The bus journey from Chiang Mai to Chiang Khong was nothing special. The guy who was organising it seemed to be a bit drunk at 9.30 in the morning and I was slightly worried when he said he had a 'special room for you, double bed so you can take ladyboy'! Thankfully I did indeed seem to be one of the few with a double bed, but even more thankfully there was no sign of a ladyboy in it! The accomodation was a bit on the shoddy side, it was a row of bamboo huts with a shared shower and toilet block on the end, but it was adequate enough for one night.
After dumping my stuff I got talking to some of the other people who had been in my mini-van, and some more people who had arrived earlier. We sat together for the evening, ate dinner and had a few drinks looking over the Mekong river to Laos on the other side.
It was an early start in the morning with breakfast between 7.30 and 8.30, and then off down to the river crossing at 9.30. I was feeling sick and actually threw up my breakfast which is not what you want when you are about to spend 2 days on a boat! I took an anti-biotic I had bought in Chiang Mai and hoped for the best.
We all piled back in the mini-van for the short drive down to the border crossing, then into a tiny, precarious boat for the 150 metre river crossing. Within 2 minutes I had successfully negotiated my first overland border crossing and had my feet safely and dryly planted on Laos soil. After a quick immigration stamp and acquiring some Laos Kip (19,000 Kip = 1 pound!) and we were off to the main boat. There are some terrible stories about these boats from other travellers and within the Lonely Planet; everyone says they are cramped with only hard wooden benches to sit on for each of the 8 hour trips. I wasn't looking forward to it, especially as I vomited again going down to the boat. We had been told the number of our boat but as we were walking down to it a man tried to tell us to get in to another one. It had big car seat type seats and looked pretty luxurious but we assumed it was a scam to get us to pay loads more money, however when we reached our boat (with hard benches as described above) we were told it was full and they were using 2 that day, and we should indeed get on the luxurious looking boat. Result! After that we spent a nice relaxing day on the boat; reading, sleeping and just watching the beautiful scenery go by - with many envious looks from the people on the other boat as they occasionally came side by side.
In the late afternoon we arrived at our halfway stop-off, Pakbeng. We clambered up the hill to a nice guesthouse and had another relaxing meal along with a first taste of Beer Lao. Another early start in the morning combined with the fact they turn the electricity off at 10.30 in that region meant an early night for all.
We met up for breakfast and picked up our pre-ordered pack lunches (fried rice & spring rolls for me) and ambled down to the boat for 8am. Unfortunately our nice car-seated boat was not available this time... but we got an even better set up! The boat we were on had a big floor space at the back and loads of padded cushions and quilts to put on the floor. There were 9 of us so we quickly grabbed all the padding we could and made the space our own. It was perfect. We lounged around with much sleeping, eating and card-playing. It was like play-school!
In the evening we arrived in Luang Prabang (LP) feeling relaxed, refreshed and raring to go. It became apparent that we wouldn't all get into one guesthouse so we split up and arranged to meet back outside a restaurant (which became 'the meeting place'). Come nightfall we were sitting in The Laos Laos Garden, drinking sweet Lao Lao cocktails. Lao Lao is the local spirit and pretty potent I think. At 11.30pm it was kicking out time and it seemed the only place to go was the local bowling alley! Very random I know but the night was yet young so we headed off in a tuk tuk and some more drinks there.
The next day I clambered out of my bed at 11am and headed off to see some sights. I took in LP's most famous wat (temple) and then up a long stone staircase to LP's highest point. Halfway up I bumped in Sean and Aoifa, two of the people from our newly formed little group. We continued to the top together after a bit of a breather and took in the spectacular scenery. From that high up you can really see how remote LP is. Outside of the town, there is nothing but forests and mountains as far as the eye can see. After the climb back down we were wandering down the main street when I bumped into a familiar face - Ally from Pai. Well actually The Shetland Islands, but I know him from Pai!
Later that night we hit the town again. This time adding Ally and his girlfriend Courtenay to our ever-expanding troupe. After a few more Lao Lao cocktails it was that all too early 11pm closing time again. How did we cope when it was like this in Britain? After asking around it really did seem the only late night option was the bowling alley (or Bao Ling as it says on the sign!). This time we decided to actually bowl. We paired up for mixed doubles and my pairing kicked ass in the first game. We didn't fair quite so well in the next, which I'm certain has nothing whatsoever to do with the empty Beer Lao bottles that were piling up around my chair somehow!
The next couple of days were spent wandering the beautiful streets of LP and hunting for bargains at the night market. I'm the king of haggling in SE Asia thanks to my on the job training during my month in India. I think Ol' Blue Eyes got the wrong place because if you can do it there, you can do it anywhere! Much too soon it was time to leave. Most of the group were heading east to the Plain of Jars but I needed to move on quickly to get to Vietnam as my visa had already started. With this in mind I got a bus straight down to Vientiane, the Laos capital.
The bus journey was 9 hours during the day, but it really wasn't that bad at all. I arrived in the early evening and I was instantly disappointed with the city. There are quite a few concrete monstrosities and it's not particularly pretty as many of the guidebooks say it is. It's also really expensive for things like accomodation. Well, compared with other towns and cities in SE Asia anyway. I ate a meal, had a drink then headed off to bed.
The next morning I went for a wander around to see the sights and sort out my bus ticket for Hanoi. My first stop was the Morning Market where I went hunting for a cushion for the bus journey. The place was huge and sold everything you could possibly imagine from electronics to clothes to handicrafts. I managed to pick up nice big embroidered pillow for about $3. Next I headed off to see a big temple which is supposed to be the most impressive in Laos. To be honest I think 'quite nice' is about the upper limit of the superlatives I can use to describe it. It has a big gold spire in the centre and a square walkway around the edge where paintings by local artists are on display and for sale. I managed to pass half an hour or so before going to sit under a tree outside to escape the heat and consult the Lonely Planet on what else there was to see. I only sat for a minute before I was joined by a monk. He told me all about where he was from and what his life as a monk is like, and also what he wants to do in the future. Being a monk here isn't like being a monk in Europe, it's not usually a lifelong thing, they'll just do it for a few years and often study as well. A couple of monks I spoke to said they want to learn English well enough to become tour guides!
I passed the next day just wandering around and hanging out waiting for my bus that night. In the evening I was sitting outside my guesthouse waiting for my bus pick-up when a familiar face came bowling up the street, it was Ally again! He sat down with me as I waited... and waited... and waitied. The bus pick up was over 45 minutes late so I rang the bus company and they told me the travel agent had booked me on yesterday's bus rather than todays and that I couldn't go today as it was full. Great. It was slightly annoying as I had to fork out for another night in the hotel but I wasn't too bothered as it meant I was able to hit the town with Ally. We went for a few beers and watched a bit of the FA cup final before moving on to a club on top of a hotel, looking out over the Mekong to Thailand.
The following day was a bit of a groundhog day as I again sat around waiting for the bus, only this time with a slightly sorer head! This time the bus pick up did actually come and I was able to begin the epic 24 hour journey to Hanoi and another new country.
