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Josie's Giant Adventure
Hello
Chiang Mai actually seems like a very long time ago as I've just spent 2 very very long days sitting on the most uncomfortable boat imaginable to travel down the Mekong River from the boarder crossing from Thailand in the north to Laos. Aside from it being uncomfortable it was an amazing experience. I don't think any of the people on the boat were quite expecting what we got. We imagined a lazy relaxing ride down the Mekong, watching people wash their clothes, children play, dead dogs, people fishing (yes, in water where there are dead dogs, apparently there are live fish worth eating), watching the sun set and rise in peaceful tranquility. Well, we got all that, apart from it wasn't quite as relaxing as we expected as there were about 3000 people crammed into a tiny amount of space, we had hard wooden seats to sit on with virtually no leg room and the boat took 7 hours on day 1 and 8 hours on day 2. You had to clamber onto the boat down a sand bank and along a wooden plank about 10 cm wide without falling in the water. The alternative is a "speed boat" which does get you here quicker, but you get on it at your own risk and will be lucky to get to the destination with your life, hearing and luggage. The speed boats are incredibly loud, everyone wears crash helmets and if they hit the smallest thing they are liable to capsize. So the slow boat was the preferable option. The first day I spent really squirming like an 8 year old as I just couldn't get comfortable. I think the bloke next to me was getting really annoyed - I stood up and sat down about every 5 minutes for 7 hours. We stopped over night in a place called Pakbeng where the electricity turns off at 11 and my light took 20 minutes to warm up and turn on and our dinner took an hour and a half to come. It was a charming place, kind of. Yesterday i'd got my head round the boat trip a bit more and managed to sit a bit more still, enjoy it more and think about my remaining time away and my return home. We did see all the sights we expected to and it was really beautiful, interesting and there was a great atmosphere on the boat with everyone chatting and playing games. I think I have about 60 new friends and we all keep bumping into each other around the town and in the bars. The only problem was they ran out of beer on the boat - disaster. Apparently Laos beer is the best in the world and doesn't give you a hang over. I will investigate this hypothesis tonight and report back.
Speaking of hang overs has anyone heard of buckets? If you have, you will nod knowingly at this story, if you haven't, never ever have them. I know you will ignore this advice as I did. I stupidly had a bucket night - buckets are literally little buckets that they fill with alcohol and mixer that you share with your friends. After my cookery course in Chaing Mai (which was brilliant and I am now a thai culinary genius) I went on a night out with the people from the course. 3 of us decided to share a bucket, after a G&T and a beer, and 1 bucket turned into 3 and an all day hang over the next day. It was a funny night but I am gutted about the hang over and that we didn't find a karaoke bar, although the rest of Chian Mai may be relieved that we didn't.
Other than the cookery course in Chiang Mai, I also did a jungle trek which was really good too. It was quite hard core trekking but well worth it to get a decent amount of exercise and for the scenery and experience. We stayed overnight in a little hut in a really remote village which was really cool. There was no electricity, not really a proper bathroom, and there were chickens, pigs, puppies and children running around. On the 2nd day we walked a lot more and then went on elephants. It was really cool, although you are really high up and its a bit more scary than i was expecting, particularly when these massive creatures are plodding along the narrowest paths with sheer drops down mountain sides just centimeters away. After that we walked some more, had lunch in another hut in the middle of no where then did some bamboo rafting down the river. We got totally soaked but it was really good fun having water fights with locals along the river banks.
I am now in Luang Prabang in Laos and I'm going to travel down Laos a bit then I'll see some of Cambodia and end up on a beach either in the south of Cambodia or on a Thai island near Cambodia before getting to Bangkok for my flight home.
3 weeks today I arrive back into the UK. Can't wait to see everyone.
Josiexx
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