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The start of alot of long, painful journeys started here..
After finishing in chiang mai in style with a big night out we had a 8hr minibus journey up to the thai/laos border. This sounded bad enough with a dirty hangover but we then found out the standards of road weren't really the same as the UK. The journey however flew by as we had a good crowd on the bus and made a couple of quick stops at a few temples (most memorably the 'white temple').
When we arrived in the small villiage we were staying at for the night before crossing the border we found out it could be a long night as there was 1 at a push 2 bars/restaurants so we opted to have an early night fresh for the morning.
The morning signaled the start of what was going to be a 2day slowboat journey down the Mekong river to get us to Laung Prabang. The boat holds around 100 people and just floats down the river using the current to help it on its way. At 1st the views were amazing, mountains, waterfalls and local tribal huts along the side of the river.. but after a few hours it seemed to be getting quite repetative, so we made it more interesting by getting the beers in.
10 hours passed by and we had arrived at our stop for the night was again was only a small villiage sporting only the one 'Hive bar' and a few hostels. As it was so deep into the jungle the only tourists staying there would be the ones on our boat. So we organized to head down to the bar and check it out. The rest of the night was a bit of a blur but can remember alot of the local whiskey getting drunk. The night did give us a good chance to make more friends and we found ourself in a group of 7, of which we are still traveling around with.
The 2nd day on the boat went pretty much the same way and we arrived at our destination at 6pm that evening.
Laung prabang has little to offer to groups of young travelers so as soon as we arrived we organized a minibus down to Vang Vieng ( a popular destination for all backpackers, with whats became the famous tubing resort)
This was another 8hr minibus journey, one which alot of people dread as landslides in the mountains and massive potholes can cause the journey to last a couple of days. So when we woke and there was a thunder storm the 7 of us all feared for the worse! The journey wasnt as bad as everybody 1st thought but definately wasnt the most comfortable. We made one quick stop in a local villiage market where we thought we'd have a small bushtucker trail with each other. The 1st stall we came to were selling 6 packs of fried rats and fresh maggots, so the trail went straight out the window!
Tubing involves floating/swimming down a river from one bar to another drinking as much of the local whiskey and beer as possible before having a go on the massive slides and rope swings across the river.
This seemed right up our street and it did not disappoint!!
Easily the best 5 days of partying ive had, when the day time finishes there are bars to head to at night and drink until the early morning and see the sunrise, ready for another day on the river. Meeting new people all the time who are taking the same route as you makes this a MUST for all backpackers traveling around thailand!
We would of happily stayed there for weeks upon end but the hangovers and lack of sleep finally gets to you and we have decided to move onto Vietnam. We've organized as a group of 15 to all meet in Ha Noi to carry on the partying but have all organized different routes, some opting to fly and others to get the bus.
This is the point we're at atm, preparing ourselves for a 22hr sleeper bus journey..
- comments
Eddie Gulliver Sounds Brill Andy good luck My son did a similar trip and said VIETNAM was worth a trip.