Week two: A slice of Pai and the Mekong River

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Hello everyone,

Week 2 is nearly done already; this trip is going even faster than I even imagined it would! As I write this my time in Luang Prabang (Laos) is coming to an end and I'll be on the road again to Vang Vieng within the next 24 hours. As I said last week I'm still trying to get the hang of writing for this blog and keeping to my weekly schedule, which as you've probably noticed I'm already behind on 😊 Before coming on this trip I thought I would have plenty of time to prepare these posts. Instead I've been restricted to writing mostly when I'm on the move (right now I'm on the bumpy road from Luang Prabang to the regions most famous attraction: the Kuang Si Waterfalls).

The journey to Pai will always linger with me. At three and a half hours its relatively short in comparison to many of the other bus rides I'm planning on taking on this trip. Nevertheless it was a journey that was marked by two distinctive features: the outstanding natural beauty of rural northern Thailand and a road that all backpackers remember as being one of the worst around. For someone who hasn't suffered from travel sickness for years, I felt pretty rough as we arrived in Pai, but even those who have never suffered still found it hard going. The minibus drivers to Pai only add to the discomfort and this was summed up by our driver only putting on his seatbelt in the final half hour of the journey, before putting his foot down and driving like it was his last day on earth!

Unfortunately I wasn't able to take any pictures of the scenery on the journey, but the landscape around Pai itself more than made up for this. The town sits in a valley surrounded by mountains and has come to be pretty popular with backpackers for its chilled atmosphere after the bustle of cities like Chiang Mai and Bangkok. Neither I, nor my friend Oran, had ever even heard of Pai before arriving in Chiang Mai; then it was all we heard about when asking people their travel plans. A lot of the time it seems to be curiosity as well as a desire for the relaxed atmosphere that sends people to Pai. The town is surrounded by a fantastic range of sights from hot springs dotted in all directions to bamboo bridges and a large statue of a white Buddha sat overlooking the entire valley. Since we were limited to just three nights in Pai we thought we would only be able to view the sights in the immediate vicinity. But in addition to the sights that surround the town, Pai also has a great selection of moped hiring shops. Whilst they do ask for a £46 deposit for a bike and ask to take your passport as further security (which you can refuse to provide) the price is incredibly cheap working out at £4.50 to hire for 24 hours, plus once you get that £46 back it feels almost as good as pay day (incidentally many of the hiring shops double as street food stalls at night - result!) From my perspective the prospect of hiring one was pretty terrifying as I had no experience and I'd heard so many stories of people crashing or being stopped by the police, but after 15 minutes on it I was completely comfortable; not meaning to sound incredibly cliche but it was just like riding a bike. So with these at our disposal we were able to view the magnificent views of the valley and mountains from both the White Buddha statue and Pai canyon, as well as take a dip in a hot spring and relax beside a magnificent waterfall (all of which I'd thoroughly recommend visiting) It was also here that we met a really awesome group of people from all over the world (some of whom had the exact same plans we did; a coincidence that happens far more than I expected)

At night Pai continues to be a surprising hub of activity considering how small it is. One of the main streets closes completely and a night market takes over selling a great selection of edgy clothes (I've seen enough elephant pants to last me a life time!) as well as an awesome variety of street food! Although inevitably Pad Thai tended be the favoured choice I still got stuck into new dishes like Thai style omelette and grilled squid. Despite occasionally grumbling that I've had noodles and pad Thai too much since I've been here I can't get past the fact that Thai food is awesome (although pretty much all food is awesome so that's no surprise) The streets naturally fill up with backpackers all looking for the same things as me: good food and a place to drink as many Chang beers as possible, they are after all incredibly cheap :D I'm really missing Chang right now; Laos has its own beer (Beerlao) and it tastes like Fosters that's been left in the sun. Overall Pai certainly lived up to expectations, everyone I had met had said how great it was and these glowing reports were clearly well founded. Having bikes made the stay so much more enjoyable and certainly a lot easier. So far I've met very few people who have been in Northern Thailand and haven't been to Pai and it's easy to see why: after the busyness of Chiang Mai and Bangkok, Pai is quite literally a breath of fresh air! Whether its going for a party, seeing some stunning views, or just simply doing nothing, Pai covers all these things superbly. I came across a lot of people who had stayed longer then they had intended and whilst we were tempted we had to move on to Laos.

After enduring yet another cramped and uncomfortable bus ridr to the border town of Chiang Khong, I was looking forward to being a lot more relaxed on the slow boat from Huay Xai (on the Laos side) to Luang Prabang. With regards to Chiang Khong itself there is very little to say. Whilst it has the usual two features of Thai towns: a Buddhist Wat and a 7-Eleven, there was so little time to explore any further. The owner of the hostel had assured us that there was nothing to do in the town except drink where we were staying (I know, why would he lie!?) so pretty much everyone obliged. Having had an even rougher journey back from Pai due to being hungover I had been put off from drinking before travelling, although since then I've repeated my mistakes again having uttered the usual words of 'one more drink can't hurt'. The boat itself again exposed us to some absolutely stunning scenery: so many people miss this simply because they take the faster option of flying to Luang Prabang (or the moderately cheaper option of a 20 hour bus journey - I can't imagine anything worse!) Considering it cost a combined total of £41 to get the bus from Chiang Mai to Chiang Khong, with a hostel included and then a two day boat trip with some of the most incredible views around, you certainly get your moneys worth. It made me quite sad when putting that into perspective: that amount would barely get you a 2 hour train journey at home.

Unfortunately the pictures I took don't do it justice, so if any of you reading this are planning on knocking around Laos for a little I would thoroughly recommend taking this journey (both directions are available) Admittedly the boat trip wasn't without its faults; the main one being there are often far more people than seats, so our Irish friends from Pai were forced to sit next to the engine in the back for several hours before resorting to sitting in the aisle or seat hopping (trust me, sitting uncomfortably in the aisle is travelling in luxury compared to being crammed in the engine room) If any of you do look to do this I would recommend being as organised and early as possible, two things which you can probably guess I haven't even come close to mastering. The boat is also a great opportunity to relax, chat to people, make a dent in a decent book, or try to sleep off the hangover (it wasn't me who was suffering this time though so it was nice to be on the outside for once). As I said earlier for the entire journey you are treated to some absolutely stunning views of the upper Mekong river. For most of the journey the river runs in a basin with hills and mountains on either side acting as a natural border between Laos and Thailand for over 350 miles in total (obviously the slow boat only covers a fraction of this) It then meanders east into Laos and the immediate surroundings flatten out just before you arrive in Luang Prabang and carefully step ashore on the most unstable plank around. I could rave about the scenery for longer but I've already taken up enough of your time so I'll quickly conclude so you can go and read something better!

I'm going to leave talking about Luang Prabang itself to the next post so keep an eye out for it 😊

Cheers

Ed

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