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Published: December 11th 2007
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Trying to Cross to Lao
Let us go! We already paid! Officially I spent six days in the country of Lao with three of the days spent on either a boat or a bus. To begin my journey I took the slow boat ride from the Thailand border to Luang Probang for two days. The other option was a speed boat that would take 6 hours but there have been a few deaths with that route so I opted for the slow float down the Mekong.
Our trip started out on the wrong foot based simply on the travel agency that we booked it through. The hotel they put us up in was sub par and the lady was trying to get us to give her our passports so she would stand in line for us at the border to leave Thailand saying that if we didn't we would miss the boat. No one stood for it and after a call to the Embassy by one person in our party she reluctantly backed off.
To enter Lao you have to take a taxi boat 50 yards across the Mekong River which was included in our travel package. The drivers were trying to get a little extra money from us saying
2 Days of This!
Not quite sure, but it turned out to be ok! we had to pay for ourselves and our luggage. Our boat refused to pay simply on the principle of it and consequently watched every other boat take off even though the majority of those boats didn't pay either! Finally after 20 minutes of bickering back and forth we got a driver to take us to Lao.
The slow boat was jam packed with people so I sat on the floor in the middle of the aisle which turned out to be better than having a wooden bench. After 8 hours we reached our stopping point and I had 100 new friends. Immediately as I stepped off the boat children spotted the oranges in my bag and surrounded me, pointing and asking for the oranges. My heart broke and as I left for the guest house I had no food left in my bag. After a mad shuffle I ended up going with a group of English people to a guest house which turned out to be operated by a very sketchy guy and I was glad we were only there for one night.
The next day was "same, same but different" on the Mekong, arriving in Luang Probang
around 6 pm. I stayed with the same group and we found Mama's guesthouse which was absolutely amazing and so helpful during our stay! Luang Probang is an absolutely charming city with a lot of French influence. There are a lot of little cafes and nice shops, definitely a town that I could have just relaxed and gotten lost in for a week but unfortunately I didn't have the luxury of time to do so. I spent two days in the town and wished I could have stayed longer but made some great memories during that time. My last night in Luang Probang was spent watching a Chelsea football (soccer) game with a group of Brits from Chelsea. It was awesome and have since added on my life to do list to go and see a football game in England.
From Luang Probang I hightailed it to Vientiane skipping over Vang Vieng unfortunately. During this time I had a pretty bad head cold so I wasn't up to doing that much in the city. My last day in Vientiane was probably one of the most interesting days of my life. I felt horrible and knew that I was going
to be on a bus for 24 hours starting at 6 in the evening so I forced myself to get up and walk. I walked all around town and found a large local market where I purchased a sandwich and had a little scuffle with the lady. The Lao currency has way too many zeros to it and I handed the lady 20,000 and she gave me change for as if I had given her a 2,000 Kip bill instead. Times like these make me so angry when people try to cheat or take advantage of me as I'm traveling.
I headed back to my hotel and sat down around a table outside and this foreign man and local woman sat down. I couldn't help but over hear their conversation and I was horrified by what was going on. This lady was an absolutely beautiful person and I soon inferred that she was a prostitute. The man was pressing her to talk about the scars on her arms and she was saying how she had attempted suicide and was unhappy with her life. My heart broke for this woman who wasn't much older than me but has a completely
At a Temple
In Luang Probang different life that she didn't choose and wanted out of. After this couple the next people that I encountered happened to be a lady boy and an old white man. What an interesting day!
After not taking the advice of all the travelers I had talked to I got to the bus station to drive the 24 hours to Hanoi instead of taking a flight. Luckily I got there and there was also two Swedish girls on the bus that was full of Lao people who I think were moving to Vietnam. The luggage compartments were full underneath the bus and so were the aisles in the bus. I have never seen so much stuff in one vehicle!
The drive was so interesting and so eventful. It took four hours to get through the Vietnam border with the customs checking our bus for over two of the hours looking for drugs I assume. After we got through we drove for 30 minutes and got pulled over by the police twice with the second time they searched the bus for over an hour, looking particularly at the bags in the seat in front of me. I have no clue
Sunset
The view from dinner along the river what they were looking for or if they found anything but it was not the most welcoming entrance to Vietnam.
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