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Published: October 3rd 2009
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After putting the final full stop on the last blog entry it was full steam ahead to Northern Thailand and a town called Pai (pronounced pie). Only a few hours on a mini-bus from Chiang Mai on a particularly winding road through the mountains. As it was roasting hot when we arrived we decide to go in search of a swimming pool nearby. This turned out to be a quite a mooch, we walked about 5 miles in the midday sun up snake pass (as i nicknamed it after seeing 2 dead snakes along the way - not good!) before realising we'd gone the wrong way. We eventually found an alternative pool, outdoors set within a farm house and bungalows. The view from this pool was amazing, surrounded by lush mountains and overlooking the nearby fields, we were easily able to spend the next few hours lying here! We're told Pai was once a hippy alternative to the usual backpacker stops, but it now sits firmly on the map of the well trodden indo-china route. Not that this is a bad thing, there are plenty of tourists there but it still remains laid back and 'artsy', and the 1st place in
Thailand we have found falafel! Unfortunately we only had 2 days here - mostly spent in the farmhouse pool. After Pai it was back to Chiang Mai for a night and then on to the bus bound for Loas.
The 14 hour bus journey to the border crossing was fairly uneventful - we'd chosen a night bus so we slept most of the way. After getting to the border we were herded into a travel agent to sign up for our visas and then driven to and through the border into Laos, apart from the usual red tape and the loss of 70 dollars, this was pretty easy going and we were in the Laos capital by lunch time - Vientienne.
Knowing that we have 3 weeks in Laos before our Vietnam visa starts and we're only covering the three main places on the backpacker trail in the north we were in no rush. Our first day in Vientienne was spent wandering around, stopping for food along the way and then an evening at the bowling alley. The following day we moved to a nicer hostel as our ceiling leaked and the room was non too pleasant where
we were. We did a lot more idle wandering and during the evening we ate dinner at a put-me-up style cafe on the edge of the Mekong river. We also found a little bar with an interesting selection of bugs and creepy crawlies on the menu - ick! By the third day in Vientienne I was already getting itchy feet, despite it being the capital of Laos the population is only 250,000 and there is very little to do there - I think a day would have been enough. The third day was spent at Budda Park - a very strange field full of concrete statues, buddas and all sorts of other random things. The next day we hired bikes and went up the Vientienne 'Arc De Triomphe' which unfortunately turned out to be pretty awful - an ugly blob covered in graffiti on the inside!
29th Sept and the time had come to move on - WOOP! A big cheer from me as I was starting to get bored! (I was also thrashed at bowling which was pretty disappointing). We left, on yet another mini-bus for the town called Vang Vieng. Famed for the 'tubing' Vang Vieng is
a pretty popular stop for all backpackers covering Laos. Tubing is where people float down the river on a huge inner tube stopping off every few meters at river side bars for pints along the way. At the risk of being horribly boring we decided to pass up on this on the basis that it sounded like a sickening nightmare. We also heard that 2 people in the last month have died doing it - both Brits. Aside from the tubing Vang Vieng is a very beautiful little town and there is a lot to do besides drunk tubing. The 29th was also my Grandad's 80th and I managed to speak to and see my family over skype which was really really nice, despite having a wonderful time out here there are times we really miss our family and friends.
The day after we hired mountain bikes and went on quite a trip through the mountains (Alys and Stu you'd be proud!) to the caves nearby, We both really enjoyed this and think we may try and do this more often. The last 2 days have been spent in a pool in a rather luxurious hotel nearby - we're
feeling a little like fake backpackers at the moment but enjoying it all same.
Tomorrow we're off on an eight hour journey to see the 'Plain of Jars' and then on to Luang Prabang. Untill then......
e & a. xxxxxxx
ps. pictures to follow...
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jonrha
non-member comment
Thanks
Thanks for your blogs guys, i enjoy them so much. I try and get to Thailand as much as I can often think of visiting it's neighbours to the East. However, apart from a few Historic sites, the blogs I read seem to tell me that I can see the same sort of thing in Thailand.