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Published: February 16th 2014
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Hello from Laos,
Sorry for the delay in updating the blog but the internet hasn't been the best in Laos!
After crossing the border into Laos and paying the $35 visa fee each then an additional $1 each "overtime" fee to 3 guys sat at a table to be allowed into the Country we then had to wait for the taxi to fill up before we could leave to head into Huay Xai. Eventually we arrived in the town of Huay Xai which sits on the banks of the Mekong river on the Laos side facing Chiang Khong on the Thai side of the border. We were only here for one night and quickly found a hotel/guesthouse/room with a bed and found some food. Now one thing we've noticed about eating out in Laos is that the places you go to you will most probably be served by kids! They are all family run and while we assume the parents are in the kitchen cooking, children bring the menu, take your order, bring you the food and then you pay the kids at the end!
After spending the night in Huay Xai we were up early to buy
our slow boat ticket to Luang Prabang. Anyone looking at this blog who is thinking about doing the slow boat should consider this- make sure you are in Laos the night before you want to travel, the earlier you get to the slow boat the better the seat you get. If you buy a package deal in Thailand that includes your boat ticket etc you stay overnight in Thailand before the slow boat which means you are the last on the slow boat and end up at the back of the boat next to the toilets and engine room. Next point to consider is where to buy your ticket, do not buy it as part of a package or even from your accommodation the night before (all hotels, hostels, guesthouses etc sell them) the morning you want to travel just walk down to the official ticket office and buy one there! Its the cheapest place and the official place so you know you're not being scammed! It costs approx £18 each and leaves anytime between 11:00 and 13:00 but our boat was already filling up from 09:45.
The slow boat took 2 days and we stopped for a night
in Pakbeng - now all the reviews I read about this place were not great at all so I was not expecting a lot! However it wasn't anywhere near as bad as what people made out. Its a really small place and all that is there is guesthouses, a couple of shops and restaurants. We found a decent guesthouse by avoiding all the touts gathering people up as the got off the slow boat and just walked into the town ourselves to find a room. The first place we came to was the aptly named Pakbeng Guesthouse which didn't send any of their employees down to collect people getting off the boat probably because their place was nicer and cheaper than those others and they didn't need to force people to stay with them! Carly checked out the room before we paid and after her nod of approval I knew we would be fine there!
The second day of the slow boat again involves getting there as early as you can to get the best seats. The boat you travel on will not be the same as the first day and instead of the comfy seats from the first
Victory monument
The Laos equivalent to the Arc in Paris boat a lot of the seats on the second day were just wooden benches! The slow boat is definitely a great way to travel to Luang Prabang though. The scenery is stunning and the number of hours you are on the boat fly by.
Luang Prabang is a reasonable size town picked straight from France and placed in the middle of Laos and given a mix of Asian food and applied Asian prices. It is a UNESCO world heritage town and the old French colonial buildings next door to temples, and the odd bakery or restaurant dotted here and there makes it a lovely place to visit. Similar to Chiang Mai there are many activities you can do here, we enjoyed visiting the waterfall at Kuang Si. We headed off at 11 in the morning which is a perfect time to leave because when we got there it was quiet and when we were leaving coach loads of people were arriving! The waterfalls were like something straight out of a painting or somebody's imagination! The water was crystal clear and looked a nice turqoise with the sun shining down on them. There were about 5 or 6 levels to walk up - however wear decent shoes if you want to go to the very top, flip flops won't get you there. It cost about £9 for the tuk tuk there and back and about £3.50 for entrance into the falls for both of us. The entrance fee also includes access to the Sun Bear rescue enclosure!
I know how Andy likes a breakdown of how much stuff costs for in each place so I'll give some averages for Laos - a large bottle of BeerLao will cost any where between 80p to about £1.20 and a small bottle will be about 50p to 80p. A bottle of coke will cost you about 50p. A noodle or fried rice dish will be about £1-£2 and a burger or pizza will be about £3-£4.
After Luang Prabang we took a gruelling 6 hour minibus journey to Vang Vieng going over the mountains of northern Laos. This is not a journey I would recommend to anyone! It was awful but had to be done. Not much to say about Vang Vieng - it used to be a backpacker party town until a few years ago when the government stopped the tubing bar crawl on the river. Since then the town has become a bit like Rhyl with shops trying to sell watersport items that nobody is going to buy anymore. The town is trying to change the tourism focus now though instead of a party town its trying to be a scenic town with a few new hotels going up with views of the mountains that surround the town.
From Vang Vieng we have come to the capital of Laos - Vientiane. The journey here was much better and the roads leading into the capital much more developed. This is where I am writing this blog from. We are again back on the Mekong river and on one side its Laos and on the other its Thailand. The cost of food is slightly more here than anywhere else in Laos but still cheap compared to the UK. While here we have been to the Laos equivalent of the Arc de Triumphe which did provide good views of the city at a cost of only 24p each to go to the very top. We have also been to the COPE visitor centre which is a centre developed to advise people of the affect the Vietnam War had on Laos. This centre is quite eye opening. It is unbelievable the damage caused to Laos as a result of the Vietnam War. More bombs were dropped on Laos in that conflict than the entire amount of bombs dropped by all sides during the Second World War. This centre goes a long way to explaining the impact of those exploded bombs and the unexploded ones that still litter the Laos countryside. As Carly read from one American visitor - it made them feel embarrassed to be an American. This place is a must visit if you are in Vientiane.
That pretty much brings you up to date for now. We have a few more days left in Vientiane then we are on a flight to Hanoi, Vietnam.
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Mam
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What a beautiful photo!