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Published: November 1st 2006
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So, anyway, we left Thailand at the Chaing Khong/Xieng Kok border with Lao. The journey to the border was pretty easy on one of the local busses that travels between the town and Chaing Rai and a tuk tuk to the mighty Mekong River which divides Thailand from Lao.
The Thai border at Chiang Khong was a little sleepy kind of a place, there was a man asleep in a hamock, oh with a gun, and the imigration man tried to sell us an over-priced visa from a local cafe, but we luckily knew that visas are available on arrival in Laos so we desisted and got on a little boat across the river. A grueling 4 minutes and 200m later we arrived in Laos, home of the world's most friendly and welcoming immigration people. Ok they did insist that we pay an extra $1 for our visa because it was a Saturday, but hey, why not? and the guys were really nice and helpful. We had no problems with visas, as long as you have $35 (for brits, $30 for the Americans and $41 for the Canadians..) and a passport photo you are all set. We had photos, tom
is wearing a suite in his but they let him in anyway. The visa took a bit of time because the official was having his lunch...
We stayed Saturday night in Xieng Kok (a charming one horse town) whilst having a little panic that the only two cash machines in the country are a few hundred miles away in Vientiane and the banks would not be open and we would be forced to stay right on the border until Monday due to lack of funds. Interestingly the People Democratic Republic of Lao readily use three different currancies, the US $, the Thai Baht - unoffically - and the offical Laos Kip, but we had managed to arrive with non of these, only travellers cheques which were useless until the banks opened. Curses. After that paying for things was very confusing at first. The price could be listed in Kip, you pay in Baht, and then get change in Dollars. By the way the kip is the currancy of choice, simply beause it comes in such high denominations, 15,557 kip to the pound keeps things interesting and it doesn't take much to be a millionaire.
Luckily the ticket agent said
that the banks open Sunday mornings AND that he would book us a ticket on the slow boat to Luang Prebang in advance so we decided to leave the next morning. We opted against getting the speed boat down the Mekong which takes half the time (and costs twice as much) with the added bonus of being ear drum splittingly noisy and incredibly dangerous, the passengers all wear helmets but this isn't much help if the thing hits a log at that speed and flips over. Slow and steady wins the race. That evening we checked out the incredibly popular Beer Lao and an interesting 'steamboat' meal which involes cooking meat over a little charcoal stove in the middle of the table and making a soup with the juices, some stock, some veggies and some eggs. Very nice it was too.
The boat left the next morning almost on time (ok only an hour late, it is the slow boat after all). Luckily we had been told to arrive at 10 expecting it to leave at about 11 but some poor people had been told they should get there at 9.00 "to get a good seat". Unfortuntatly there are
Thai-Laos Border
Thailand on the left, Laos on the right, Mekong River in the middle. no 'good seats' just lots of identical wooden benches so all they managed to get was an extra two hours of sitting. The trip down was actually really nice, the river is beautiful with a smattering of little villages and an endless carpet of forest rolling over stunning hills and mountains. There was lots of time (about 6 hours on the first day) to read books and eat snacks, then luckily just as our bums were going completly numb we arrived at the village of Pak Beng which was to be our home for the night.
Being half way down the river all of the trips stop here for the night which means there are lots of hostels and resturants and not much else strung along one street. We got a very strange little room for a bargin 100 baht (about 1 pound fifty pence) and ate some food and that is about all there is to say about Pak Beng. Oh we did have breakfast at a place run by this lovely young guy who had been a monk for ten years in Vientiane, and then got sponsored by an American from Hawaii to go to the best
school in Laos and learn English, and within the past year met a local Pak Beng girl, married her and now their first is due next month. He's head over heels happy and his wife makes amazing chicken noodle soup. The next day and a mere 5 hours later we arrived in Luan Prabang, got another cheap room and scooted around the night market. Shoppers delight, with some really good quality needlecraft stuff. A couple of handmade duvets, some silk scarfs, bags, and a few t-shirts later we had to call it a day before we blew a whole week's budget.
For the next couple of days we 'killed' a bit of time looking around the town before setting off on our 3 day treck. Not a hard thing to do here as it is so pretty and laid back. It's the old capital of Laos and its centre is packed full of UNESCO protected historic French colonial buildings with a indo-chinese twist. With all the shuttered windows and stuff we could have almost been in France had it not been for the odd sculptured dragon or two. There were loads of temples (Wats) and even more young monks
scurrying between them all. We visited Wat Xieng Thong, built by King Setthathirat in 1560 and under Royal patronage until they were deposed by communist revolutionaries in 1975; on the way in we brought flowers and a candle to say a prayer inside whilst at the same time took in all the beautiful paintings, buddha images and gold. Also one afternoon we sat for a while on the banks of the Nam Khan River and watched the fisherman endlessly drift by with their nets out, and then we thought it would be a good idea to walk along the bank and use the old footbridge to cross over the river. I am rubbish with heights so walking for 100m on a half metre wide rickety walkway full of holes there and back with a 30m drop below was not much fun...
...We'd better go, writing this blog has already cost us a couple of thousand plus we've got a 3 day treck to prepare for for tomorrow...
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caz
non-member comment
so........
Does that mean that you'll have loads and loads of clothes for me to borrow when I come to India?! Not really enjoying the thought of looking for summer clothes in december... dont send too much!! xx