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To get from Thailand to Laos I decided to take the slowboat over the Mekong River. First I had to sit in a minibus for 5,5 hours and spend the night at the boarder. The next morning we had to do a 30 second boat trip to the other side of a small river and there I entered Laos. Luckily there wasn't too much hassle here and we got taken to our 'slow boat' which would take me to Luang Prabang. Once I got to the boat I didn't realize until then how many people they wanted to put on the boat... we were like sardines in a tin! Luckily my friends and I actually managed to get comfortable seats while others had to sit on hard benches or on the floor! The trip took us 6 hours or so and took us to Pak Ben which was a village just made for the tourists who had to get off the boat to spend the night here. The good thing about this place was that you got free Lao whiskey at every bar/restaurant you went to! I can tell you.. it was very strong stuff!!! The next day we were moved
to a bigger boat luckily and we stayed on it for 7 hours. Fortunately I was able to sleep for a few hours so it didn't seem that long. I finally had made it to Luang Prabang!
Luang Prabang used to be the capitol of Laos until the communists came and it was a very lovely place. Quiet, beautiful and very friendly people. I stayed there for 3 nights and then it was time to move on to the next place which was Van Vieng.
Van Vieng is the 'party place' of Laos. Backpackers who come here go to the river and rent a tube and float from bar to bar along the river. Basically, everyone goes to this place to get very, very drunk. I wasn't sure if I actually wanted to go here, but I'm glad I did! At the first bar they had a swing which you grabbed on to and then you jumped into the water. It was quite high and I was quite nervous at first, but it was great! At another bar they had big mud baths and that was great fun until someone accidentally through mud in Paul's eyes... everyone was
very drunk and some people don't realize the dangers of drinking and swimming/tubing down a river with a strong current.. 2 months a girl drowned being very drunk and that's definitely not the first time that had happened. One guy even lost his glass eye in the river while I was there... I had to stay in Van Vieng for a few days because I was applying for my Vietnam visa so besides tubing in Van Vieng, you can watch Friends episodes all day in the bars. It was actually quite nice to do that for a couple of days and just relax... Once I got my visa I had to do a 33 hour bus hourney to Vietnam.. it took forever but at least i had survived!
I didn't stay long in Laos (I skipped the capitol because a friend of mine had been threatened with a gun) vecause there wasn't really much to see. It was a beautiful country though!
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