Chiang Mai - Luang Prabang

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Chiang Mai - Chiang Kong - Houxai (Laos border) - Pak Beng - Luang Prabang

So last Wednesday (29th July) we travelled to the border town of Chaing Kong in Thailand in a minibus. On the minibus we got chatting to two dutch girls and a french Canadian man. It was quite nice to some friendly company on the trip and made the time go quicker - it was interesting to hear about everyone's different experiences so far. The Canadian man (Michael) was telling us all about how he made friends with a Thai taxi driver who he had hired to take him around the sites for the day - they became such good friends that the next day Michael was invited to the driver's house for dinner! We definitely found that the thai people in Chiang Mai were a lot more friendlier than the people of Bangkok, the employees of the guesthouse that we had stayed in were very welcoming and were great when Rach wasn't very well.

At about half four or so we arrived in Chiang Kong and were checked into our guesthouse for the night that was included as part of the Laos package. It was built in the Laos wooden house style, centered around a courtyard with a restaurant. Rach and I were quite excited about our first experience with proper mosquito nets that to me looked like giant jelly fish! We had shared loos and showers but they were perfectly nice - although some people need to be taught how to use toilet facilities properly! That night we had some food that was quite tasty, especially considering it was included in the package (some of the free meals we have had have been pretty bland). After some more UNO, Rach and I decided to take an early night.

Thursday morning we got up early for breakfast as we were told it started at 7 and we were to leave for the border and slowboat for 8.30. However, due to 'Thai Time' breakfast didn't start until about 7.40 and then we didn't actually leave for the border until about 9.00am! - We think they always tell you to get somewhere half an hour earlier so that your not late, but sometimes its so frustrating!
Our transport to the river (to get on a little boat over to the Laos border) was a proper pick up truck, our bags got to be inside the truck whilst we sat on the side of the truck - Rach and I found this hilarious as we realised that had the same transport turned up when we first arrived in Bangkok we would have freaked out but by now we're so used to the lack of 'health and safety' precautions compared to what we have at home! (Although actually I think we had seat belts for the first time since we've been here in the minibus to Chiang Kong - I'm ashamed to say that I was quite excited by it) It was here where we met a Bristolian couple - Alana and David - who we have been sort of traveling with since.

After being stamped out on the Thai side and being put into a little long boat and arriving on the other side of the Mekong we were officially in Laos. After filling out another form and getting our Visa checked we sat around for a while waiting for everyone else in our group to be passed through. So naively, we believed that as we were part of a package this whole next bit of getting to the slow boat and getting on would be simple - how stupid of us! Well, we were told to walk up the street and then there would be a tuk tuk waiting for us - but there were lots of tuk tuks wanting to take us - it wasn't explained whether we could go with any tuk tuk or if there was a specific tuk tuk waiting for us. We all decided to stick together and got in this pick up truck pretty much all together and were dropped off at a restaurant. It was at this point that the driver suddenly declared that he needed all of our passports so that he could register us with the police and get our slowboat tickets. Quite a few of us were hesitant at first and questioned why he needed our passports for the slowboat tickets as we had cleared immigration. He said that he was from our resort and was trustworthy but we felt uneasy about it. However, after a while a guy that we recognized from our hotel showed up and this Thai woman who was with us said that she could vouch for him as her mother works for immigration and knows him. Once we had our tickets and bought some extra snacks we made our way down the slowboat and found some seats. Well, I use the term seats lightly, more like tiny wooden benches crammed in as close as possible to one another!

The slow boat set off and it turned out that we were sitting close to David and Alana, so we pretty much spent the first day on the slow boat (12.00-17.00) chatting, playing UNO and this Spanish game called 'President' that they taught us. As we were so pushed for room we mainly sat in the aisle way of the boat and so to be honest we didn't see that much scenery on the first day. The over night stop for the slow boat is at Pak Beng, a little village on the side of the Mekong River, it only has electricity from 18.00-22.00, however Rach and I managed to get a guesthouse that had a generator so we were able to have the fan on for most of the night until the electricity ran out early in the morning. We sat in the restaurant downstairs by candle light and looked over the river, it was such a nice way to spend the evening on what had been a bit of stressful day - we had a really tasty Lao curry that had lots of fresh crunchy vegetables in it and had the best spring rolls I've ever tasted for free when a couple on the next table over ordered! For some reason I really fancied a hot drink and instead of having coffee I had an Ovaltine, partly just because they had it on the menu which we just thought was totally random, it was actually really tasty! (We also think that I may have been the first person to order it as when we were totaling up the bill the guy was like 'ah Ovaltine, yes yes' and then laughed - it may also have been as everyone else was having Beer Laos and there I was with my Ovaltine! - Sean often has to experience this in pubs when I have hot chocolate!)

Breakfast the next morning was amazing - I had the biggest banana and honey pancake - it was gorgeous!! All full up and bursting at the seams with pancake we made our way down to the slowboat for our second day on the Mekong. Everyone had made like germans and reserved seats but luckily David and Alana had played the game and had reserved us four a couple of benches which they had turned around to face each other ready for UNO action. The second day on the slowboat was definitely more enjoyable, the boat was a bit bigger and the benches a little more cushioned. It was a longer journey, taking just under 9 hours. We made quite a few stops at various Laos villages picking up people and their cargo (this one lady brought on about 7 baskets full of live chickens that had to be put on the roof, including a rather noisy cockerel). As we were actually sitting in the benches this time, as opposed to sitting in the aisles on the floor, we were able to look at the beautiful scenery we passed - my favourite views were of the steep hillsides that had been cleared of trees for farming (through slash and burn) as often just perched precariously were little bamboo huts used as a shelter by the farmers.

Finally we arrived just as dusk was approaching at around half 5 in Luang Prabang, just as it started to rain. We grabbed our bags and decided to look for a guesthouse for all four of us. We were talked into looking at Sokdee guesthouse by this young laos guy and were reasonably impressed with the accommodation and decided to stay there (about 4 pounds a night for the room). After showering we walked up to what was shown in the rough guide as being the main strip in Luang Prabang. When we entered the road I was absolutely taken aback - it was so so quiet. Everyone was gently strolling along, the streets were lined with quiet restaurants, cafes and little boutiques. All of the buildings looked like they had been plucked straight out of a french village postcard - immediately Rach and I knew we'd love this place!

The next day we met up with David and Alana and decided to climb the hill in the centre of the town. It was so hot and sticky that by the time we reached the top we all felt absolutely wiped out - but it was so worth it. The view around Luang Prabang was amazing and there were lots of little temples, monks and Buddha statues dotted all around the hill as we descended. Just as reached the bottom of the hill the weather completely changed and we heard the loudest thunder I think I have ever heard in my life, everyone jumped a few inches from the pavement as it bellowed. We had a crepe as the rain came down and then Rach and I made our way through the rain to this cafe we had read about in our guide book called L'Etranger - its a bookstore on the ground level but has a really nice coffee and tea place on the first floor with floor cushions and low tables. We sat around there for a while and had a little read about Vietnam and planned some bits for that. We also booked ourselves on a kayaking trip for the next day (Sunday) with a company called Green Discovery who seemed like a good responsible company, who specialise in 'ecotourism', who aim to put money back into the Laos communities involved in the trips. In the evening we had our first Indian at the Nazim Restaurant - it was sooo tasty!! My dhal was really really garlicy it was brilliant! After our Indian we got a tuk-tuk to go Bowling! As we got there at about ten, half ten, the majority of the people there were locals. They love bowling. Seriously, whenever some hit anything, they all high-fived each other and cheered, it was fantastic, and whenever one of us got a strike (once in a blue moon for me) they cheered us as well. We had a couple of games and got the tuk-tuk back at about 12 as Rach and I had to be up early for kayaking the next morning (just as more backpackers were turning up as the Lao were leaving - bowling and a I think another disco are the only places not subject to the 11pm curfew)

So sunday we woke up nice and early to have yet another crepe (mango, banana and honey - yum) and then met our Green Discovery tour guide. So our day of kayaking pretty much consisted of the first half hour getting use to the kayaks and taking a gentle sail down to a waterfall about 30k outside of luang prabang. We spent about an hour at this waterfall and a Lao style picnic, of sticky rice in bamboo leaves with a few curries and then finished off with fresh pineapple! We then made our way down river for about 3 and a half hours of kayaking, which included some class 1-2 rapids. I have never kayaked or white water rafted at all so I was a little bit nervous when the rapids came up. First of all, Rach and I did well, until we ended up on a tree. Yes we ended up on a tree in the middle of the river!! All I remember was shouting at Rachel 'paddle, keep paddling, I'm sinking!!!' Rach says she looked around (I was sitting at the back of the kayak) and I was pretty much sitting in the water amongst the tree branches! After much bouncing up and down and frantic paddling we were released from the tree. The kayak was absolutely full to the brim with water but we managed to get out of the rapids and met our guides who kindly let us get onto their kayak as they flipped ours over to remove the water. We went through some more rapids with out any glitches and just had a fantastic time. I really really enjoyed the kayaking and its definitely inspired me to do some similar trips home, to perhaps try things that are out of my comfort zone as it was just such an enjoyable day. The scenery was absolutely stunning, I just felt so lucky to be seeing such amazing views, I just have never seen anything like it. We found out later that we were lucky that our kayaks were inflatable, as if they had been the hard (plastic, fibreglass) style we probably would have flipped over when we was stuck in the tree.

In the evening we had a really lovely meal and a stroll through the nightmarket. Rach picked up a couple of Lao Silk scarves and I bought a couple of bangles.

I really enjoyed my time at Luang Prabang, it was such a beautiful town and the people were really friendly. The scenery was stunning and the mix of French and Laos architecture gave it such a unique feel and atmosphere - I could see myself coming back!

I can't believe I nearly forgot - I have definitely come to the conclusion so far in our trip together that Rach is incredibly clumsy! She manages to find a ledge always to hit her head on, or something to trip over but our time in Luang Prabang has provided Rachel with a new way to hurt herself - ceiling fans. After bowling, as Rach was getting ready for bed, I was on the loo and I heard her scream, and somehow I just knew what she had done, she'd managed to raise her hand up as she pulled her top off and collide with the rotating ceiling fan!!! I feared, as a I crept out of the loo, that I was to be welcomed by a finger laying on the floor, and an impending flight that night back to Bangkok with this finger in a jam jar filled with ice, but luckily Rach was just nursing a cut and bruised finger. So, we would all think that Rachel would be extremely wary of undressing under the ceiling fan, but alas the next evening, the same finger, in the same place was subjected to the rotating ceiling fan again!!! This time it was left more sore but thank god still attached to the hand! When I think of it it still makes me laugh as I just don't know anyone who could put their hand into a ceiling fan, TWICE!

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