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Published: December 8th 2006
Hey there everyone and Merry Christmas to you all!!! (I have to keep reminding myself that the Yule period is upon us!)
The last time I updated this I said that I had just arrived in Laos so I wil back track a little to fill you in with the 'interesting' journey we had moving into our next country.
Ok, so on the morning of Saturday the 25th of November we were all squished into a mini-van and taken up to the boarder of Thailand to get our visas sorted for Laos in a place called Chiang Kong. The journey was surprisingly pleasant, if not a tad hot (what can I expect, the drivers of these things NEVER put the aircon on!) and it only took us 5 hours insted of the original 6 we were initially told.
At the boarder we sat in a cafe on the Mekong River where we filled in a form, handed over some cash, waited and hour and our visas were haded to us.... VOILA!!!! Travel is so easy here and everything is geared up for the backpacker and just as long as you have a little bit of patience all your
Early morning view over the Mekong
The Beautiful view we had when we set of on our Mekong boat trip travelling needs are pretty much sorted.
From here we were loaded into a longtail boat where we crossed the river to enter Laos.
The first place we arrived at which was litterally on the rivers banks was a tiny little dusty town called Huay Xai where we rested our heads for one night in order for us to get up bright and early for a 0630 boat ride down the river to the French colonial town of Luang Prabang.
When we initially booked the trip in Chaing Mai we were told by our guest house owners that we had x2 options to get to our next destination...... the 12hour slow boat which is 6hrs over x2 days (you stop in a village on the way over night) or the speed boat which takes 6hrs but you have to wear a cash helmet for the whole journey and all of the guide books recommend that you don't do this due to how dangerous it is. Well, the group was divided as Tina and Emily said that they wanted to take the slow boat and Kelly and I fancied a bit of spead boat action (for the adrenaline buzz
and the fact that 6 hours on a boat is far better than 12!). Anyway, the guest house advised that there was a new boat service that was starting that same weekand that we wanted to travel and it would take 7 hours, but was not a speed boat and we could do the journey in one day...... PERFECT! Or so we thought........
When we got to the boarder it was then we were advised that indeed that boat would only take one day, but it was a 12 hour journey on a slow boat with no stops on the way! Oh Joy! the following day we boarded the boat only to find that as we were pretty much the last people to get on and we didn't have seat (12 hour jorney may I remind you?!?!?), but is turned out good in the end as we were able to grab a spot on the back of the boat on the floor with enough room to stretch out and have a kip (the other people on the boat hard rock hard benches to sit on). Unfortunately the first half of the journey was freezing cold and in my wisdom
My position for 11hours!
I had to sit like this for the duration of the boat journey! dressed in my shorts and vest top when I got up so I had to start riffling through my back pack after a few hours trying to find more clothes, but the senery was amazing so it kind of made up for the cool temperature and uncomfortable surroundings.
We arrived at our destination an hour early on the Sunday which was a pleasant surprise and promptly found a guest house right on the river.
As metnioned earlier Luang Prabang has a very strong French colonial influence and beautiful scenery so we spent a day or so milling about and taking in the sights. Feeling all energetic again we hired bikes for the day as this seemed to be the main mode of transport for the masses and proved to be an excellent was of getting to see everywhere. Unfortunately the bug which had been going round seemed to catch up with me on our final night so I spend the evening on the Monday being sick and the 5 hour bus journey the next day doubled in agony with the fear that I may have to get the bus driver to stop any second. I don't think it
helped that there were 10 people on our bus with only 8 seats and that 95% of the journey was going up steep hills with sheer drops and the bus driver thought he was Evel Knievel and took the corners like he was on speed.
We made it in one piece to our next destination anyway to a placed called Vang Vieng which is a small town tucked next to the Nam Song River with beautiful surrounding limestone peaks in the distance. Travel books liken this place to Las Vegas as it is a hive of activity in the middle of nowhere and the main reason the travellers stopping in this place is for the party atmosphere and the wide range of outdoor recreations on offer.
As we had been doing a fair bit of travelling about and had not spent much time in one place, we decided that we would kick back here for a few days and make the most of the relaxed atmosphere and the US sitcoms which are played CONSTANTLY in all of the restaurants (one night I watced x4 episodes of Friends and Shrek 2 and I only popped out for a quick
bite to eat!). It also helped with our decision to stay a few days that this is where the famous 'Tubing' take place!
I'm not sure if I had metnioned what tubing is previously but it is where you hire an innertube of a tractor tire, get driven 3km up the river and left to float your way back down taking in the sights and stopping at the many bars on the river banks to have a go on the zip lines and swings which go into the river.
On our first day doing this I felt a bit anxious initially what with jumping in the river and seeing what happens but at it is the dry season the river wasn't running too fast I and got into the swing of things quite quickly..... so much so that at one of the bars I decided that it would be a great idea to hurl myself off one of the talest swings with over a 100 people watching! Well, it seemed like a good idea initially, but when I was walking up the rickety bamboo ladders I did feel like turning back but I would have looked like a
proper muppett and couldn't face the shame and embarassment so I just went for it!
On our second day tubing I went back to the same bar with the swing that I had conquered a day or so previously and couldn't quite believe that I had done it as it is about 40ft in the air but I'm glad I did and hopefully this is helping me overcome my fear of heights. On this day we met a few people whilst in the bars and floating down the river so on the last leg of the there were a few of us going down stream together which was a great laugh. Towards the end of the course small Laoation children stand in the shallow water and then swim out to you and grab on to your innertube to give you an extra push down the river (for a cost I might add!) and because there were a few of us together we got jumped on my about 10 kids.At one point a little boy who must have been no older than 4 tried to wade out and I had to grab him as it looked like he couldn't swim!
Apart from the tubing and other various outdoor pursuits on offer one of the main attractions to Vang Vieng is the 'happy' food which is on offer..... basically food with weed in it! On offer in most restaurants are 'happy' shakes, 'happy' pizza and 'happy' garlic bread to name but a few of the dishes along with mushroom pizza and even opium! Although on 95% of menus around town, the drugs still remain illegal and the police are known to sniff out spliffs and slap heafty $500 fines on thoses caught with anything in their possession but this doesn't seem to deter a lot of folk and there were still a few space monkeys walking around town late at night.
After spending 5 days in Vang Vieng we decided that it was time to make a move and see a bit of culture so we booked another trip up and spent 4 hours travelling south to the capital of Laos, Vientianne. Over the past four weeks, when booking an 'air-con coach' this generally means 'battered mini-van which would in no way, shape or form could pass as road worthy' so we surprised to see a 56 seater coach
in front of us as our transportation for the day. Unfortunately there wasn't enough room for all of the bags so they has to be put in the aisle of the coach and there also weren't enough seats for everyone (getting to be a common theme now, but luckily we were ok) so x2 plastic garden furniture chairs were put at the end of the aisle for the last two people to sit on! Health and safetly regulations eat your heart out!
After travelling in a group for a month we have now got ourselves in a routine of arriving at the new destination, finding a cafe, mulling over the guide book for a while and whilst two people look after the bags the other two will go off and find somewhere for us to stay. As Kelly and Emily did a grand job of finding a nice place in Vang Vieng, it was now mine and Tina's turn and our challenge should we choose to accept, was to find somewhere on par or nicer within our budget.
The first hour of the search turned out to be fruitless as many of the guest houses only had room
Sign in Vang Vieng
No French Horns allowed???? for 3 or less people, but we did manage to find two places which quite frankly were disgusing but desparate times call for desparate measures hey???? So feeling a tad gutted that we accepted the challenge and failed, Tina and I started to make our way back to the girls to break the news to them about the dive we were to stay in when we stumbled upon a hotel which had just opened and had an introductory price of $15 a room which slept two people and included breakfast! Well, when we were shown the room I could hardly contain my excitement as this is the nicest place that I have seen in over a month and it was going to cost us about 4 pounds each!
Needless to say that when we got back to the girls we wound them up a treat and told them that we were staying in a dog hole, but they forgave us when they saw where we would be staying for the next three nights!
Due to the lovely room condidtions we stayed in on our first night and then spent the next few days milling about town and sampling
Chilling in Vang Vieng
Great bar by the river when you sat in little huts on stilts the local cuisine (I had Spaghetti Bolognese twice and Lasagne once - is that wrong?!) and on our second day we visited a Buddhist temple called Pah That Luang which was built in the 3rd Century by Buddhist missionaries and it is said that the relics of The Buddha are contained there.
On out third and final day we tried to carry on with the cultural theme and planned to visit the Laos National Museam but it wasn't open! How very disappointing?! So we made our way to the Mekong late afternoon and watched the sun set over over river for the last time as this was our final evening.
Due to all of the long bus journeys we have been enduring recently we made a collective decision to book a flight to our next destination (well, Tina wanted to get the bus which would take over 24 hours but we badgered her into getting the flight with us as this took just over an hour). Today we arose at the bright and early time of 0400am and made our way to Vientianne airport and I am now writing this from Hanoi in the North of Vietnam!
Tubing
In the background you can see the platform which I launched myself off into the river.... scary stuff! I have only been here a less that a day but realise already that it's a crazy city that never stops and you need a death wish to cross the road! Tonight I am chilling in our guest house and making full use of the free internet connection.
We are planning on staying in 'Nam for Christmas and New Year so our mission over the next two weekd is to make our way South and find a beach for festive period. It is the cold and wet season where we are in the north (doesn't seem cold to me and I haven't seen any rain yet) but it's the hot season in the south so it's swimsuits all round for Crimbo!
Hope you are all well and have done all your shopping (yeah, right!)and don't get drinking too mucg egg nog!
Lucy x x x
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Anj
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Wow babe it just keeps getting better! How jealous am I, I really wish i was there with you enjoying the sun over the fab christmas period!!! Have a fantastic christmas babe if i dont hear from you again till after and a happy new year!!!! Lot of Love hugs and kisses from all us back here!!! Stay safe and enjoy!!! remember to drink lots and i will be sure to have a few for you back here!! xxxxx