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Published: December 13th 2007
So, we finally got all of our passport/visa stuff taken care of and after a delayed plane flight to Kunming, my bag getting lost by the airline, a 5 hour delayed sleeper bus departure and one bouncy night spent on a bus, I'm finally got of China!!!!!! It's not that I didn't enjoy China, I was just very ready to get to some place a little more calm and Laos fits that perfectly.
As I said, our bus leaving Kunming was delayed for 5 hours which was simply annoying because everytime I would inquire as to when the bus was going to show up, they would say "In 12 minutes", ok, wait, wait, wait, still no bus. Ask again, same answer. Finally they gave us a time, but it was a good hour of constant asking before we got a good answer. Once the bus finally arrived, it was quickly packed full of people. For whatever reason, no one could put their stuff under the bus so everything was loaded into the bus. The walk way was full of boxes, bed frames, backpacks, shoes, small children, all kinds of things. Trying to get on and off the bus was like running through an intense obstacle course. The inside of the bus itself was interesting. I've been on sleeper buses before but this one was the most interesting by far. All those I've taken before have three seperate rows of bunks beds that run long ways up and down the bus, have a bathroom and a hot water thingy. This one had a single row of bunk beds down one side and a double wide row down the other, so it's like sharing a twin size bed with possibly, a complete stranger. Strange. We did not have either of these sleeping arrangements however, we were in the back bed. It is about the size of a california king size bed and it is meant to sleep 5 people together, no seperation between your neighbors, just 5 people hanging out on a bed together. Lucky for us, it was only the 2 of us and 1 Chinese man. Thank goodness, cause I wouln't want to be cramed between 2 people.
The ride was ok. There wasn't a bathroom so that just sucked and I woke up a few times during the night hoovering about 6 inches over my bed before landing again and either hitting Mark or the wall of the bus or both. It was an experience. We had an easy border crossing and then hopped in a tuk-tuk (a pick up truck essentially with two bench seats in the back and a cover on top) with an Austrian guy and headed off away from the yucky bus towards Luang Nam Tha. The tuk-tuk ride was great. Fresh air, sunshine, warmth! Amazing! I loved Laos from the moment that tuk-tuk started moving.
We spent last night and today in Luang Nam Tha just hanging out. Today we had a lovely breakfast of banana pancakes and wondered around trying to find the bus station (didn't find it or if we did, we didn't know it was considered a "bus" station). We planned on leaving here today but thought mountain biking to a nearby waterfall sounded like a good idea instead. We found our Austrain friend renting a bike at the same time as us, appartently with the same idea, so we mounted our bikes and headed 6km out of the city to the waterfall. The bike ride was great. We went through some hill tribe villages, got chased by children saying "sanbi-dii" or hello and saw some amazing scenery. The waterfall wasn't anything spectacular but it made a good destination for the trip. After the waterfall, some Lao men invited us to drink some lao-lao (rice whiskey) with them. We sat, drank and chatted with them for a bit before heading the long way back to town. It was a great day and tomorrow we head off to Muang Ngoi neua. A small town on the Nam Ou river which has no phone, no internet and is only accessible by boat. Sweet! Hope to do some trekking, tubing and caving from there in the coming days and take some outstanding pictures to share with you all.
Ok, I got a headcold which doesn't seem to want to leave me, so I'm gonna go get some rest. Forgive the spelling errors, I'm exhausted and don't feel like proof reading. Miss you all terribly, but not too much!
Happy Christmas shopping!
PS Aunt Mary and Grandma Eva, had a christmas present sent to Aunt Mary's PO box address. Look for it in the next week. xxoo
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Joey
non-member comment
heyo
hey sista gurl hope ur enjoying trip aye sounds like fun when u think u mite be in nz ?? looks like i'm gonna b in nz for a while at the mo it mite change when i go bac to work in jan, just finished work 4 the xmas holidays , enjoy ur trip buz