Laos - land of bumpy winding roads

I left off last time in Chaing Mai - we only got to spend a few days there but I loved it! While we were there we went looking for a three day trekking trip, however the one night ones seemed more popular so we went with that. Thank God we did because we almost didn't make it through two days of hiking through the jungle!

It was quite the adventure, we packed 15 adults into a small toyota pickup and headed onto some off-roads. The truck was spitting out some nasty black smoke as it worked extra hard to go up the inclined roads and through streams, I still can't believe it made it. It dropped us off somewhere where our guide took us mountain climbing, it didn't help that it had recently been raining and the ground was just mud. One girl slipped and hit her head on a rock - little scary. Many hours later we arrived at camp where we all bunked up in one big wooden hut, full of little mattresses and misqueto nets. The much needed shower was an extremely cold hose, we really felt like we were roughing it. The next day we visited a local village, rafted (in the brownest water I've ever seen and I'm from Saskatchewan) and rode elephants. The elephants are amazing. It's crazy how the Thai guides will climb on and off them like it's nothing, I feel like I'm going to fall off and I'm strapped in with a metal bar.

The next day we did a full day cooking course. They start us off in the market, where we learn what all the mysterious fruits and veggies are. Then we spend the day cooking and eating wayyyy too much, but some of the most amazing food I've had.

The markets in Chiang Mai are amazing, we were there three nights in a row for several hours and still didn't see everything. My pack is getting unliftable so I am trying to restrain myself from doing to much shopping.

We spent all night the last night scrambling to find a way across the border, apparently it's not as easy as the usual moving from town to town. Plane tickets wouldn't book us that short of notice, we couldn't find any bus spots, and the last alternative was a three days trip (one day by minibus and two by slow boat down the Mekong). So we got stuck with the last option, and this is where our transportation journeys in Laos begin.

The minibus to the border was a very bumpy ride, where I happened to be stuck in the worst spot, middle of the back - so I crashed around the whole time. When we got to the border we were charge for being one day over our visas, which sucked :(

Day two, we rode on a boat with wooden stools to sit on for 8 hours, luckily we were smart enough to buy pillows before we left. I found the floor more comfortable. Our boat was full and there were only probably 50 people on it, in high season there are three times as many. This night we stayed in a tiny, really muddy town of Pak Beng, where the frogs are so loud all night and roosters crow all morning, it's impossible to sleept.

Day three, another 8 hours on the slow boat... it was a long trip in which the boat drivers make many unnecessary stops on the side of the river so kids can jump in and try to sell us stuff. The scenery on the ride is beautiful, however the flight is only an hour, if we were planning ahead I may have done things differently. That's what you get for making last minute arrangements.

Finally after our loooong journey we arrived in Luang Prabang where we spent a few nights, it's a really beautiful city, no garbage on the streets and french-influenced decor buildings, which is a nice change. Laos is pretty strict, everything closes at 1130 because the country has a 12 am curfew. Markets and street food here were great, we were always scared to try the full fish barbequed on a stick but it's really good and I had the best spring roll I've ever had in my life! We are learning how to eat cheap, by going to the market as much as possible.

Outside of town there is a huge waterfall with so many levels, really beautiful. We were looking for the swimming hole and ended up climbing all the way to the top of the mountain in search for it, then we made our way down the other side of the waterfall to find out that the swimming hole was on a lower level than where we started. The jungle was some of the most beautiful I've seen though so it was worth it. The next day we checked out some elephants and caves. We are finding that we often catch the other Asian travellers snapping sneaky pictures of us, it's really strange.

Another bumpy winding minibus ride later, where I once again got stuck in the middle of the back feeling more car sick than ever, we land in Vang Vieng. The bus drivers take so many breaks in villages so you will buy things and they get comission, everything is a scam. I swear they only stop in places where you will have to pay to use the toilet. Vang Vieng is a nice town where the pubs play friends re-runs all day. Our first day we went kayaking, and saw a couple caves. One cave was really cool, it's where locals used to hide out during the war. It runs about 200 m. long, some parts you have to swim through to get to the next area, at one point we had to go down a mudslide and land in water to move through. This was all done by candle light because it is pitch black. Really cool, it's been a while since I played in so much mud. Kayaking was fun too, team Canada took a tumble though when we were getting a little cocky and ahead of the group.

Vang Vieng is most known for it's tubing trip down the river so we had to check that out. You start in your tube down the river, bars line the river and the workers go 'tourist fishing'. Which means they throw a bamboo pole out for you to grab onto so they can reel you into their bar. You stop for a drink and swing on the swing. There are these swings, probably 20 ft high, climbing the stairs to it is the scariest part. I didn't get a very good grip on my first swing so I had a pretty harsh landing. This was nothing compared to the girl after me who did it in the rain and landed in a belly flop going probably 60kph, she came up with instant bruises. Needless to say there were several injuries, some great videos, and bruised bodies for a couple days. It took me three days to be able to move my neck again without pain. Good thing there was lots of friends to watch!

Another oversold bus ride later we got to the capital, Vientiane. Accomodation here was ridiculously overpriced which meant we did alot of walking through the heat with our packs on arounds town. This was a quick stay, we checked out the boutiques, arc de triumph... then booked a bus to Vietnam.

Our bus left at 5pm and arrived the next day at 730pm in Hanoi, Vietnam. It was a ride from hell haha, however I think we've had the worst of what we possible could for transportation. Out of those 27 hours, I'd say about 12 of it was driving the rest was waiting for the border to open (not sure why they don't time it out so we get there when it's open), lunch breaks, going through customs, a flat tire... just about anything imaginable to make a trip last forever. However we are showered, in our destination, and in better spirits. I am really excited for what Vietnam has to bring, I hear the shopping is the best!

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