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We were left waiting for our mini van again, eventually it turned up 30 mins late,to take us to the Thailand/Laos boarder, is anything ever on time? We were the last to be picked up so had to climb into the front, as the whole van was full, our bags only just fitted in the back. The tour company hasn't seemed to realise that a van full of people crossing the boarder means lots of luggage too. One of the seats in the front was makeshift and a 5 hour trip on it did not seem very appetizing. Luckily we had a couple of stops along the way so we could swap about. After the first 2 hour stint we stopped for a quick lunch break, nothing fancy just more egg fried rice and another 2 hour stint was followed by a quick stop at a White Temple, near Chiang Rai. This is quite possible the best temple we have seen, all white with some shiney bits glinting in the sunshine, Maz loved all the sparklyness. Even the toilets were mind blowingly amazing and you had to wear special slippers for doing the 'business'. We only had a quick 20 minute stop here before being packed back in the mini van for the last hour. Eventually we made it to a small town called Chiang Kong, our last sleeping place in Thailand. The accommodation was nice, more holey mosquito nets but no large bugs in sight, and would have been a nice place to stay a bit longer, if you upgraded your room! Dinner was provided and was good but the company we had was even better, everyone stayed up late chatting, well about 8pm, no bell ringing like back home when its last orders just turning all the lights off instead. We woke up early as we had to be ready for the crossing into Laos at 8.30am, we didn't really know what to expect the last ferry either of us would've been on was going to France. Our ferry was a group of 5 long boats, walking along these is not an easy task with big packs on your back. We zoomed across the Mekong and into Laos, the boarder is in the river somewhere, after getting our visas and going through boarder control and alot of waiting around we boardered the slow boat to Luang Prabang. The boat was packed and we were lucky to get a seat, many had to sit on the floor, his caused a bitr of a sceen but suprisingly we set of on time. It was a long first day, 7 hours, but we managed to pass the time chatting to the couple opposite and drinking whisky. Pakbeng, the half way point, has an interesting area for tourists to gwet on and of their boats. You land on the beech and have to either climb up steep steps or rocks to get to the main road. Before getting to the road you have to put your shoes back on, get your pack of the boat and onto your back whilst being constantly hassled by the local hostel owners. We decided to ignore the hastlers at the docks(?) and walk up the main street to find our own accomodation. We luckily managed to find a nice room with aircon, we even managed to haggle on the price as there we a few of us together. With the others from our hotel we headed out for a walk and to find dinner. We stopped at a restaurant with a lovely view overlooking Mekong, then there was a powercut so dinner by candle light, apparantly a frequent occurance between 5 and 10 each night! Our little group of six grew to 8, then eventually to 16, all of us from the boat. We all had another earlish night, around 10pm when we left the restaurant, as we all wanted to be up early so we could get a seat on the boat the following morning. We were up at 6am (yes parents, we can actually get up in the morning if we really have too!!) so we could bye some snacks and be on the boat by 8am even though it didn't leave till 9.30am. Eventually the boat filled and we set off on our way to Luang Prabang. The 9 hour trip seemed to drag as the seeting arrangement was more coach like, making it harder to talk to people. The lively boat atmosphere was more subdued. Ryan even managed to read a whole book. We arrived in Luang Prabang ignoring the hostel hasslers and made our way inot the city centre looking for an internet cafe so we could choose our hostel, in peace. Eventually we picked one and headed off, having to weave our way through the night market stalls. Maz only just managed to resist shopping, a bit difficult with a pack on your back and your front.
This is a quick update and Laos adventures to come, maybe kayaking even though Ryan ran into 'difficulties' last time we tried.
- comments
Matty Rolls I miss your faces!!
Andrew Stuart Very interesting reading your adventures, more exploring to come . Looking forward to seeing you both at some stage.
Role Hi Carrie, Gee that camera takes great phtoos. The operator isn't so bad either. Great shot. What lens did you use? On the website I frequent, I have met a photographer from Australia and he is helping with my cropping etc. Have discovered my Photoshop won't handle raw file so still shooting jpegs. Meredith is trying to get us a newer version of PhotoshopFrom the new winter capital of Ontario (25cm in the last 2 days)Gerry and Cindy