Laos July 2011

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After arriving in the middle of the night on a bus to the middle of nowhere (by the Thai/ Laos border), we were all set for the next part of our journey.
After a few hours sleep (literally) we got a boat after bus, after boat after bus to finally receive our visa. At this point everyone we had spoken to was going on the slow boat into Laos, where as we had opted for the 7hr speedboat, starting to think we were going to be the only people on this thing we were taken to a remote little pier ( I say pier, it was a cockroach infested set of bamboo floating by the side of the river.) Here we met the other brave sailors daring for the speedboat, 2 other english girls, a thai man and a box of chickens. Still quite unaware of what we had got ourselves into, a small canoe with a 150cc engine attached turned up, sure enough this was the speedboat! Helmets and life jackets were quite essential, the boat literally flew down the Mekong river, across whirlpools, tree trunks, and catching air a good couple of times. Quite scary when you are huddled up in a space smaller than a cardboard box with nowhere other than the river to escape to.
Half way through the journey we thankfully pulled up for some lunch, sticky rice with added ants, (yum!) we then set off for the remainder of our ride to Luang Prabang. Whilst we complain about the ride, the scenery was pretty breathtaking, with the vast river set out ahead of us surrounded by forest ridden mountains either side.
You'll be happy to know the chickens survived their 7hr ordeal on the boat, however the careless thai man left them at the top of the bank where we ended the trip and the box subsequently toppled down about 20ft. A lot of clucking then silence.
Luang Prabang was a small quiet town, quite a change after our month of chaos in Thailand. Covered in temples and monuments at the foot of 2 rivers, with a chilled out vibe from the terraced bars and the sea of orange from the many monks living there. The next day Sarah ventured off to Pakou cave (Vicky was still recovering from the boat ordeal), with a couple of americans from our hostel, they travelled by the much more sedate slow boat this time, and even had time for a breakfast shot of whisky en route at 10am. Perfect! The cave itself was in the side of a mountain and covered in buddha statues, with one added each year.

The next stop was Vang Vieng for the infamous tubing, after booking a 6hr VIP bus, we were a little disheartened by the 14hr public bus journey we endured. With no air-con or light we went through the night to Vang Vieng, the low point was definitely the loose bat on board at about 2am that evaded capture and being dropped off in a deserted Vang Vieng with no booked accomodation at about 3.30am. Woops. Luckily the local tuk tuk driver was there to greet us and sent us to Noi's hostel, Noi being an absolute legend checked us in and even saved us from some cockroaches!
Tubing was on the agenda for the next day, and it was definitely worth the journey. Picture a beautiful backdrop of rolling mountains and a beautiful summers day, now add some tourists in a rubber ring, covered in paint, floating down the river absolutely smashed, the rumour is that 6 people die per month and its easy to see how. Great day all round. Beer pong, death slides, diy bandanas, free shots, having to crawl up mud banks to get to the various bars - that's tubing! All topped off by having floated an hour too far down the river and having to be rescued by a local in a speedboat. Needless to say after a day like that we were in no fit state to be booking flights and travel into Vietnam, but you live and learn.

After travelling to Vientiane and spending 3 hours in the worst belgian restaurant known to man, our stay in Laos had come to an end. Off to meet Bryan, Nick and Seb in Hanoi so no time to lose.

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