Right now I am sitting on the second story porch of my hostel (SpicyLaos Backpackers) in Luang Prabang. It is my first morning here. Last night Dave and I, along with our new friend Phil, pulled our huge backpacks and supplementary bags off the “slow boat.” We had traveled down the Mekong, starting on the morning of August 18th , slept one night at a tiny village called Pakbeng, and traveled ten more hours yesterday on more tightly cramped boat to where we are now. Before this river trip, we traveled from Chiang Mai to Sukhothai (should have reversed the order [View Full Entry]

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Mostly just pictures for now. [View Full Entry]

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Yes I am in Laos and finally for anybody that is contacting me I am now back to my Irish mobile number for the foreseeable future. I got a boat across the Mekong into Laos from northern Thailand from where I picked up a boat down the Mekong to Luang Phabang whick took 2 days to journey. We stopped off over night in a small backwater town, although the largest along the route, called Pakbeng. A nice little spot, with electricity for a few hours in the evening and some of the best tasting food I have had on my journey [View Full Entry]

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Gals 'n Boys ... how's everything over ther pond ? How is the german team doing in the EM, hope your TVs are working fine andf you[ve a great deal of ice-cold beer in the fridge. It's been a while since we updated our blog bcoz we got a little disconnected while floating thru beautiful Laos. No electricity, internet, TV, we very much appreciated it. What attracted us most were the friendly and welcoming people, nobody is rushing you, no hassle, even in the capital Vientane one gets enchanted by the unhurried and comfortable way of living. If u need to [View Full Entry]

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Day 41-April 15th: I got up at 7:00ish and ate breakfast at the guesthouse. I walked over to the Thai exit point with my backpack on my back, and caught the ferry across the Mekong to Houie Xie, Laos. I checked in at Thai Customs, switched some money from baht to kip, and then bought a ticket for the slow boat to Luang Prabang. It's a 2-day journey down the river. The boat was scheduled to leave at 10:00 AM, so I was rushed over in a shared taxi to the slow boat pier, which was down the road a bit. [View Full Entry]

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This is a very late entry mainly due to the fact i have not had any time to write my blog so apologies. The slow boat down the mekong was fantastic not only due the people i met along the way but also due to the spectacular scenery. We passed water buffalos in the water, whirlpools, amazing rock formations and beautiful unspoilt forests. The overnight stay in Pak Beng was certainly an experience i will never forget. As soon as we arrived in the port there were young boys offering to carry our huge and heavy backpacks up the steps to [View Full Entry]

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Up and down to the landing once again to find that we have changed boats - OH SHIT! much smaller and the same amount of people are going to get onto it. It is packed with litterally no space to move around, people have climbed on top of all the back packs to find a seat (actually they were the wise ones) as the seats are once again just a piece of wood and my arse is numb within the first hour - Oh Well, only 7 hours to go. As we travel down the river we see the day to [View Full Entry]

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We arived in Pakbeng at 6pm. We decided to break up the girls would try one way while the guys another. People were jumping on the boat showing beautiful phoitos of rooms. We should have known. Christy and I payed a couple guys to carry our bags up the sand hill, while Laura and Erin went to find us a room. We waited about 20 minuets when an obnoxious man arrived screaming to us. Yes, this was our guesthouse manager. Laura and Erin had frustration written all over their faces. We saw our room and immediately knew why. This was by [View Full Entry]

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A boat trip down the Mekong River. There's two days we won't be forgetting for a while; the sort of experience where you know you'll look back and laugh, one day. Though our butts haven't forgiven us yet, the photos, the destination and the friends we made one the way made it all worth it. We took a bus from Chiang Mai to the Thai border town of Chiang Kong. From there we awoke early for a great sunrise, and crossed the border into Laos via canoe before passing customs and catching the aptly named 'Slow Boat' down river, destined for [View Full Entry]

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Started the slow boat trip down the Mekong towards Luang Prabang, the trip takes 2 days in total with a stop off in Pak Beng. The boat was like a viking boat and had around 80-100 people on board with 1 toilet and a basic bar. Neal and I were one of the last on so didn't manage to claim a seat, but this was a blessing in disguise instead we were near the front on the floor (the engine was the back and was very noisy). During the trip we got chatting the people around us and we formed a [View Full Entry]

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