Blogs from Pakbeng, West, Laos, Asia - page 7

url='/Videos/2824.html' onclick='dialog("/Videos/2824.html?popped=1","tbvideo",600,600);return false;'Cruisin the Mekong The next morning it turns out that mama B.A.P. had not exactly been truthful as she handed us each two bundles of Laos kip stapled together with one printed note each which read "Huay Xai - Pak Beng" and "Pak Beng - Luang Prabang". As she instructed us to use the first bundle right away when her boy dropped us to the boat ticket office and then impressed on us to ready at eight outside the ticket office in Pak Beng the following morning, I was too gob-smacked to protest that this was hardly the ticket-service that she had lawded us with the previous evening. I suppose we couldn't help smiling inwardly at her utter brass neck approach as she authoritavely shooshed us into the tuc-tuc to take us to the ... read more

FRANCAIS PLUS BAS - After a week in Chiang Mai and one month in Thailand it's now time to move on. A travelling companion from Gaspesie in Quebec has joined me here. The company is welcome after travelling solo for a while. It will take some adjusting but I don't anticipate any problems. I can adjust to most situations I think and after travelling in India everything else is EASY. So we take a mini-bus for a 5 hour drive to Chiang Khong, the last town in Thailand on the border. We sleep in a grotty room without hot water and crappy meals. That's what happens when you travel cheap. The next day, we take a taxi boat across the Mekong river to the Laos side after 4 passport checks. But crossing to another country is ... read more

Imagine the romance of a slow trip down the Mekong river on a cargo boat. Your vessel slides past the luxuriantly foliaged banks and you wave cheerily to the toiling peasants who take a moment from their labours to wave back, smiling. You settle snugly into your chair formed from sacks of rice and share a joke with the boatmen. A few bottles of Beer Lao appear from somewhere and you exchange travel reminiscences with the small group of your fellow passengers, the good humour almost tangible as the alcohol flows. The hours pass too quickly and suddenly the sun is low on the horizon, the now golden waters of the Mekong signalling that darkness is nigh, as is your stopover for the night. You reluctantly disembark and check in to your rustic but homely guesthouse, ... read more

Our final night in Pai was Tuesday 26th September. We went to Buffalo Exchange where Matt ended up getting up to play songs on a guitar. It was a really good night and the whisky we were drinking may have been the driving force behind his solo act (later accompanied by a German called Seb on bongos). As we left we bumped into Carrie and Conor (the Canadians from Chiang Mai), and the following day walking round Pai we kept bumping into people we had met, both there and in Chiang Mai, starting to feel like you live somewhere when you are travelling means it's probably time to move on no matter how much you like it! We decided to get a minibus back to Chiang Mai as our next stop was to be Laos and ... read more

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