Lazy Laos

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Hi Everyone,
Hope everything is going great back at home?
Sorry we havn't blogged for a while (apart from the mini Burma blog).

We left the last blog in Thailand so will carry on from there...

From Chiang Mai we went onto Chiang Rai which is about a 3hour coach ride north so the scenery changed from flat to bumpy mountains. We decided to walk out to our guesthouse (Akha River Lodge) but ended up walking around for about an hour trying to find it in the dark! Things have changed slightly since Lonely Planet map was drawn and there is a huge new road in the process of being built (right alongside our Guesthouse!) The room was ok bu the shower didn't turn off at all and all of the staff were virtually comatosed, not the best guesthouse we have come across! It was ok though, the only reason we decided to stay there was to go on a hike with them the next day (we should have taken the hint!)

So the next day we got up bright and early to have breakfast before being picked up for our hike in the mountains. After finally trying to get someone to serve us in the very unhappy restaurant the breakfast came out and was pretty dire. A 3inch thick eggy pancake, yummmy! Our guide called Newy was a late picking us up and within half another we discovered that the first part of our day (a boat ride) was a no-go because the river was too low. We then had to wait for twenty minutes outside his friends funeral until he got his other friends truck keys. It soon became clear that the day was going to be full of surprises! (It was booked with an official guide so god knows how the other treks might turn out). The highlight of the day was at the beginning when we went offroading to get to a Lahu village. The road was narrower then the truck in most parts, there was pretty steep drops to the side and we were slipping and sliding all over the place. Dean's favorite bit was when we started sliding backwards towards the edge whilst still in second gear. Newy turned to us and said 'it's an experience, yes?' :-) The village was very very pretty and we found a couple of cling on's (little boys wanting piggy backs) when we were looking around. On the way back down the track we were stopped by 3 guys in checked shirts and jeans brandishing knuckle dusters and pistols. Newy got out and we started to worry slightly especially when one of the guys was looking through the window and looking out our bags! Ten minutes later one of the guys came up to the truck and said 'not to worry we are policemen!'! hmmmm, you can imagine what our faces must of looked like. No photos i'm afraid!

So then we carried onto a village to have lunch where Newy informed us that 2more people plus their guide would be joining our 'private' tour. From here on it all went completly downhill. To cut a long story short they took us to a small waterfall full of locals and told us to get in and have a swim (with no chance to change), we got a little bit of walking done (all 45 minutes of it) and then ended up at a sulpher hot springs-not what you want when it is 35degrees. We all passed on that one so then Newy left us in a cafe shack for half an hour while he went off trying to sort out a boat! Basically we ended up taking a five minute boat ride to a touristy elephant cetre that we asked not to go to (the other couple were stuck in the back of the truck waiting-which we didn't know) but he also wasn't there to meet us at the other end... but then we spotted him the other side of the river adn we had to get a boat over to him.... ended up with us all saying to take us back to town as we had enough of our 'hike'!! Was pretty funny though-not sure if the other couple were as amused as us because they were on day2 and had probably spent quite a lot of money for their '2day village trek'. In the end Dean managed to get our hotel room free so we didn't end up losing too much money on our interesting day.

We made a quick exit in the morning and walked to the bus station where we got our first local bus to Mai Sai. (Look at Burma blog). The bus was pretty cheap and a bit more comfy then the Indian local buses. Thailand is pretty easy on the traveller. After our day in Burma we took a Sawangthaew (pick up truck) to Chiang Saen. After a bit of confusion we found another one headed to Chiang Kong on the Lao border. The first half of the journey was shared with a dozen locals and a plough above us, and the second half was just us and 300 kilos of rice where we finally got to get our first sightings of the Mekong.

In Chiang Kong we stayed at a charismatic place called Bamboo guesthouse which was only open for another week-they serve amazing Mexican food. The owner and family were complete nutters and the guy kept giving impromptu speeches during dinner. The weirdest part of our stay came when we were having a look around and stopped at another restaurant. This middle aged American guy on his own kept trying to make conversation with us despite our best attempts to ignore him. In the end we left and headed to a bookshop (that he had recommended across the restaurant) and low and behold there he was when we got there. After being generally weird for five minutes he tried to drag us into another place and when we finally told him no and to go away he got slightly nasty. Complete Cruncy Nutter! After speaking to the family at our guesthouse apparently he is known locally as the professor with the umbrella and is a complete pain in the ass. Beware other travellers-don't bother with being polite, just leg it. The next morning (after I slipped over with my backpack on in the mud!!) we set off pack lunches in hand for the Laos border.

When we got to Lao immigration it was a bit embarassing as there were a group of English backpackers who were drinking beer (at 8am!) abnd were causing a right scene. They were really verbally abusive to the staff at the immigration office and they generally gave a very bad impression of westerners, could do without people like that. With a bit of gentle persuasion and some help from a local guy Dean managed to grab our passports/visas and we escaped the madness which was still going on. From Huay Xia we decided to take a 2 day slow boat/barge down the Mekong down to Luang Prabang (thankfully the alcoholics didn't manage to sort things out in time to make it on board). The boat journey was quiet entertaining-very touristy, but there were a group on a photography course that had extremly huge lenses, see video. After a plesent overnight stay in Pak Beng half way down we arrived into Luang Prabang at sunset, which is where we are now.

Luang Prabang is much more set up then we thought it would be but it has a lovely relaxing atmosphere. There are loads of great charity organisations set up so that you can either help out or just donate money to. Everything is also focused on being environmentally and economically sustainable which is wonderful to see (especially after researching it for so long at uni). On arriving we hunted out a place to stay and then went for a nice meal (there are a lot of trendy places to pick from). At the moment we are staying at a lovely bargain priced guesthouse that we found down a lane just off the main road with all the cafes. It's only four pounds a night but it must be the nicest and cleanest room we have found for a good price- a complete bargain, it will be a shame to leave.

Since we have been here we have had a good walk around and have done another cooking class to find out what we will be eating for the next month. Too much food again! Look at the pictures! The organisation is also a restaurant called 3 Elephants who support a local orphanage-it was wonderful to see all the good work they do displayed on the walls. We have a booklet which details all the worthy organisations that run in Laos so if anyone is feeling flush and wants to donate to a worthy cause let us know. There was another charity that we popped into see called Brother Mouse which produces and distributes educational books for children in Laos, we bought a few books to give away to children when we are trekking past villages and donated a few pennies to the great cause. There are so many wonderful worthy causes set up here-it's a shame this can't be the same everywhere we go!

On a less charatible note we also had a really lovely relaxing aromapherapy massage (Harri's influence- I miss those uni days:-) which was a bargain at 7 pounds each. Pampered! Dean was worried it was going to be too girly but the guy he had was as strong as an ox and pummeled the life out of his pressure points, so he was happy-and he smelt a lot better after, he he. We wanted to go climbing but again it failed because the climbing instructor isn't working at the moment... don't think we are meant to go :-( There is also a great night market here-so many many wonderfully nice things to buy again-wish we could send a truck load of it home. Plus more yummy food, including french influenced cuisine (they ruled here for a while)-really need to start doing more active things to burn off all these calories!

We have to leave tomorrow unfortunatly. Rising early to see the Alm procession (Monk offering) and then we have a VIP seat on the 10hour coach ride to the capital, Vientiane. There we want to do some trekking (properly this time round) but as always with us it is subject to change. Loads of stuff planned but will let you know how it all goes... Laos is amazing so far and we are looking forward to seeing more of it.

Keep you all up to date as much as we can (internet will be much more scarce we think after Vientiane so don't worry if you don't get emails for a little while).

Love you all loads and all take care, looking forward to seeing you in September!
All our love Sar and Dean xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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