Advertisement
Published: January 18th 2012
Its been a few days since our last blog, we've been with no access on the slow boat from huay xai to luang prabang, laos, a 2 day trip.
Also , we are not sure how long we will be able to blog as it takes up to 2 hrs , maybe we'll be less frequent. anyway we we had to get up t 5.00 am in chiang rai so we can catch the 6.00 am bus to chaing khong, thailand, then catch a quick boat across the mekong river to huay xai, laos. we could not belive how many tourist there was, the border crossing in huay xai was packed with huge line up, we manage to get our visa for 42.00 usd each and cross the border in time to catch the slow boat, we found out later it really did not matter about trying to get through the line quick as everyone was going on the boat down the mekong river to luang prabang. there was 2 boats about 100 people on each boat.
we finally got moving at about noon, by this time it had warmed up, as in the morning it was very cold.
we got a comfortable spot, our packs were stored in the hold. We had picked up a bag of oranges,bananas and chips for the ride. And they had snacks and beer for sale on the boat. my lunch consisted of 3 bananas ( the bananas are much smaller here) , 5 oranges and 2 beers. (2 pepsi's for sean) and a shared bag of chips. we were content until the sun started going down, that was when it started getting cold and colder as darknest fell. We could not get to our packs, sean had stipped down to his short and t-shirt before getting on the boat,lucky for me i had long pants and shirt, but that was still not enough, i ended finding warmth in the back by the diesel engine very loud and stinky but a least i was warmer. sean, We pulled in around 8.00 pm in pak beng were the boat docked for the night and everyone found a guest house to sleep, yes all 200 of us. I think everyone found a place. We had diner and right to bed we went. There was racket outside our door, something like giant slabes of wood 300
lbs unloading from a truck at 10.00 pm, sean told them to be quiet,the guy said only a couple more minutes. then the guy next door started snooring. All in all it wasnt that bad.
In the morning, did i mention its really cold, were in the mountains and the sun doest burn the mist till around 11.00. But this time we were prepared we took all the warm clothes we brought, wich was not much(because its suposed to be hot in these parts so we thought) we also took our sheets,towel and surong, that kept us warm. the boat left at 9.30 and by 11.30 we started warming up. We had sandwiches made for us before we left, had a great lunch. arrived in luang prabang by 5.30. Took a tuk tuk to a guest house i had read about in the lonely planet but it was full, we stayed next door, not so nice but cheap 50 000 kip (7.500 cad) Walked the night market, and ate at an outdoor buffet for 10 000 kip 1.30 cad (not one you would imagine)
In the morning we searched for a better guest house, for 100 000 kip
we found one we liked , view of the mekong free wi-fi,bananas and coffee, what else would one want. There was a hair salon beside the other one, i had made an appoitment for today, so i got my hair streaked, cut, straighten for 140 000 kip. The rest of the afternoon was spent touring the town.
Luang Prabang is a world heritag site, yes the whole town. It is quite different then thailand, a little more laid back. We quite like the pace and athmosphere. We also like thailand but in a different way. We visited That Chomisi Stupa, vat thum and Bhuddas footprint. There is so much to the town that cant be put in word, not by me anyway.
Tomorrow is another day, we'll keep in touch.
Josee and Sean
Advertisement
Tot: 0.048s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 8; qc: 30; dbt: 0.0272s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Melodie
non-member comment
Looks cozy!