Wednesday 29th January - 4th February 2014

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Wed 29^thJanuary 2014 - Today I left Pai and headed for Chiang Rai. I had opted for a MINI BUS ride back to Chiang Mai to connect with a coach to Chiang Rai. It seemed the ride from Pai to Chiang Mai wasn’t quite as bad as the way there, maybe a better driver, who knows… When I got back to CM I only had to wait 45 mins for the connecting bus however, the bus arrived 20 minutes late. Got on the coach but first we all had to pre-select our seats at the point of ticket purchase. I thought I would choose the seat right behind the driver so I could get some good views. Anyway, it appears that the bus driver was keen to make up lost time and by this I mean, he was a madman. I have never been so fast on a coach IN MY LIFE, I actually feared for my life a few times! The time of arrival into Chiang Rai came and I was so glad. I could have said a few nasty words to that bus driver... I got into a Tuk Tuk, told him where I needed to go and he took me to the wrong hotel… Luckily the hotel I was staying at was only 2 blocks away so a quick 5 minute walk and I was sorted. Checked into the Sabi Guesthouse. It was ok and clean but the noise from the road was so loud that I had to sleep with ear plugs in. #rockandroll

Thursday 30th I checked out of this hotel at 8.30am the following day and headed back to the bus station to catch a bus to Chiang Khong. This time I opted for a battered old Thai local bus which cost me about £2.33. This turned out to be fantastic. All the bus doors were open the entire journey, the big sliding windows were open and the bus driver drove sensibly but the thing that impressed me the most was the views that this bus ride offered. For miles and miles you would see rice fields upon rice fields and workers working them with their little triangle hats on. Then all of a sudden these massive Karsts would appear. They would stand so high and dominate the landscape but as soon as it had appeared it had pretty much gone again as they weren’t very wide, just really really high. The bus ride was only 2 hours so I was there for around 12pm. Chiang Khong is a sleepy little town with one high street. It’s the main stop over place for tourist crossing into Laos. My hotel was only a 5 minute walk from the bus station. The hotel, looked over the Mekong River and into Laos. The lady on the front desk couldn’t speak much English. When I checked in she said 150baht for the room, I agreed as that’s like £2.. She gave me a key which was a key for a padlock…. I followed her to this room which I can only describe as a cupboard underneath the stairs… It wasn't actually under the stairs but it was the same size as this or a prison cell. It had no window, just some mesh with a curtain over the front door. The bedding didn’t look great either. I chucked my bags in and left the hotel and went for a mooch down town. I asked in one of the tour shops about the 2 day long boat cruise down the Mekong River to Laos. They quoted me 4900 Baht which worked out at about £90 quid. I took the information, left and went to a coffee shop and did some research of my own and booked it directly with Nagy of Mekong Cruises. Cost me £84 quid but I can now say that it was probably the best £84 I have ever spent. I was picked up at my hotel along with an Aussie couple I had met and drank with the night before. We were taken to the boarder, and got through with no issues. We got on a "VIP" Bus..... VIP My Ass!... which took us to the boat. The boat was a really long narrow boat. It has old coach seats rather than domestic seats and they were so comfortable as they reclined too. As we reversed out into the Mekong one of the staff opened a massive sunroof. Luckily I was sat in one of the seats on the sun deck. We sailed on down river and the start of my 2 day river adventure began. We had lunch served, fruit and water on tap and endless sun and epic views. The boat held about 100 people but there was only 30 of us on there so we had so much room to chill out. There were lots of older couples and they were really cool. Made some really good friends over those two days. Anyway at 5.30pm we sailed into Pak Beng which is a one street town on a mountain side half way between Chiang Khong and Luang Prabang. I hung out with a guy which I called "Dave" for most of the journey. His name was Jens or something like that but I couldn't ever remember which is why he was known as Dave. 30 mins before we sailed into Pak Beng I bought Dave and I a whiskey each. I'm not really a whiskey fan but I was craving the taste of it.

We were all checked into the Petchsokxai Hotel which over looked the river. My room was luxury compared to the night before in the "cell". There was also a brand new mink rug which I couldn't wait to get under. I left the room and went down to the bar where Paul and Jackie, a couple from Wolverhampton were. They were like a couple off Creature Comforts. Funny as and so sweet. Paul got me a beer, happy days. We were called by the tour guide and we went out for food as a group. We were drinking rice whiskey, it was gross but somehow I became the party animal and was cheered on by the group to do more shots. 5 down and 3 beers later we had finished our meal and people started to depart. "Dave" and I thought Nah, were not going back to the hotel yet... So we went to a bar two doors down. We ended up sitting with 2 girls from Denmark and 2 guys from Austria who were also on the boat to Luang Prabang but a public one rather than a tour one. The bars shut at 11.30 so we went back to the hotel. I was pretty drunk to be honest.

Breakfast was served at 6.30am.... Whaaaat! Anyway, when I got in drunk I didn't put my key card in the little slot on the wall so everything worked for like 10 mins but then cut off. The hotel room also had shutters on the outside of the windows which were closed. Needless to say I woke up at 6.18am, by chance, as there was no electric so my battery had died the issue I had was that I was so disorientated, I didn't have a clue where I was, where the door was, where the light switches were etc... I managed to find the door. I was like one of the illusionists who pretends they are in a box by placing their hands on what looks like a wall lol... I opened the door and it all came back to me as to where I was. Quick shower and down for breakfast and a little cheer was given by the fellow boat members. We boarded and headed off for another 9 hour cruise down river. When I got on board the tour guide came up to me with an opened bottle of whiskey... I was like, ergh, no way... He said "Its yours, you own it, you bought it yesterday".... At this point I was like WTF... When did I buy a whole bottle? It then came to me that when I asked for two whiskeys I did think that the price was pretty steep and that's obviously why so, hello Highland queen whiskey from Scotland... As I was still fragile I couldn't drink it so I offered it to everyone on the boat.

Later that day we made two stops, one at a hill tribe which was weird, a bit like a human zoo and we stopped at some caves which I hated. I didn't like the thought of all that rock above my head! The cruise only had about an hour left and by this time whiskey was flowing. I was like a panto celebrity on the damn boat I'm sure of it, or at least the entertainment for the older folk lol. 1 hour later and we arrived at Luang Prabang. We all had tuk tuks which took us to our hotels, or in my case, Hostel. It transpired that a hostel burned down the day before so because of this and the fact that it was Chinese new year, Luang Prabang was rammed, so much so that back packers were sleeping on the street that night as there was no accommodation whatsoever. I went for a mooch down the night market and grabbed some food and headed off to bed about 10.30pm. The dorm I was in was a 4 bed dorm and everyone was in bed by 11.30pm, result!

The next morning I couldn't get any more accommodation for the next night so I booked an overnight bus to Vientiane . That was due to depart at 7.30pm that evening. To kill some time I went and had food and went for a long walk. I also bumped into the four Dutch and Austrian crew I met in Pak Beng so we all hung out that afternoon. We all trecked to the top of the temple mountain in the middle of the city. Awesome views!

I left and went to get the bus. Seat 42 I was in. So, it also transpires that the "VIP Bus" that picked us up a few days ago at the Laos boarder was in fact the general quality of their "VIP Buses" I think VIP stands for Virtually Impractical. The bus had a mis-mash of seats. Lots of masking tape and when we pulled away, 10 minutes down the road I got soaking wet as the aircon system leaked all over me and the guy next to me. He left his seat which left me with a row to myself.... Hmmm. 15 minutes later we stopped at another stop and I was asked to move to the back seat in order for a couple to sit in the row. Being typically English I did this but was cussing inside. This move turned out to be a bad move! I was in between two Thai guys who kept falling asleep on my shoulders, I was fuming. ONE OF THEM EVEN DRIBBLED.... I felt it touch my arm, gross! I split my foot open when I slipped on water as well and to make it worse the roads were like something from lord of the rings.... Near enough non existent, just tracks with major pot holes which meant this 50 seater "double Decker VIP bus" lol, couldn't go any faster than 20 mph all the way. This journey ended up taking 12 hours 15 mins! I was not happy by the time I got to Vientiane.

So now I'm writing this from Vientiane and I can honestly say that the last 2 days have been the least enjoyable. There isn't really much here to see or do unless you want to drink and eat which is all good but not when I'm trying to save money in order to extend my trip. My hotel room is horrendous too but it was only 6 quid so can't complain really.

On Thursday I fly out of Vientiane into Cambodia. Really looking forward to that and hopefully that blog won't be as negative.

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Photos

French Influence
Luang Prabang has a massive French feel about it so all of the buildings look similar to this.

Top of the world
This is a panoramic view from the top of the mountain in the city centre

45 mins before we got to Luang Prabang
Working elephants along the riverside

Sunrise - The day the cruise commenced
Chinese New year 2014

View of the hotel I was in
The top balcony is where I took the first photo when I got to Luang Prabang

Just a little snap shot
This is the 360 views I had for two days all the way down the river