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Published: December 14th 2005
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Down the Mekong
For the first leg of the trip Laos is on one side, Thailand on the other. We have made it to Luang Prabang all the way from Thailand. We started in a place called Chiang Kong which is right on the border with Laos separated only by the Mekong River. We had no problems getting our visa to Laos although we were a little unnerved when the man at the tour office told us he had to take our passports until the next day (the way international crime is these days, there are now probably a number of Nicks and Sarahs in southern China, Myanmar, and perhaps even India). We stayed overnight at the "Boom House" hostel, which unfortunately lived up to its name because it had paper thin walls and our room seemed to be at the crossroads of all the pedestrian night traffic in town. No sleep could be had, but at least we had a room with a toilet. In the morning during breakfast Nick decided he'd better go to the washroom before we were trapped on the slow boat for 6 hours....and promptly was flabbergasted when he walked into the outhouse at the back of the restaurant to find that it was indeed a squat toilet (not just hole in the floor but
Cycling around Luang Prabang
Notice the rice cakes drying on the racks. Also note that Sarah is still smiling at this time. a nice PORCELAIN hole in the floor).
Fortunately we had slowly been training for this, since the toilets we'd come across in Asia had been "hybrids" of western and eastern styles --- that is, western toilet but with a sprayer attached to the wall (the kind of sprayer hose you find on your kitchen sink tap) and a garbage can filled with water nearby. We'd figured out that the garbage can filled with water was used for flushing and we had theoretically figured out the sprayer but not had the courage to use it yet. Well Nick surveyed the scene and thought "no problem"....Sarah says this is too much information, so we will just say he survived it and has figured the whole thing out (a great feeling).
Once we crossed the Mekong into Laos we changed our Baht (Thai money) into Kip (Laos money) and immediately became millionaires. We couldn't believe the wads of bills Nick was handed, he felt like he had just robbed a bank. Working in ten of thousands really gives the brain a workout.
We caught the slow boat and proceeded to sit for the next 6 hours on the most uncomfortable
One Meeellion Dollars!
Actually 1.7 million Kip...we FELT like millionaires. wooden benches. Sarah sat next to the window and due to the slope of the boat had to sit with her legs all twisted. Despite the pain the scenery was absolutely beautiful. We took lots of pictures of the surrounding mountains and all the other boats in the river. We arrived into a place called Pakbeng for the night. Our guesthouse wasn't great, but didn't seem too bad until we heard some lady across the hall at midnight yelling about having just seen a huge rat run down the wall in her room. Now neither of us is particularly scared of rats, but when you are half asleep fears about rats chewing your sandals or bags makes it difficult to sleep.
In the morning we got up early to get a seat on the boat that was meant to leave at 8am....well we sure got a seat. The boat turned out to not be leaving until 10am, so we were the first on bord. The boat was nicer, but the seats weren't and it took about 8 hours due to the fact that our boat was acting like a public bus. We picked up and delivered villagers (and their many bags of rice, peanuts, etc.) at almost every little village along the way, but again the scenery made up for the pain of our behinds. As the sun was setting we pulled into the dock in Luang Prabang.
We have really enjoyed Luang Prabang thus far. Actually so far it's our favourite place in all of SE Asia. Yesterday we rented bikes from our guesthouse and rode around town. This was a nice way to see the town as there isn't too much traffic here. The only problem was Sarah's frustration with Nick as he meandered along trying to sightsee while riding the bike. To quote Sarah "Sometimes it's hard to be me". To help Sarah's frustration we got off the bikes and have spent the last two days walking around town. For dinner last night we went to a new restaurant called Tamarind which is run by an Australian lady and features tasting plates of Laos food. It was fantastic and definitely worth a visit. For dessert we went to a cafe and had ice cream with chocolate sauce...and a glass of armagnac! Is it any wonder we love this town so much?
Today we have really enjoyed looking at the colonial architecture along with all the elaborate Buddhist temples (called Vat's in Laos). It is a fantastic mix of cultures and styles. Above all we feel so relaxed here because it is a small town with a very calm feeling. We don't almost get hit every time we cross the road, and we can actually walk along the sidewalks.
Tomorrow we plan to take a bus farther up north to see some of the small communities and possibly do some trekking.
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Dad
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At last!
As a parent you hope that your children become millionaires. Now Mom and I can rest easy(er)!LOL Also good news that you have figured out how to use the facilities. Could you imagine the alternative? The pictures on the blog are great. I am certainly hopeful of a slideshow by Sarah once you return home. Are you sure it was Armagnac? Cheers