Blogs from Pakbeng, West, Laos, Asia - page 4

Day 5 An early start today as we boarded our boat for a two slow lesuirlsy days along the River Mekong. The boat that was charted out just for us was perfect. Measuring about 2meters by 35meters it was loosely divided into four sections. There was a section with loungers for lazing in the sun, and then there was a section of bus seats that reclined, behind that was the dining area and behind that again was the family quarter. Cruising all day long we made one stop to a remote village. Armed with my big camera I took photos of this 100population village. Walking up the mud track from the river we were greeted by two girls, both had dirty clothes on and the younger of the two only had a t-shirt on and nothing ... read more

In Chiang Khong nahe der Grenze angekommen wurden wir zu einem Guesthouse gebracht, das bei unserem Programm inklusive war. Ein nettes guesthouse und besonder die Duschen haben uns gefallen :-D Da wir aber noch total erschlagen waren, schoben wir uns noch nen film rein und schliefen dann auch bald. Naechster Morgen, ein kleines Fruehstueck und ein Lunchpaket fuer das Boot gekrallt und los gings, wir wurden zum Grenzuebergang gebracht, dort wurden wir erstmal ausgstempelt und dann ueber den fluss gebracht. Kam uns nicht wirklich wie eine Grenze vor, man haette rueberschwimmen koennen und die gebauede sahen auch nicht wirklich aus, als muesste man sie ernst nehmen, man haette genauso gut einfach dran vorbeilaufen koennen, denn kontrollen gabs keine :-) auf der anderen Seite angekommen, erstmal den fuss auf Laotischen Grund und Boden gebracht, wow! und dann ... read more

When I decided to float the Mekong River for two days from the Thai-Lao border to Luang Prabang, I wasn't sure what to expect. I thought I might be hitching a ride with a fishing canoe or maybe a freighter. I had heard people had done it. Then I heard it was a fairly popular method of getting in to Laos. As it turns out, like most things in the region, it was 100 tourists showing up for a boat that holds about 80. So, before we all got on the boat, one of the guys in charge announced to everybody that it was going to take longer than everybody had been told by their various tour sellers. Also, the town we would be stopping in for the night lacked electricity and is dangerous, etc... Turns ... read more

Neuveritelne jsem se tesila az uvidim tenhle asijsky veletok, o kterem jsem si predstavovala uz v detstvi, ze proteka ryzovymi poli, vsude jsou vodni buvoly, z kazdeho meandru na Evropana ciha nejaka nemoc. Cast z toho byla pravdou, ale vetsinou je pravda samozrejme jina a tahle reka, ktera nas provazi celym Laosem a jeste bude v Kambodzi ma spousty podob. Tenhle blog bude spise o fotkach a povidani u nich. Mekong je proste v Laosu vsudypritomny, mistni ho nazyvaji sperkem JV Asie, protoze je zivi a spojuje s okolnim svetem. Bohuzel jsme take poznali na vlastni kuzi pritomnost tzv."cestovatelu" ve veku kolem 23 let ze zemi Kanady, Australie, Anglie a USA, kteri se jen tak mimodek potuluji JV Asii a v alkoholovem opojeni skaci do Mekongu, do vodopadu, ztraci veci a ostatni znacne otravuji ... jako ... read more

Polly: After our short boat ride across the Mekong River to the Laos town of Huay Xai, we filled in our visa applications and paid the US$35 each for our thirty-day visas. They processed these quickly and stamped our passports. We then walked up the slipway towards the town, stopping at a tour agency to enquire about our onward transport. All the boats and buses from Huay Xai depart in the morning, so we had to stay in the town for a night. We stopped at the first guesthouse, and took a room for 91,000 Laos Kip. The room was comfortable, and the price (approximately 7 GBP) included breakfast. After dumping our heavy bags we went in search of food. There weren't many restaurants to choose from, but we found a small Indian cafe and had ... read more