day we caught the 2 day slow boat down the Mekong. It set off 2 hours late. Good start. Very sweaty wait in the midday heat. But the breeze got going once it set off. The long low boat was crammed with tiny wooden benches not designed for Western bums. We mostly sat on the deck at the front talking to people and teaching people to play shit-head (card game parents). It's a life skill. The boat docked in Pak Beng overnight and set off
again for Luang Prabang the next day. The scenery was lovely - big hills covered in trees. The scenery of northern Laos/Thailand kinda reminds us of home, only the hills are covered in trees not sheep. We passes many bamboo villages along the banks of the river. There were kids playing in the water and all that lovely stuff.
Luang Prabang was gorgeous. It's UNESCO listed so I guess it better be really. We ended up staying a week, but that's probably more to do with the fact I had a stinking cold. The night market was the highlight really. It was so tranquil - unlike any other market we've been to where the vendors hassle you to buy their stuff! All the canopys were red and the lights dim. Very lovely. Great food section too where you could buy meat on sticks. Even rice on sticks! Fantastic.
All the buildings in Luang Prabang look mostly the same - all beautiful - with wooden floors and the same signage going on everywhere. We stayed in a nice place for the first 5 nights but by the last 2 days I could no longer move and/or breathe so we got
the flashest place we could afford. It had aircon and cable TV. I stayed in bed for 2 days watching movies and eating baguettes. It was amazing.
There are lots of baguettes in Laos, but, alas, no cheese. And the wine is crazy expensive.
The only other thing of interest that we did was got to the waterfalls. We caught a crammed tuk-tuk (always fun. No kidding.). They looked like something off a postcard. Or more accurately, off one of those cheesy hologramatic paintings you get of the tiered waterfalls. They were perfect for jumping in. We could pretend we were in 'The Beach' or something. Very tropical paradise.
Sitting down by the river eating dinner (most of the cheaper restaurants were there, oddly) was great too. The views over the river and to the mountains are really fantastic. Longtail boats come and go and kids splash about. Very relaxing.
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Mum and Dad
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I presume that was Crazy Mike risking life and limb with a bottle of tomato sauce. Your blogs are like buses... wait forever and then