Waterfalls, slow boats and dogs in shirts?

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Since the last update where I was in transit from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang we have done quite a bit more moving. Luang Prabang was exactly as I remembered it from the last time we were here, nothing like the party town that is Vang Vieng (thank fuck). It was quiet, picturesque, full of older travellers and incredibly overpriced.

Arriving late we settled in at a guest house for 130000 kip, dropped our bags and went exploring the town once more, fortunately this time around the rain held off while we were there and we saw more than the restaurants on Th Sisavangvong road. Luang Prabang itself is jam packed full of history and is a clash of cultures with obvious French architecture and the sound of 15 or so fluorescent orange monks smashing drums and gongs from 7 in the morning. Deciding that $15US was too much to spend a night on accommodation we found ourselves a much better, cheaper and charismatic alternative.

Seeing as last time we visited we didn't see a thing we jumped into a tuk tuk for a tour of the surrounding sights with Alex, Nina and Dee and took off to visit a stunning waterfall with freezing swimming pools, a monk village with no monks but a whole bunch of hawkers and Wat Xien Thong boasting a bunch of buddahs and erotic painting on the walls from Ramayana showing humans and monkeys doing all kinds of nasty shit to one another. We followed up the sightseeing with a brilliant dinner in a restaurant near the middle of town and then partied on down to the bowling alley for a few games and a couple of bottles of lion king whiskey. Alex who had been travelling with us through from VV pretended he had only gone bowling the once but we doubted every word that came from his mouth after he bowled 170 in the first game, fortunately his game deteriorated as the lion king took over.

Pressed for time and knowing that we were a long way from Bangkok we committed ourselves to a 2 day slow boat ride up the mekong river to the Laos/Thai border town of Huay Xai. Two days on a boat sounds like we are living the dream but when they crammed 60 people on to a run down looking thing and then it broke down within 5 minutes of leaving the pier we new that we were in for a long couple of days, like a sailor getting back his land legs I am still shifting from arse cheek to arse cheek trying to get over the wooden benches they threw us on. 14 hours after we departed on our 'scenic 8 hour journey' we had seen enough of the banks of the Mekong river to last a lifetime and were thrown off the boat at Pak Beng a quiet little town which survives on the 5 boats going downstream and 1 upstream per day.

Fearing the worst of another lifetime on a boat, we were pleasantly surprised to have a good second day on the water. A bunch of Irish lads who we had run into a couple of times before the boat came to life and the Beer Lao began flowing as the cards came out. It is amazing that a day of dreariness and boredom could be followed up by one of the best days of our trip when the scenery was pretty much the same as the day before and the boat just as slow. We arrived at the border town of Huay Xai around dusk and with Thailand in sight we committed ourselves to one last meal(where we accidently crashed a funeral/wake) and a couple more Beer Lao. Goodbye Beer Lao, I will miss you.

After getting our exit stamp from Laos, crossing the Mekong and getting a stamp for our Thai visa we were whisked onto a local bus and the 2 hour trip to my current location Chang Rai the home of the best dressed dogs in the world. This town is nearly as laid back and relaxed that as Vientienne and I think if we had a few more days up our sleeve in Thailand we would stick around here for a while, but no, tomorrow we are off to Chang Rai.

I will throw up another update in about a week, so I will see you in Bangkok.

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Comments

[Dan]

sooo jealous
great to hear from you guys - it looks amazing and you both look so beautiful. keep on enjoying, and we'll keep looking forward to your updates!