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Published: February 18th 2008
Hi everyone,
Its been a long time since our last blog and alot has happened... This blog covers the Luang Prabang and Slow Boat part of our trip:
Freezing our a$$es off in South East Asia!
Well its been a loooooong cold few days.... and we cannot believe we are in the tropics of Laos! It is freezing.. seriously.... Luang Prabang was lovely. A quaint little town listed as a world heritage site, full of cafes, bakeries and tuktuks.... we had a good time, but it could have been great had the weather played ball with us! It is sooooo cold.. you cannot imagine how much so! I bought a Beer Lao hooded sweater in Vang Vieng and I seriously have not taken it off since.... I have slept in it every night.. along with long pants, sock and 2 tops underneath....
Day 1 in LP was spent just looking around.... the sun actually came out around lunchtime and we thought our luck had changed, so decided to spend the afternoon sightseeing and do some outdoor activities the following few days..... The day was spent wandering around the gorgeous little streets & eating. We ate
at a restuarant called Tamarind, which specialises in traditional Laos food. We had a couple of tasting platters... interesting to say the least, but not great!! We tried river weed and dried buffalo amongst other strange things!
Day 2 we awoke freezing our asses off... and couldnt do much more than laugh! we crawled back into bed and slept until lunch time! Once out of bed, we went into town for some lunch and booked a tour to the waterfalls the following day.... we then hung around until the Night Markets started and did a small amount of shopping.. they had the most gorgeous silver jewellery there, and I could of really went all out... I did contain myself and only bought 1 ring, 6 bracelets and 2 necklaces! LOL!!!!
Day 3 dawned and it was even colder than the last day! Is this truly possible??? We are in SE Asia!!! LOL! We had already booked a trip out to Kuang Si Waterfalls, so resigned ourselves that it would be a picture taking experience and no bikinis involved! We set out in a minibus at lunchtime with 10 others and were pretty much dumped at the bottom of
Yummmmm
This dried buffalo is making my boobs leak! LOLthe waterfall and told to meet back in 2 hours. First stop was the bear enclosure, where there were several Moon Bears kept... they have been rescued from poachers... from there we headed to the Tiger enclosure where one lonesome tiger was pacing back and forth along the fence... very sad but again this tiger was rescued as a baby and its probably the best life it can have... its alternative was not so great! We went for a walk through the falls to the top and took some amazing photos.. unfortunately it was way too cold for us to swim which was disappointing but not the end of the world....
Once back to town we went back to the night markets so I could pick up a couple more bits of jewellery for presents then we headed back to our guesthouse for an early dinner. We paid our bill that night as we were leaving in the morning and the owners of ThongBay are so lovely... they did this little 'ceremony' where they wished us good luck for the next leg of our journey, and as they did they tied these little traditional buddhist bracelets around our wrists
and put Laos silk scarves around our necks... really sweet. They also said they would prepare some baguettes for us in the morning for our boat trip free of charge! Very impressed!
The food at Thong Bay was amazing.. we ordered our favourite noodles, thai green curry and fruit shakes and sat in the cold on our balcony eating and preparing ourselves mentally for the slooooooow boat to Huay Xui!!
Slow boat... yep sure is!!!
The following morning we grabbed our baguettes and headed to the slow boat.. Getting on was a challenge for Reety as it was this long plank between the mud and the boat... and with 20kgs on my back and my known lack of balance I was almost hyperventilating (this become a stress for me over the next few days of getting on and off these boats!!!) ... once on the boat we were quite impressed... first on meant we got to pick the best seats... half the seats were like your normal comfy bus/train seats and so we took the first row with plenty of leg room, and it even had a western toilet (although you wouldnt be game to
sit on it!!) .... only problem was when we got going it was SO BLOODY COLD THAT WE ALMOST GOT HYPOTHERMIA!!!! Everyone on the boat when into a state of shock... I dont think any of us could believe it.... we had at least 3 layers of clothes on, our sarongs around us and we were trying to all get on the floor to escape the icy wind! It was longest 8 hours of our lives!!!!!
We arrived into Pak Beng (the small town of nothing where you spend the night halfway) where we found a semi-clean room for 300 baht ($10) and we set about finding some food before it got too late. This town only exists for the slow boats, and is very basic with electricity by generator between 6.30pm & 10.30pm! We decided to try an Indian restaurant next door to our hotel, and had the worst Indian we have ever eaten! Gross!
When we got back to our hotel Rinna decided to do a No 2, and proceeded to block our toilet... great! I was busting but there was no way I was going in there! LOL! It was the funniest thing all trip!
I almost wet myself laughing and got some great photos (which I am not allowed to publish dammit!!!)...
The next morning we got up super early so we could get to the boat and get our great seats .. only to discover we were on a different boat, and this new boat was why people bitch and complain about the slow boat trip... no comfy seats, only hard wooden seats which you could only fit half your bum on.. our a$$es were numb before we even left... and to make matters worse it only had a squat toilet!!! Not great for Reety who has now officially had travellers diahorrea for all but 2 days of the trip! I cannot wait to get back to Thailand and find a doctor!!
Realising I had a squat toilet and diahorrea for the next 10 hours I got out the good old Gastro stop and convinced myself that constipation was the better option! LOL! Ok enough poo talk!! Again it was freezing and so we settled down on the floor and played UNO for the next few hours! Afterwards we grabbed some cushions off the seats (and I use the word cushions
Up up and away....
This one is for you guys Brett and Frangas! very loosly), curled up in balls on the floor and tried to sleep away the time.... This trip was even longer and 9.5 hours later we landed in Huay Xui!
The following day was our trip of a lifetime.... The Gibbon Experience...... Stay tuned! xoxo
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Alison & Pat
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Beautiful scenery
Looks beautiful. Don't envy you on the slow boats though. Having spent 3 nights of our honeymoon at 5 deg c sleeping fully clothed in Chiang Dao we know where you are coming from! xx