Slow Boat and Luang Prebang

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Monday 16th March
We spent one final night in Chiang Mai before setting off in the morning to the Thai/Laos border town of Chiang Kong. We took a package deal with an aircon minibus because it wasnt much more expensive than getting there by ourselves. The trip was uneventful and the six hour journey seemed to go fast. as part of the package we had accomodation already sorted,- upon our arrival we turned up to a delapidated building that look more like a public toilet than a hotel! One side of the building had completely subsided and we couldnt help but laugh because it was so bad. The positive thing was that we werent the only ones to have made an error and most people had seemed to have took the crappy package too! On the next bus our friends from the trek turned up and we became a group of 7 for the journey ahead. We decided to take the onward route by "slowboat" to Luang Prebang in Laos and we spent much of the night laughing because another British couple had decided to take the speed boat there, which was descried as a runaway chainsaw that would disintegrate! We chose the safer option! We had a free meal in the evening which was a buffet dinner like a school trip, nevertheless it was really cool to meet with the people also on the journey ahead. Later that evening we chilled on our sloping and broken balcony with a beautiful view of the Mekong River and Laos a short distance away. Our room looked like a prison cell! - The toilet/shower allows you to use them at the same time! And the pillows were concrete cushions! There were also some comical signs dotted aroundsuch as "Danger do not lean against wall." - Regardless of this, it was the best night sleep weve had!

Tuesday 17th March
The next morning we were to start our travel to Luang Prebang - a beautufil northern town in Laos. Our "slowboat" journey was to take 2 days down the Mekong river and research from other travellers expressed it to be gruelling and painstaking! It was anything but that!....Great fun.
Our first border crossing was from Chiang Kong (Thailand) to Huay Xai (Laos). We already had our visas so were able to go straight across with ease, taking a small boat Taxi across the Mekong from country to country. Stamped and ready to explore Laos we were shipped onto a mini van and taken to restaurant with the rest of the package group. Basically this was a scam! They took our passports to pretend that they were authentic and tried to put you off going on the slow boat saying there was one boat, you stayed in a hell hole after the first day thats incredibly expensive and it takes longer than what it actually did - making a girl pass out in the now crouded resteraunt. All to persuade you to take a minivan or bus to Luang Prebang. Collectively our group of 7 decieded to "risk it for a biscuit" and stay on the slow boat. Infact there were two boats and we had a comfy chair and plenty of room for my long legs. The slow boat is a long tailed wooden boat with a roof with various seats along it. Without knowing the exact ETA to Pak Beng - our night time stop, we relaxed and admired the lush greenery of the Mekong Valley sides and rocky outcrops sloping into the river, Stunning scenery. We also viewed locals washing, fishing and farming aswell as the occasional local village upon the hillside whilst pulling in to pick up and drop of just about anything. The journey to Pak Beng took 6:40 which actually seemed like only a few hours as there was quite a party atmosphere on the boat. Upon arrival to Pakbeng it was chaos.... We were warned that people tried to carry your bags up to the village for money with the occasionaly one going missing. However we didnt expect a full on pirate seige! I quickly ran to the bag store as soon as the boat stopped, finding a dozen locals fly into the boat windows hunting for their treasure! As it was getting dark this was chaos, I found my bag and later found out that Nik spotted a man going out the window with hers and she managed to get it back. we created a chain back to the main boat to try and stop the locals from taking the bags, however couldnt salvalge all of them with 6 year olds carrying out huge racksacks twice there size! In all the scurry, a man had fallen in with his bag trying to exit the boat! Actual mayhem...! Nik had also nearly fell in. The weight of her bag, flipflop footed and a steep slopes was almost too much to handle, but a local man trying to sell a hostal "saved" her life with a hand! Instead of an expensive nightmare the guesthouse was the cheapest we had got, costing only 2 pound each. Later that evening we went for an Indian and talked about what we had been through!. It sounded bad but was a real adrenaline rush and loads of fun!!!!

Weds 18th March
The following day we took the slow boat again, We set off without being pestered by the Pak Beng locals and managed to squeeze everybody onto one boat, we arrived on the boat early and managed to get a load of seats with mates, rather than sit on the floor!We avoided any boredom by playing cards and looked at the amazing scenery around us. As we got nearer to our destination, Luang Prebang, the steep sides turned to rolling hills like you would see on a picture at your local chinese restaurant. Picturesque. Arriving at Luang prebang was far more relaxing than Pak Beng the night before, we managed to get our bags off the boat with ease and without any little local pirates swinging from boat to boat. Luang prebang is beautiful, really worth the 2 day trip down the Mekong to get there. The combination of Laos culture and French Influence coupled with relaxed way of life gives Luang Prebang an exotic yet homely feel, The whole town is pretty and we managed to get a nice guest house with our group of 7 near a big temple and next to the mekong/nam kahn river confluence. The night we arrived we explored the night market and ate a very tasty fish with sticky rice down a local side street. Weve also had alot of trouble with Laos money - Kip. Its about 11,000 kip to the pound so were millionaires at the moment! our Guest house - In my opinion this guest house is by far the best, Where else will I get the opportunity to be sitting on the toilet, wash my clothes and watch Man United get stuffed all at the same time. Heaven!.

Thurs 19th March
Everyday in Luang Prebang at around 6:00, upto 300 monks walk the street singlefile collecting food and gifts from the locals, we decided to get up early and watch the parade end at the temple nearbye where we are staying. It was a great sight with so many monks in there orange robes walk down the road with the sun rising over the beautiful houses and great picture oportunity for Nik to zoom on for a great cultural experience. Tired from the travel the days before we went back to bed and then woke up to explore the local temple. With its golden spires and intricate drawings on the temple walls aswell as the orange robes hanging to wash it was a cool way to start the day. I had a good talk with a monk and he showed me his minature shared room and found alot out such as that he was a novice monk so he could be put through education and help his poor family, it was also cool when a giant multicoloured bug landed on him yet he had to flick it away because Monks cant kill anything. Afterwards our group decided to take out some bikes to explore the town. We highly recommend this because it was great fun. Although the bikes wouldnt be suitable for a Lands End - John o'Groats trip they fit in well along the Laos streets, I had the smallest bike with multicoloured wheels and a basket on front and took the lead with a map to explore the town. Pushing my bike to the limit I often attempted to keep up with the locals on there mopeds and tuk tuks. We cycled around with no particular route and crossed a small bridge towards the airport. On our returned we spotted a garden of eden like hotel with a lovely garden area where we was quick to exploit. Although we could afford the $95 doller rooms here it was nice to take advantage of a bit of luxury and sample some beer Laos! The gardens were so nice that Nik spend much of the time photographing sunflowers and lolling in a swing chair. After I was chatted up by a local man we set off on our bikes again with legs hanging off our pedals as we went down hill and stopping at any good view as well as parking our bikes up for a bite to eat wherever we liked. In the evening Nik got to explore the night market properly, buying jewellry and art, whilst I bought a stupid little momento for my bag! Then we went to the same side street for some "supper" with Nik eating ugly fish again.

Friday 20th March
We planned to visit local waterfalls and so after a tasty Crepe and baguette shopping (French Influence!) for lunch time we got a crappy converted pick up van with our group to the waterfalls. The journey took about an hour with much of the time our little van struggling to climb up small hills. We passed a number of paddy fields, locals children cycling to school happy to wave and smile not to mention an Elephant wlking down the road! When we got to the waterfalls it was far better than we expected. We walked passed a bear sanctuary to find a series of cascading waterfalls with clear blue water at each pool in jungle surroundings. Although slightly commercial, the place was well run because you still felt like you were in the jungle. We ate our baguettes with the sound of a larger waterfall in the distance and tropical butterflies floating effortlessly around us. You could swim in these idilyic waters and at one pool there was a rope swing and a waterfall to jump off. This place was an opportunity for facebook profile picture galore! I took advantage with a beautiful shot of me an Nik by a huge powerful waterfall with my bum out!..! We scaled the side of the fall to reach the top but only caught a glimpse of the true scale of the waterfall. The steep climb was hard with the high heat and humidity, Nik took refuge under an umbrella she made using a jungle leaf! Hot and sweaty we were ready for the waterfall pools and I was first in via a ropeswing into the deep tropical waters. Later followed by a waterfall jump to cool down. Nik with her girlfriends all jumped off the waterfall in unisen together, offering yet another perfect fb picture and potentially practicing for syncronised diving at the London olympics!. In amazing surroundings this was a great day. After a sketchy start in Laos we have grown to love the place and look forward to a trip south to Vang Vieng tomorrow.

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Comments

[denny 1]

Can,t wait for the next blog
Hi you two . I was a bit alarmed by the pirate episode, glad it turned out alright. I am also pleased you have met up with 5 more people, safety in numbers. Nik don't forget to send photos home as soon as you can.Lots of love to you both . Julie xx