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Published: November 12th 2008
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First night in Laos
Looking back over the Mekong to Thailand We last left the blog in Chaing Rai in Northern Thailand. We have since travelled through Northern Laos and are currently in Southern Laos. There has been so much to see that we thought we should split Loas in to 2 blogs.
Our bus to the border was not so good, either the suspension had been stolen or had been ommited in the design stage. After clearing immigration and officially leaving Thailand, instead of getting on the boat and crossing the river to Laos, Vik had a change of heart and tried to re-enter Thailand. We did however leave and after the 30 second crossing we were in Laos. Right from the word go we could see that Laos was a different kettle of fish (in a good way). Managed to get some kip at the main street (currency not sleep) and checked into our guest house which was run by the cheeriest old woman you could imagine. We soon sorted that out however as we managed to lock ourselves out of our room even though we had the key! The lock was obviously knackered so they ended up spending the next few hours attacking it with what sounded like
Our fellow cargo
The boat we spent about 18 hours on in 2 days! Not much room and also very wet! a sledgehammer as we waited on the balcony with a beer.
Decided to get off the main tourist route on the slow boat to Luang Prabang and head north on a slow boat for 2 days to Luang Namtha. Got into our little cargo boat and started our journey up the Namtha river. It was quickly obvious that comfort was not considered at all for the passengers, we were cargo, full stop. The scenery was stunning as we travelled upriver. We stopped off at various villages/houses so that people could have a look at our cargo and see if they wanted to purchase any of it (not sure if this included us or not). It was really amazing seeing these villages, its like going back in time and the kids all shouting "Sabai Dee!" and waving. The river was rough at times and as dusk fell on the first night we began to realise that "accomodation" mentioned whilst buying the ticket could mean a night on the boat (which had no cover by the way!) with a tarp on top. Luckily we soon stopped off at what seemed to be the boat drivers home village and realised that we
Dragonfly
Neil being arty were sleeping in his bamboo house. Beds were hastily rolled out after we were fed and also stung into buying beer lao from a "businessman" who was the only one who had a smattering of english and also wanted some of the beer back in to a glass for himself. He also seemed to want to go away so he could come back again mister??? A few tumblers of local moonshine and lights were out at 8pm all snuggled up in the same hut.
We awoke early thanks to the usual numerous cockerels that get going in the morning. We were fed breakfast which was a slight modification of the previous nights dinner! We had spent 10 hours the previous day in the small boat and were all a bit sore and not looking forward to the next 8 hour journey in the same position. This time we were laden down with some extra cargo including 2 extra villagers and 2 pigs and a load of little buckets with bricks on the bottom which they use for cooking. Once again it was as though they had been by passed by the modern world - all the boats are wooden
Our lunch stop
Where we can have sticky rice from bamboo container rolled into balls and dipped into stuff? with bamboo fishing poles, bamboo baskets for fishing, and hand woven sarongs being wore by the women. The laid back attitude of the Laotian people was evident today at every obstacle we encoutnered by laughter regardless of how dangerous it seemed to us (motor cutting out in the rapids, running aground and stricking rocks and almost capsizing. We arrived at Lunag Namtha later and were offered a taxi ride by someone digging their gardern.
Our first day in Luang Namtha we decided to rent bicycles and look out the bus station for our onward journey. A lovely trip through all the bamboo villages and saw a dog being prepared to eat on the way out having only hair removed and on the way back charred black from barbequing (the whole thing!). We did get lost and ended up 14 Km out of town. A lot of sweat and hard work followed to complete the 14 km back to town but the pineapple shake that followed will live with Neil for a long time!
After realising that motorised transport is the way to go we hired the pinnalcle of chinese 2-wheeled vehicles; a Fekon 100. The scooter actually performed
The easy riders
At a waterfall we rode to with our stupid helmets quite well with both of us on whilst taking it on some bumpy roads/paths twoards the nearby waterfall. We tried to plot a nice route back to take us through some villages across a river and the journey was a little bumpy but nothing the suitably qualified rider for "Neil Tours" couldnt handle. After the first village it got a little mucky and had to be pushed through. Although feeling we may have bitten of more than we could chew we pressed on but to our surprise the road stopped suddenly on our side of the river and started again on the other side. It looked like the bridge had been washed away - a lot of back tracking through the mud ensued but was good fun!
After Luang Namtha and being blown away by the villages living like they have done for a hundred years we moved on to Nong kiaw (spelling?). Lovely limestone karst scenery here and we got mountain bikes to cycle round and arrived at a cave. This was used during the US bombings (quite common in Laos during the war for the people to hide in the caves at that time).
We went
to Luang Prabang quickly after as we were suppose to treking in Nong Kiaw but didnt work out with the money (no ATM!). Immediatley we could seen this town was lovely and it actually the whole town is a protected world heritage site. This means they have a lot of restrictions at night time too and all the bars close at 1130 and you have to be back to your hotel for midnight. Just outside the town we went to Kuang si waterfalls. This is just about the prettiest waterfalls we have seen. The water is turquoise powdery blue and there are 7 or 8 tiers and 3 swimming pools to enjoy.
That was it for Northern Laos and we have had a great time in this amazing place so we will update again later with central/southern Laos.
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