Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
The next couple blog entries are a week or two behind so I will just bullet point what we did!
-
-
LUANG PRABANG
-
- All eight of us caught a mini bus from Chiang Mai up to the border, stopping at Chiang Rai on the way to see the White Temple.
-
- We stayed the night here at the border at 'bang hostel'. Becca and I went for an explore and came across a bicycle museum (!) which we went in as it was free and there was nothing much more I do there. Next door there was a bar joined to the museum and it turns out its run by two scousers, so was nice chatting to them and hearing a familiar accent
-
- We then caught a long tailed boat across the river to Laos, crossing the border and queuing for a couple of hours to stamp out of Thailand and into Laos and collect a visa. After that we caught a jam packed slow boat for 9 hours which took us down the Mekong River to Pakbeng for the night before setting off again the next morning for another 9 hours before mooring at Luang Prabang, Laos.
-
- At this point Becca and I had even talking about how we were getting a bit fed up of travelling as a group of 8. She felt like she wasn't really travelling yet as all we were always staying in private rooms rather than slumming it in dorms with 12 other people as she'd expected! I agreed with her on that as we weren't particularly meeting any new people, I mean who in their right mind would approach a group of 8 people?! I know from before when I was travelling on my own that I definitely wouldn't have the confidence to.. I personally also felt that I was losing any control over decisions that were being made - whether it be where we went in the day, what we ate or where we stayed. So that was that.. Becca and I told the others that we would stay with them in the hotel in Luang Prabang and that in the morning we would be moving down the road to a different hostel and travelling as a pair for a while. They weren't too bothered and Amy said she expected me to split off soon anyway because I have a more limited time frame than everyone else (most of he others have open-ended tickets) and I want to go different places. So the next morning we packed up, said goodbye, and moved 4 minutes down the road haha.
-
- The three days we were alone in Luang Prabang were so much fun and immediately felt like I was travelling again. We were staying in a 6 bed dorm in 'Spicy Laos', probably the dingiest hostel I'd stayed in yet.. but it was a laugh! A guy called Will was in one of the beds (who we eventually ended up bumping into at some point in EVERY city we went to in Laos) and he recommended hiring bicycles to explore the (smallish) city - so that we did. We rode around most of the day until we came to river that connected to the Mekong and had a bamboo made bridge going over it. The bridge is knocked down and rebuilt every year because of the water levels rising so much during the wet season, and as rickety as it was we braved the walk across. On the other side we found a cute little bar/restaurant hidden away amongst the bamboo trees and had a wicked view of the sunset. Armed with a banana daiquiri each and a game of scrabble (!) we watched the sun go down and discussed travel plans :)
-
- The next day we paid to go on a trip organised through the hostel to Kuang Si falls, one of the most popular waterfalls in luang pragang. In the tuktuk were four others - Kenna and sarah from Ireland, and Jasmine and Manu from Germany. I was SO glad that my camera was waterproof as it meant I could get some amazing shots from within the lagoons and action shots of Becca and I jumping off some of the shorter waterfalls into the warm turquoise water! The whole place looked like something off a postcard - it was amazing!
- That night we all went out together to the main bar in Luang Prabang - Utopia. When we got there there was a game of volleyball in play as the bar had a full sized court in the middle of it, and ice that was over a couple of people got up to do fire poi and even a bit of fire yoyo-ing! The law in LP is that every bar or club must shut at 11.30, so believe it or not, the place everyone goes to carry on the party after this time is the bowling alley! We thought it would just be a bunch of people sat in a bar at the back of the alley, but nooo... when we got there the atmosphere completely changed and everyone suddenly got really serious about playing a good old game of bowling!! (Especially the guys). At this point the girls had gone home and so it was just Manu, Becca and myself who carried on to go bowling (still seems a bizarre scenario) but becca and I had had a bit to drink at this point and so we just messed around - including me bowling down the next persons lane and managing to get a strike, and playing 'see who can bowl the ball highest up in the air'. At about 2am we'd had enough of this and so caught a tuktuk back to our hostel and crashed for the night.
-
- The next morning I went to put my camera on charge only to find my cable had gone missing. The only explanation I have to this day (because it was a v specific cable to a certain camera) is that the guy in a bunk opposite who'd checked out earlier that morning must have picked it up by mistake thinking it was an ordinary charger. At least, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and hope he didn't nick it on purpose grr. I was so annoyed though because it was the exact equipment that I left in Hiroshima in Japan and travelled halfway across the country to get it back just because it's so hard to come across another one when travelling in Asia :(
-
Nevertheless I tried to forget about it and hoped I could find an electronics shop at our next stop, Vientiane, as it was the capital city. Anyway we got up and went out with the intention of kayaking to Pac Ou caves, however we were told that we'd need a group of 4 (minimum) and otherwise would have to pay the difference - so we gave up on that plan and got THE bumpiest tuktuk drive instead. Once at our destination we had to catch a small longtailed boat across to reach the caves, which involved bartering with the guy who owned the boat about costs through the art of 'drawing in the sand with a stick'. After a few sand smiley faces and hearts we were at the caves for half he price he asked and then embarked on climbing what seemed like hundreds of steps in the boiling heat to the main cave. Inside were thousands of buddah statues in numerous meditation positions that people had left high up on shelves within the cave. After an hour or so here we climbed back down, caught our boat back across the river, ate a lolly ice, petted a random owl that was sat outside a shop, then caught the bumpy tuk tuk back to LP (which we somehow managed to fall asleep on). That night we headed to bed early as we wanted to be up at half5 to see the monk procession. An occasion every morning where novice monks walk the streets collecting foods from local people before heading back to their monasteries.
-
- unfortunately, morning came and our alarms did not wake us up!! In fact we nearly missed our 9am bus which was to take us to Vang Vieng, and the hostel had to get an emergency tuktuk to take us to the bus stop. From here we started a long and winding trip down to Vang Vieng... a town renown for backpackers and 'tubing'...
X
- comments
Alma What a thrilling blog, Sarah! It,s hard to take in all your escapades. Glad you found a nice friend to break away with, as you say, much better than in a large group. Hope you keep on having as much fun! lots of love, xxx
saaaags Hi Alma! Ahh yeah it's much better just the two of us :) hope you and Alan are well! Xxx
steph ahh I want to be back in the sun enjoying all the crazy ways of those crazy countries! not long now....3 weeks 3 weeks 3weeks!!!