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Published: April 3rd 2006
Laos
This is Laos...26th March
After an early breakfast we catch a pick up truck to immigration for our first border crossing. You can actually see Laos from Thailand as it is simply opposite over the river. We get over to Laos on a boat and meet a Laotian at immigration who was filtering those on the speedboat and slow boat. Upon seeing our gleaming speedboat stickers he says “You doing speedboat? It’s an experience but you must be crazy”! We go through immigration and then congregate with, we are pleased to say, other people taking the speedboat. None of us know what to expect.
The speedboat looks like a green, red and yellow striped torpedo. We cram nine people and everyone’s luggage into the boat. The boat is only about three feet wide and around fifteen to eighteen feet long. Comfort was not paramount. After we set off came the noise which was like somebody putting a hammer drill in your ear only not so pleasant. The ear plugs were lifesavers! The boat was really fast but felt safe and we think that all the rumors about it are slightly exaggerated to say the least.
The scenery up the Mekong
Speed Boat
It's small! Delta was breathtaking. We were surrounded by mountains and the boat was slaloming through the gaps in the jagged rocks that lined the river. The river banks were frequented by quaint little villages that seemed totally untouched by tourism which was a welcome break from Thailand. We stopped for lunch on a hut sat on two boats floating on the river and as soon as we stepped off the boat and before we were offered a table or some food we were offered every narcotic under the sun to which we replied “a table and some egg fried rice will be fine thanks”. We did however sample our first Beer Laos. It was good, but at only 5% is by far the weakest we have encountered. Back onto the boat for another two hours of speeding down the Mekong, in which the engine decided to pack in and we spent at least half on hour just floating down the river while our driver took the engine to pieces and reassembled it. He gets it fixed but it still doesn’t sound too good. At the next stop we change boats. This one is ‘same same but different’ in that it is
The Driver
Safety First smaller! We notice the change from uncomfortable to extremely uncomfortable!
The boat trip continues for several hours and eventually we arrive at Luang Prabang. We step off the boat to be greeted by the same old tuk tuk hassle and some serious haggling goes down. Eventually we get into the centre of Luang Prabang and after much deliberation hook ourselves up with a guesthouse and a bite to eat. We discover that unlike Thailand, which is open twenty four hours a day, everything in Laos shuts down at about half past ten which is good for us as we were damn tired.
27th March
We get an early start to wander around Luang Prababng. We trek up a massive hill in the centre of the town to a temple on the crest. The temple is nothing special but the view is, although slightly misty. Laos seems to have a permanent eerie mist that sits over probably the most innocuous country we have ever experienced. After lunch we jumped on a tuk tuk to some waterfalls just south of Luang Prabang. They were amazing and we spent the afternoon exploring and even had a well deserved and much
needed swim. We went out for an Indian with some people we met at the waterfall. Good meal, good conversation and then they took us to a place called Hive Bar. It was shit!! Full of tourists and westerners, massively overpriced, crap music and not a single Laotian in sight. If we wanted to do that we could have stayed at home! Another early night as we are off to Vang Vieng the next day. We can both smell tubing….
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Jonny
non-member comment
Massive Leaf
Wow that is one Massive Leaf, can you bring me one back please.