Blogs from Laos, Asia - page 558

Part 10 January 28 Huay Xai The adventure begins, or actually hits its stride as we enter Lao (no one here uses the 's' as this was only added by the French). Along with about 100 other assorted travelers, which is quickly becoming 120 as they pack more and more on this 100 foot long, 10 foot wide boat, built with 40 closely cramped wooden benches made for 2, and now another 30 or so plastic chairs in the aisle, and another bunch sitting on the floor. This is the slowboat tour down the Mekong River to Luang Prabang, slated as two 6 or 7 hour days, but this is not exactly assured as everything is on the follow the crowd and wait system--visa application, passport control, signing this paper here and another elsewhere, moving from ... read more

We left you in Thailand, in Chiang Mai. Since then we’ve had some amazing adventures. Lets start with our last few days in bustling Chiang Mai. Originally we’d decided to give the hill tribes a miss as we’d be seeing much more authentic (read way less touristy / westernised) tribes in both Laos & Vietnam. But after chatting to a number of new friends on the way, including many who had done Nam tribes as well as those in Thailand and said that the experiences were different enough to warrant doing both, thought we should do it in any case - and we’re really glad we did. We were very lucky as our tour guide (western name Charlie) was from the Hmong tribe & had also been a Buddhist monk - so much gentler than ... read more

No more 90 degree hard wooden benches on cramped boats! Ouch my arse. Truley sore but truely an experience I wouldn't give up. We left Chiang Mai on Tuesday morning (the 24th) for a 6 hours busride to Chiang Khong, near the Lao border. The bus ride was a little sore on my tummy, but nothing to bad as we slept and rested most of the way. We were dropped of in the middle of Chiang Khong and took a tuk tuk to the water where we paid out 5 baht departure tax and borded a "ferry" to cross the 50 metres in the Huay Xai, Lao. By "ferry" i mean long, skinny, tipsy boat loaded with 8 people and thier packs. Dangerously close to the water and bumby depite the calmness of the river. These ... read more

Comme il n'y a qu'un vol direct par semaine de Pakse à Siem Reap (le mercredi), nous devons retourner à Vientiane, puis attendre le vol sur Bangkok, puis un autre de là à Siem Reap. Nous en profitons pour visiter le Musée national du Laos, au centre-ville de Vientiane, qui retrace l'histoire du pays, de la protohistoire, en passant par les divers rois, jusqu'à l'ère communiste. Le musée renferme également une belle section sur les différentes ethnies linguistiques du pays. Nous prenons l'avion pour Bangkok. À l'arrivée, une représentante de la compagnie Bangkok Airways vient nous cueillir à notre descente d'avion et nous amène dans une navette, puis à travers des couloirs, ce qui nous évite la douane et nous permet d'arriver à temps pour la correspondance vers Siem Reap. Quel service! Nous sommes accueillis au ... read more

Another fortifying breakfast before heading back across the Mekomg for the last time, in Laos at least. We are heading off to the Bolean Plateau to the coffee/tea growing area. The first stop is for a 2 hour elephant ride up to the ruins of an old temple and fortifications. All that remains of the fortress are columns consisting of flat stones sitting on a bed of lava rocks. The creaking of the wicker saddle we sit in sways t6o the lumbering gait of the elephant. The driver sits on the neck of the beast and directs it by grunts and pressure behind the ears with his toes. It is a hot dusty day and the elephant cools herself by blowing snot/water from her trunk. When an elephant has a runny nose, it really drips. The ... read more