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Hi,
I am now in Laos, after successfully negotiating the border crossing, which was really cool.
In my last post I was on Koh Phi Phi, and from there I took an overnight bus to Bangkok, where I had the pleasure of sitting behind 4 French people who had decided to get drunk and then talk and sing, badly, and really loudly.... So sleep was definitely lacking when I arrived at Bangkok at 5am.
I stayed a night in Bangkok before getting another overnight bus to Chiang Mai, which was uneventful and I actually slept. From there I took a minibus to Pai, which is a cool little village in the north west of Thailand. The journey in the minibus wasn't that smooth as it involves going uphill and round winding roads. The Thai lady who was next to me obviosuly found this too much to deal with as she must have vomited about 4-5 times.... Nice!!
When I got to Pai it was raining, which became the norm in the north. I found a place to stay and then wondered round the village, stopping off for food and some drinks. It was the first time I felt cold since arriving. I only spent the one night there and left the next morning to go back to Chiang Mai, from where I took another bus to Chiang Rai, which is north east of Chiang Mai. It was at this point I discovered my camera had stopped working..... Not good...
I arrived late and decided to turn down the kind offers from the tuk tuk drivers to rip me off for taking me round the corner, so I decided to walk and found the place I was staying was actually round the corner. I went to the night market and then it began to rain, heavily, again! I had an early-ish night and decided to get up early to explore the city. It's a really nice place, reminded me a lot of Chiang Rai. I spent ages trying to find someone to fix my camera but was told I would need to go to Bangkok.
I got the bus from Chiang Rai to the border town of Chiang Khong. As I was getting my ticket, a kind and generous taxi driver offered to take me to the border for the low, low price of 1000 Baht (20 pounds), he made it sound really good. My response was to laugh at him, ask him if he was serious, which he was, and then proceed to pay 65 Baht (just over a pound) for my bus ticket.
There wasn't much at the border town so I quickly made my way to the border. Crossing into Laos involved having a guy stamp you out of Thailand, then getting a long boat which was really unsteady across the Mekong river, and then finally filling in a visa form and waiting 4 hours for the Laos official to finish his afternoon nap and stamp my passport. I've noticed Laos is a lot easier going than Thaialnd, which in itself was easy going!
We were allowed to find a guesthouse while the official slept and then later on returning to collect my passport, a lot more people had arrived so I guess he had woken up!!
I spent one night in the border town of Huay Xai, there's not much there and you can walk the highstreet in a coupel of minutes. I booked my ticket to go ont he slow boat to Luang Prabang to leave the next morning.
For some reason I was dropped off to my boat 1.5 hours before it actually left, so I was the only one on the boat, besides the people who ran the boat. I actually thought it would be just me and them but then a load of people turned up and the boat didn't leave until an hour after it was supposed to. It was a really cool boat and very easy to make friends. They also sell beer so it makes socialising very easy.
A couple of guys had found some Laos whiskey for 40 Baht (less than a pound) which was suprisingly quite nice and by the time we arrived on our stop off in Pak Beng we were all quite merry. Ona rriving in Pak Beng, all the local kids were asking for my Oreo's but as I didn't have enough to go round and I didn't want to ruin their teeth I did the selfless act of eating them all myself, later. I was later told they only do that so you have to buy more stuff from their shops.
There's not much to do in Pak Beng, I had a curry, my first Indian meal for a long time, it was nice and spicy, but the naan bread was disappointing....
The second day on the boat was similar to the first, but a lot of people looked like they were nursing a hangover. The scenery was amazing, however due to a broken camera I have no pictures to show. Some lovals take the slow boats and everyone was a little freaked out when one of the locals got off the bost and took his semi automatic gun with him, which no one had noticed earlier. We then realised he actually had a rifle too. He must live in a dangerous area of the jungle! I was actually a bit scared after he went as he was like our boat security....
We arrived in Luang Prabang in the afternoon and as usual we were mobbed by people trying to take us to their guest houses. We managed to find an amazing place to stay, it was new and was actually like a really good 3 or 4 star hotel but for less than 6 pounds. I've spent 3 nights here, and seen some waterfalls, caves, a lot of camera shops trying to find someone to fix my camera, and bought some things from the night market which is really good.
I do prefer Laos to Thailand, the fruit shakes here are awesome, my persoanl favourite is mango and red dragonfruit. However I do miss the Thai food and also the late night opening of bars in Thailand.... I can't eat anymore noodle soup, and bars and clubs close at 11.30 in Laos, so just as you're getting int he mood to party everything shuts and you have to go to bed! Oh and there are no 7 Elevens in Laos, well I haven't seen any so far, but the ATMs don't charge a fee for using them here, and the beer is much nicer.....
We visited a Laos Whiskey village, where they brew alcohol. It's scary as they put cobras, scorpions, geckos, and other not so nice things in bottles with alcohol and sell them. A lot of people have brought some but I like my alcohol in an empty bottle. I did try some rice alcohol, after making sure it hadn't been in a bottle of snakes and it was strong stuff, apparently it's 50% but I'm sure it was stronger!!
I was originally planning on going to Vang Vieng tomorrow, but I've met some people and travelled with them and they've convinced me to go to Luang Nam Tha which is North East of Laos, and I'll do a 2 day trek there. I then have to backtrack through Luang Prabang to get to Vang Vieng to do some tubing. The trekking in the north is meant to be amazing and you have the chance of seeing leopards!
Wow I've written so much, and I forgot to mention that I ate shark. I was disappointed I didn't get jaws on my plate, just a small steak fillet, but it tasted like chicken!
I guess you'll hear from me again in a week or so if I survive the jungle! Until then take care.
- comments
Suki Hey Bro, Sounds like your having an amazing time. Get a camera or see if your friends will let you have copies of their pics as it sounds awesome and would be good to see. Missing you loads as usual. Speak soon xx
raich laos sounds like my kind of place. id love scorpions in my alcohol and boat security with uzi automatics. be careful dude and remember my postcard!
Kev Sanj - you seem as if you have drank one too many scorpions in your drink and plenty of SNA(c)K(e)S. Anyway keep your spirits up (and I don't mean alcohol) and keep posting. Take care p.s. Have you found any potential partners (male/female?)
Kev Sanj - I know your also going Cambodia so don't forget to see at Laos and Cambodia border the Khone waterfall, which has the greatest volume of water of any waterfall in the world. About 410,000 cubic feet of water falls over its 45 foot drop every second! Compare it to this: Niagara Falls has a volume of half that.
Ranj Sanj da Man (and you're going around the world!) - great to talk to you today, some fantastic stories, take care mate and we'll speak again soon!!