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Published: November 3rd 2006
The Boat of Death!!!
Health and safety requirements haven't quite got to Loas yet.....I didn't think the journey from the Full Moon party to the Tiomen Islands could be bettered as the worst journey of my life. It has and my god it was bad!!! First we left Pai at 10 on the night. This was fine but I had decided that to celebrate United's easy victory over Liverpool which I watched in a bar full of Thai Liverpool fans so I'd had a few drinks and spent the first two hours crossing my legs cause the beer had gone straight through me! I couldn't sleep either as everytime I nodded off my head would get whacked off the window, seat, person sitting next to me, etc as the driver who was clearly on a mission was really driving into the corners. He was a nutter.
Following that we then we holed up in a house for a few hours while we had our visas sorted out. We then went across the river to Laos. We we had to sort out our visas, get them stamped. Then came the hell of the fast boat down the river. In our wisdom we decided that we'd get the fast boat as it was cheaper and we
Before the Hell....
Yeah we're all laughing now, thats soon gonna change!! could be in Luang Prabang by about 5 o'clock. We weren't aware that at least 2 boats crash each month doing this run. I knew there was a problem when they gave me a helmet to wear with a visor on it. There was no room at all for my legs, which at one point went numb it was so cramped. You couldn't talk as you needed to wear earplugs as the noise of the engine was so loud, you couldn't read as the wind was so quick. There I was going through one of the most picturesque places I've ever seen with numb legs, deaf, looking like the demented third member of Daft Punk!! The view was amazing although the feeling that I could be hitting a rock any second wasn't really what I wanted.
Once we got to Luang Prabang I was so relieved. We got a tuk tuk into the main town, it was quite apparent from looking at the people that this wasn't going to be as modern as Thailand. Luang Prabang is beautiful though, the architecture of the building is really nice, french Indo China if I'm not mistaken!! Really chilled out I don't think
the scooters go above 10 mph. We chilled in on the first night and watched some films as Luang Prabang seems really quiet on the night, most places closed or closing by about 11.
The following day we went up Phou Si, which has buddha's footprint here along with the usual temples and monks. It also has a recling buddha and greats view across the whole city. I got a few pictures of the city. The musuem opposite the mount was closed.
Final night in Luang Prabang, we again just had a few drinks and went to bed. Tommorrow we're heading to Vang Viang and the legendary tubing.....
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