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Published: December 17th 2006
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Laos1
The slowboat to Luang Prabang - not much room as you can see, no wonder we got to know everyone so well! Sa-bai-dee from Laos!
Well I'm actually back in Bangkok at the moment but have run a bit behind with the old blog so got a bit of catching up to do!
We left Chang Mai last Thursday and had to travel to the border town of Chang Kong. The place was a complete dump and we stayed in the worst guesthouse I've been in so far. It was an outside toilet and shower which were both overrun with bugs and god knows what else - yuck!! We did manage to eat with a Thai family though which was bizarre but pretty cool. We had just been walking through the town trying to find somewhere to eat and were pretty much accosted by a woman from a travel agents who obviously saw that we were looking a bit lost and came out to help us by ushering us to a nearby table where some people sat and told them to feed us! Brendan tucked in to something that looked absolutely disgusting and I ate cold plain noodles, not exactly haute cuisine! But the family were really welcoming and offered us whisky every two minutes so that kept Brendan happy!
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Tubing in Vang Vieng - and the debut appearance of THE t-shirt!!! Thought the wet t-shirt would keep Ali, Graham and Iain happy! After a pretty miserable night (poor Brendan had to put up with lots of "I hate this country!" and a variety of swear words from me!) we were up early to sort out our visas and travel to Laos. From Chang Kong we got a boat across the river to the Laos border. The first town we wanted to go to was Luang Prabang and it would take us 6 hours by speedboat to get there. After about 5 different people told us that the speedboat was mega dangerous, we decided to take the slow boat. This took two days with a night stopover in between and we were pretty dubious about it to begin with but it ended up being a total laugh. We met a group of guys on the boat who were up for partying and started in on the whisky at 10.30am! There were two Norwegians, two Aussies and an English guy we'd met the day before, Eddie. One of the Norwegians, Smith, had his ipod and speakers so we put up with a fair bit of AHA (I kid you not) and Venga Boys before I insisted we put my ipod on instead. Good crack
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The view from our bungalow in Vang Vieng at sunset. though and the scenery was absolutely stunning so there are definately worse ways to spend a couple of days!
When we arrived in Luang Prabang Brendan, Eddie and I all went to the same guesthouse. Brendan crashed out straight away (too much whisky!) so Eddie and I went out for a munch and a wander around the town. The town isn't that big so we ended up meeting half the people who had been on the boat and went on the sesh with them which was a laugh. Laos is ten times more laid back than Thailand and no-one really gives you any hassle at all which made a nice change. Even the tuk-tuk drivers waited for you to approach them, although they weren't slow in offering you any kind of drug you wanted for "cheap cheap"!
The next day we wandered about and saw the sights of Luang Prabang. Which didn't really amount to much to be honest but it was so relaxed and chilled out it was great. Laos used to be a French colony so some of the buildings there are really pretty so it's a good place just to roam about in. There are
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Alan has a light refreshment following his flight! supposedly some stunning waterfalls not too far from the town but since we were only there one day we never made it out to see them.
The following day we made our way down to Vang Vieng. This was at the top of our "must do" list for Laos since we'd heard such great reports from other people about it. It didn't disappoint one bit, it was great. The bus journey down there was a bit harrowing, we were driving through villages that looked dirt poor which was hard to see but again the scenery was just stunning - it's such a beautiful country.
In Vang Vieng we managed to get a bungalow by the river with a fantastic view. We shared a balcony with our neighbour from London, Steve. He's been travelling for years and had some great stories to tell, it was fab just to sit and get the crack with him over a beer, really interesting. We also did the infamous "tubing" when we were there - you basically hire something like a tractor tyre and float down the river in it while drinking a Beer Laos! They've got pubs at various points along the river and you float towards them and someone pulls you in with a stick. There's heaps of death slides and stuff and once you've had your fun you grab your beer and then head back to your tyre! It took us the whole afternoon to get down the river, great crack!
We had planned on moving on to Viantienne the following day but decided to stay in Vang Vieng an extra day and head back to Bangkok from there. The town was just great, definately the best place I've been to so far. There's not much to it, there's not even proper roads, but tubing made it a firm favourite with backpackers so it's now building up it's tourist industry. Which is a shame in a way because the place is amazingly chilled out just now but when you see the kind of living conditions some of the people there have to endure you can't blame them for seizing the opportunity to make some decent money.
And then it was back to Bangkok! 16 hours on a bus wasn't much fun but we arrived back safe and sound. I met my brother Alan at the airport a few hours later and have basically been on the drink (or in MacDonalds - Al's even worse than me with food) ever since! We head down to Krabi, one of the islands, on an overnight train tomorrow and then on to Koh Samui and Koh Pagnan from there. Can't wait!
Just wanted to say thanks for all the messages, I haven't had a chance really to email back to everyone but I promise to make time once we're at the islands. But it's great to hear from you all! I won't be moving about as much during xmas and new year so I should be able to catch up then no probs.
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Jane Watson
non-member comment
Lazing
I envy you the fabulous weather and amazing scenery - it's great to hear from you. Take care and look after Alan too!! Love, Jane