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So after leaving Luang Prabang I got the slow boat to Houy Xai which takes two days travelling up the Mekong. You can do it in a day by speed boat but the guidebook strongly recommends you don't and watching them zip past my boat with crash helmets on I'm glad I didn't! The boat journey takes 8 hours to the little stop over town of Pak Beng only 200 people live there and it's basically just a port. We found a room for the night for only 25,000 kip for two of us (less than 2 pounds!!) mind you it was pretty basic with no flushing loo but it was only for one night.
Anouj had woken up in a field in Luang Prabang that same morning after sampling a Lao Lao disco, I had gone back to the hostel not wanting to be up at 7am with a hangover and stuck on a boat for a day feeling rough- Anouj was a good example of why not to. Anyway he woke up with a farmer hoeing around him and covered with mud and caterpillars. Finding the road and a nearby tuk tuk he got back to the hostel by 6ish with just enough time to pack, snooze and be rudely woken again by me saying we had to go!
Unfortunately I paid accommodation for the two of us that morning and when we got to Pak Beng Anouj had counted on there being an ATM. They've only just recently got electricity running 24/7 so no ATMs here. Which meant we suddenly realised we didn't have enough money for the boat journey the next day. Asking a local guy where the nearest cash point was he looked at us blankly and said Luang Prabang! Either that or getting on his bike for 6 hours to the next town. We left it and slept on our problem.
Thankfully we'd made friends with some other tourists on the boat including Steve and Patrick who were heading to Houy Xai to do the Gibbon Experience that I was thinking of doing. They lent us some money until we got to Houy Xai so all was well in the end. Another 10 hours by boat and we were there.
Anouj had to leave for Chiang Mai after only one night in Houy Xai as he was flying back to the UK but I'd already been convinced by Patrick and Steve to do the Gibbon Experience so I paid my 2,000,000 kip (4 cash machine withdrawals!) and had another night in Houay Xai before the trek began the next morning at 8.30am.
On our last day in Houy Xai Patrick and Steve hired mopeds and I hopped on too and we rode all around the area stopping off in farmers huts to admire the river and have a peaceful lunch, was a wonderful way to spend a lazy day.
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