Laos Round Up

LAOS Round Up

 

Laos had escaped us a couple of times, on our first trip to Vietnam and Cambodia a few years back we were very close to the border and again tantalisingly close to it when we were in Myanmar. So determined to not let the opportunity escape us again we decided to sacrifice some time in Thailand so that we could hop over the border and see what the country had to offer. That’s the great thing about traveling, the proximity of other exotic destinations which are a hop skip and a jump away (well, a bus and a boat ride)

10 days seems a healthy amount of time when you have your annual 25 day holiday allowance to work with but when you have been used to spending at least 3-4 weeks in any given country it feels quite tight!.  We opted to keep to a tight and well-trodden loop and this might be the reason why our impressions of Laos wasn’t quite as good as we thought they would be…

 

The people are not as friendly as their Thai neighbours, you feel like you are an inconvenience to them and just a means of making money. This could largely be due to the volume of Trustafarians who descend on Laos (and its well trodden tourist path) who have total disregard for their culture or values. We saw half naked drunk Trusta’s walking through town, despite several signs asking them to cover up and be respectful, sticking their camera’s under monks noses whist they are conducting their call to Alms and generally being a right pain in the arse!. It was also more expensive than we thought it would be too and the food isn’t all that!.

 

However when we did step off the tourist route to visit Phonsovan, we found the people warm, helpful , much more friendly and wanting to engage and make conversation with us. It was also a lot cheaper too!. We’ve since spoken to people that have travelled Laos extensively and fallen in love with it so perhaps 10 days wasn’t enough to really help us to get to know the country and its people.

 

Memorable moments include:

·         Playing agony aunt to the scorned lady when I tried to book an extra night in Luam Prabang. I wonder if she ever did marry him?

 

 

·         Stunning waterfalls in Luang Prabang and the climb to the top and the even scarier clamber back down! (Shel not Glenn)

 

·         The bus journeys, not for the faint hearted!,

·         Tubing in Vian Vieng, Mud volleyball and my lost shoe L

 

 

·         Partying with Danielle and Jacob

·         Partying with Ali and Ross

 

 

·         Partying!

·         Getting very lost in the Plane of Jars

 

 

·         2 day boat trip, not quite the romantic trip we expected!

·         Our ignorance over the secret war

·         Overnight sleeper bus to Van Vieng, make sure you don’t get a bunk near the loo!

Top tips

1.       Easy for women travellers

2.       Push your way to the mini bus and secure your seats first, else you will be sitting on wooden stools stuck in the isle for a 7-8 hour journey!

3.       Don’t engage in conversations with distraught looking receptionists!

Vientiane

Only 1 Day

Up and packed early to wait for our mini-bus to Vientiane, we waited and waited and about an hour later it finally turned up and we were on our way to our final destination in Laos.

The journey was a shorter one but still the usual bumpy affair and after about 4 hours we were deposited at the coach park in Vientiane and were descended upon by the usual scrummage of Taxi drivers touting for our business, we eventually teamed up with another couple and shared the cost of a Taxi into town.

We were dropped in the main street and told our hotel was round the corner and after circling the block a few times we finally found it.  The hotel itself was more of a back-packers hostel to be honest, with shared showers, a very small room that had a hole cut in the wall so the room door handle could recede into it to allow the door to open far enough for us to get into the room.  However it was only for one night so we were not fussed.

Once we had ditched our gear we then headed out for a cold beer and a sandwich before going for a wander around the town.

 

There wasn’t a huge amount to do in Vientiane so we just wandered around the streets and took in a few of the many Buddhist temples in the area which were pretty nice but we had already seen so many and it was hot so we decided to find a café to get a cold shake after about an hour or so.

 

Whilst in search of a café we passed a large clothes shop so we thought we would check it our for some sandal’s for Shell and shorts for me.  Amazingly enough we found practically the identical Sandal’s that Shell has lost in the mud in Vang Vieng and they had her size, the only disappointing thing was that they were western prices. Anyway we bought them as Shell was happy to be back to her full complement of shoes again.

 

We then found a café and had some icy coconut shakes before returning to the hotel for a bit of a rest before going out in the evening.

On researching Tripadvisor we found that the number 1 restaurant in the town was an American burger joint, so we thought we would get our fix of western food (Sometimes you just need it!).  The restaurant was very busy and I was more than happy to see a burger with blue cheese on the menu, however the food was pretty average so we ate and had a couple of beers before heading back for the night.

As it was still early we decided to have a couple more beers outside the hostel and whilst we were sat there Shell had to go to the toilet, so I was sitting there on my own when a ladyboy came along and sat opposite me and propositioned me:

Him/Her:  ‘What’s Your Name”

Me:  ‘Glenn’

Him/Her: ‘I like you’

Me (Nerveously): ‘Erm Ok’

Him/Her: ‘You wanna come with me’

Me: ‘No, I’m with my Girlfriend’ (motions to second drink next to me)

Him/her sat there for a short while longer looking at me before heading off down the road, I guess Him/her didn’t like me that much!!

Anyway Shell returned shortly afterward and found this very amusing and we finished off our beers before turning in for the night.

Vang Vieng

Day One – Mud Glorious Mud!

We are still on the bumpy bus, not getting any sleep whilst trying to spot our stop in the dark.  Eventually we were dropped off at 3.00am in Vang Vieng with only one Tuk-Tuk in attendance and with no idea where our hotel was! We had no option but to be ripped off by this Tuk-Tuk driver, he knew it at we knew it, we paid well over the odd’s (which was after we negotiated it to half his original request) for about a half mile journey.

The good thing was that Shelley ensured the hotel we booked had a 24 hour reception and so we were quickly given the key to our room so we could get some sleep for what remained of the night.

In the morning we found we had a nice shared balcony overlooking the street.   We then headed out to get some cash out and get a spot of breakfast at a nearby café.

After breakfast we went for a look around town to find out what we were going to do for the day.  One of the main reasons coming here was on the recommendation of Daz & Kath’s crazy tubing stories, so after a while wandering around we found the Tubing company and decided to do it in the afternoon.

So we went back to our hotel to relax for a while and then we put on our swimmers and bought a cheap dry-bag from a nearby shop and made our way back to the Tubing people.

We paid our fee’s, signed the disclaimers and soon we picked up our tyre inner-tubes and we transported to the first bar alongside the river.

When we got there the party had already started with free shots and plenty of beers.  It was here though we were informed only two bar’s are allowed to open along the river everyday due to the many accidents/drownings in previous years.

So this being the case we stayed in the first bar for quite a while sinking a few cold ones, then one of the drunk girls from pre-Laos border crossing night came and chatted to us and got us involved in a game of beer-pong with her travelling buddies.  Basically if someone gets a ping-pong ball in your beer you have to neck it, if you get  it in your own glass everyone has to  neck their beer and then try and flip their plastic cups over so they stand up, last one to do so has to neck the evil drink in the middle – quite stressful and Shell was about ½ a second away from drinking a Vodka, Tequilla, some sort of cocktail with an infusion of fried rice number!!!  It was after this close call we thought we would drop out of the game.

Before setting off down the river we thought we have a couple more beers and we got talking to a couple from Middlesbrough, Ross & Ally who were really nice and we agreed we would head off together down the river to the second bar.

 

We got into our rubber tubes and started off slowly meandering down the river taking a few pictures along the way, unfortunately the second bar that was open was only a couple of hundred yards down the river, so we were out again and sitting in the bar.

The bar was very lively with rave music and a guy dishing out laughing gas balloon’s, so we sat there drinking with Ross and Ally watching the younger back-packers playing mud volleyball and getting naked! 

 

After a few more beers we then agreed to play Ross and Ally at mud volleyball, wading in mud up to our knee’s we were just about to start play when Shell declared that one of her sandals had been sucked off in the mud and she could not find it.  So the game was abandoned whilst everyone wallowed about in the thick mud for around 15 minutes trying to locate Shell’s footwear – sadly to no avail and a piece of Shelley will now be forever in Laos.

 

Finishing our beers and washing off the mud in the river we then got back in our tubes and carried on down the river, slowly meandering round its bends for around another half hour.  Shell was getting a bit cold and our time was running out to get the rings back in time without getting fined so we decided to stop at another small bar close to the town, we had another quick drink then we got a lift back into town with our rings and returned them just in time.  Tubing Rocks!!!

 

As it was early evening Ross, Ally and ourselves found a nearby bar and stayed there and partied for the rest of the evening (well until around 10pm).  We then walked, Shell limping with one shoe, back to our hotel, making a quick burger stop at one of the food stalls along the way.

 

Day 2

Waking up later and feeling slightly delicate we headed out and found a place for breakfast and to decide what to do for the day.  As Shell was now down to two options on the shoe front (Walking Boot’s or Flip-Flops) and me having one pair of shorts with more holes than a tramps vest we thought we would try to address this by going shopping.

About an hour later with no joy and me not really feeling in the mood for shopping we thought we would go for a hair of the dog in a restaurant alongside the river, which was pretty nice and scenic.  Whilst we sat there watching the boats and canoe’s go past we realised that we were not up to much adventure today so agreed that we would relax at the hotel and try and catch up with the blog for the rest of the afternoon.

We had agreed to meet Ross and Ally in the evening, the only problem being Ross had given us the name of a bar to meet in that was not on our map and that Google Map’s decided was somewhere the other end of town where it wasn’t!  It also seemed to be a bit of a mystery to the local’s too as they had no idea where it was either.  So we had to return to the hotel to text Ross to ask him to meet us in the bar from the previous night.

So Shell and I made our way there and propped up the bar and had a few beers hoping that Ross had got our message.  After an hour our two we were just contemplating moving on when they walked into the bar.

The rest of the evening was spend drinking and being entertained by the bar owner, who did card tricks, carved up pineapple’s for us to eat and even put on a fire dancing performance for us.  He also threatened to get out a guitar and sing for us later in the evening – it takes some doing to be a bar owner in Laos!! 

Having enjoyed each other’s company for a few we did the usual swap facebook details and agreed we should all go home as we both had early buses to catch the next day, so we said our goodbyes and returned back to the hotel for the evening.

 

Phonsavan

Day 1 – Travel Hell

Today we got up ridiculously early at 5.30 as Shell wanted to see the Buddhist monks call to alms at 6.00.  Walking bleary eyed through the food market we found a bench on the main strip and waited, eventually groups of monks came along collecting food in their pots from people on the roadside and doing the odd bit of chanting.  However this was a bit of a bun fight with all the tourists sticking large lensed camera’s in their faces as they went by and we had seen more respectful ones whilst we were in Myanmar.

 We then returned to our room to catch a bit more sleep before we had to get our transport to our next town.  Waking up again around 8.30 we then waited for our transport which turned up late and was a little Tuk-tuk van which they managed to cram about 14-16 us in and taking us to the mini-bus station.

 As we had now become expert in this form of transport I waited for our baggage to  be unloaded whilst Shell made a run for the van to secure our seats ensuring they were not in the back row (a real bone-shaker in those seats!). 

Once on board it became obvious that they had oversold the seats, after the driver checking our tickets  again, one old French guy getting upset and not getting a seat and kicking off then deciding to not go and one of the locals being forced to sit on a table between two of the seats we were finally off.

The journey was pretty horrendous despite bagging the decent seats, it took around 6-7 hours along very potholed roads and a couple of comfort breaks, one of which involved me having to use a squat toilet and because I am not that flexible I have to adopt a reverse crab position and not think about what I am putting my hands in!!

Anyway definitely shaken and stirred we arrived in Phonsaven bus depot where we were met by the hotel manager and after booking some overnight bus tickets for the following day we then got taken to our accommodation for thee night which was pretty nice and very cheap.

We then headed out and found that Phonsaven wat a bit more rustic than the last couple of places we had been and so we had a walk around and then sat in a café/restaurant and had a couple of drinks.  We were deciding on whether to take a tour the next day (which seemed slightly expensive) or rent a scooter and do it ourselves when we got speaking to another tourist who said it was much better to do it ourselves.  So we found a bike rental place and booked a scooter for the next day.

Whilst we had been travelling on the slow boat we had read up in our guide about Laos’s involvement in the Vietnam war and were interested to find out more and we found the XPO Bomb Museum which had more detail on this and showed daily films.

 We walked around the Museum completely amazed that we knew nothing of this ‘Secret War’ and then we watched one of the documentary films which was very informative and harrowing at the same time.

 Basically the situation was that during the Vietnam war Geneva convention had declared that Laos was to be considered a neutral country as far as this conflict was concerned.  However America didn’t worry about that and they trained, paid and armed the people of northern Laos to be an army to fight communism (i.e. Vietnam).  Whilst the Vietnamese used the Mekon River as a supply route through Laos and also set up a large number of army base’s within Laos to escape the heavy fighting in Vietnam.

 The upshot of this was that the Vietnam war expanded throughout Laos and the Americans ended up carpet bombing massive parts of Laos with cluster bombs, even to the extent of if they had not dropped their payload in Vietnam they just dumped it on Laos on the way back to their base so they did not have to land with it.  The unbelievable fact is that Laos is the officially most bombed country per capita ever in the world – and we knew nothing about this.

 The problem they have now is that a vast amount of the country is now still covered with ‘Bombies’ (the bombs that are sprayed out of cluster bombs) and it is currently estimated that it will take 150 years to clear all the Bombies from the land.  So basically what is happening every week is farmers trying to till new land (because they have to so they can grow enough food)hit one of these whilst they are digging and they blow up or locals try to defuse them for scrap metal resulting in the same outcome.  Also small children find them and as they are the size of a tennis ball they play with them and also get blown up.

 The locals have now been trained in clearing the land (with the assistance of some European charities) of these bombies and after what we had just learned we were more than happy to donate £12 which paid for a plot of land 10 metre square to be cleared.  I was also happy to see that The States of Jersey had made a donation to this cause, the USA have donated a small amount to this project but they view it as charity and not an obligation!!

 So as you can see we do actually do a bit of cultural stuff and not just drink our way round the world, despite what this blog portrays!!

 That being said we headed back across the road and had a couple more drinks whilst discussed what we had just seen and also had a very large noodle dinner (something we do once in a while).

After dinner we headed back to the hotel for a fairly early night and watched a couple of episodes of The Soprano’s on my laptop before lights out.

Day 2 – In Search of Jars!

Up earlyish as we were going on our road trip to see ‘The Plain of Jars’, so we went to the bar/restaurant from the previous night and had some breakfast before picking up the scooter.

The Laos people we have found speak less English than their neighbouring country’s and also do not seem to be that big on sign posts.  So after enquiring with the locals we were met with quizzical faces and vague pointing which resulted in me driving about 20 Km into the countryside – we thought as this was the towns major attraction there was going to decent signage for it – we were wrong.  So thinking we were going the wrong way we turned round and headed back in the other direction passing town and we still had no idea where we were going.

 So turned round and returned to the restaurant and had a beer whilst we gathered our thoughts.  Whilst we sat there we were fortunate enough to speak to an American tourist who had done the same thing the day before so he gave us the exact directions to Jar site one and vague directions to sites two and three.

 Finishing our beers we then headed back out with a purpose and after another 8km we just about saw the minutest sign for Jar site one and eventually found it (only took around 4 hours to find – but the scenery was nice).

 We dismounted paid the entrance fee and then were chauffeured to the main site by a golf cart!

The plain of Jars is basically a piece of countryside that is peppered with very large stone jars (and bomb craters) that date back thousands of years, however no one really know what they were for, used for or who created them.

So we wandered around the site for a while taking pictures and enjoying the ambience of the place.

The only disconcerting thing was during our visit to the museum the previous night we found out that the bomb clearance teams laid down demarcation stones which were red one side (bombs have not been fully cleared) and white the other side (bombs have been cleared) and we learned that you had to walk on the right side of the white………..or is it the left???

As the heat was taking its toll we decided to get back on the bike to find sites two and three and get a bit of wind through us.  However once again these sites were neigh on impossible to find and after about another 20Km we gave up looking (once you've seen one jar...) and instead headed for the former old town of Phonsaven.

When we got there we had a quick look around, pretty much local people only so we found a restaurant to have some local noodle soup, which is quite nice as you get a basic chicken noodle soup and then can pimp it up with various vegetable and spices they give you on the side.

It was getting late in the afternoon by now so we headed back into town and retuned the bike and then went to a small bar across the road, which was decorated with massive US bomb casings.  I forgot to mention the Laos people use a lot of the war debris to fashion them into other things such as Chairs, cattle drinking trough’s cooking pots and the like.  Whist sat there we spent a couple of hours speaking to a nice French couple who were also travelling before going back to the hotel to pick our bags and head off to the bus station.

 Unfortunately my normally good sense of direction was off and after getting a bit lost, Shell saying ‘are you sure you know where you are going’ and me getting annoyed and saying ‘of course I do why do you question my brilliant sense of direction’ we had so ask a few local follow a few dark alleys and then we got there with 20 minutes to spare and eat a bit of humble pie!!

 We found when we got there that they had changed our seat/bunk numbers and we were now in top bunks (I think the locals get dibs on the lower ones as they are more convient).  Anyway after a very awkward slow flosbury flop into our bunks I discovered that it was a bit like wedging yourself into a metal dodgem car built for midgets (or most likely Laos people!) with a blanket and cushion for comfort – methinks not much sleep will be had on this coach. 

After a while we got speaking to an American lady who had travelled quite a bit and gave us some useful information in Orangutan experiences in the wild in Borneo – so every cloud I suppose!

We got moving into the night and hoped to get some sleep despite the bumpy road and cramped conditions.

Laung Prabang

Day 1

We had to get up early today to start the second leg of the boat journey, so after getting some breakfast and receiving our pre-ordered pack lunches for the trip we headed off to the jetty to catch our boat.

Once again it was a bit chaotic getting our bags onto the boat, down a steep cliff,  but one good thing was that Shelley negotiated (insisted) on getting on the 2^nd boat instead of the one they were boarding and was filling up quickly so we managed to blag our choice of seats with more room near the front.  

The boat journey was slightly shorter at around 5 hours and once again it was quite pleasant watching the scenery go past whilst chatting to our friends and catching up on the blog

 

Arriving around 2.00 we then negotiated a van which dropped us off at our guest house for the next 2 nights, the check-in seemed pretty non-existent and we were just given a room key and shown to our room, which was pretty basic and unfortunately on the ground floor behind reception = expect a lot of noise! However it had free coffee and bananas right by our room so we decided not to ask to change.

As per usual we then had a look around for the nearest bar, however this took slightly longer than we expected and we finally found one just where the night market was about to set up.  We sat down and had a few beers watching the stall holders set up and all the new back-packers wander around the town looking for lodgings.  Chris and Natalie then came past and stopped for a drink with us and we agreed to meet up with them later for food and drinks.

In the evening we met up with Chris, Nathalie, Steve, Loucie and had some food and drinks with them, after a while the Manchester Couple (Now known as Jacob & Danielle – thanks to facebook invites!) walked past and joined us for the rest of the evening.  The restaurant/bar we were sitting in then run out of beer (I’m sure not just a result of our visit!) and they told us just to buy them from the shop across the road instead and drink them there!!  Eventually the bar shut and told us we could just finish our shop bought beer there before we went home for the night.

 

Day 2 – Sight-seeing

We did not have to get up too early so we had a bit of a lie in before heading round the corner to get some breakfast.

Availing ourselves of our free coffee and banana’s in the morning we decided that we would need to stay another night in Laung Prabang to do all the things we wanted to do here so we hung around the reception area to wait for someone to turn up so that we could book (never anyone around).

After a while a lady turned up and Shelley then tried to organise the room for the next night, when she asked about this her response was ‘He has gone!!’ ‘He take the computer’ ‘He is Crazy’ ‘He take all the Money’after some puzzled looks from Shelley (fortunately I was sat down outside just observing) she then went on to explain that the owner (her partner) had run off with a 15 year old school girl because she was ‘Shiny’ and he had taken the computer that the bookings were done on.  Shell tried to console her as she was close to tears but at the same time she still had to achieve the objective,  ‘So can we book a room’.  The conversation went on for some time Shell asking if it was better just to book again on Bookings.Com, to which she didn’t get a definite answer.

Shell needed a breather so she came and sat with me and we checked if the room was available on Bookings.Com, so Shell went and informed her that a room was available according to Booking’s.Com so should we book via them or pay her in cash (seeing as ‘he had taken all the money’), she liked this idea of paying her directly so we hoped that we had a room for the following night.

I thought that was it then she came up to Shell again and said ‘He do this before – he ran away with a ladyboy’ (big raised eyebrows between Shell and I) ‘We are supposed to be getting married next month’ (her not us!).  Shell asked where her partner was from and apparently he was a local man, who lived across the road and who  or who may not currently be in hospital?  Anyway Shell sympathised with her and asked her why she is thinking of marrying him as she was beautiful and bearing in mind his terrible behaviour ‘Because I love him’ was her reply.

Anyway Shell was now emotionally exhausted (that was the condensed version the conversation must have gone on for around ½ hour) and we may or may not have a room for the following night, but Shell had done her best under the circumstances and so we headed out for a tour of the town.

Following a Rough Guide map of suggested sites to visit we first walked to a very beautiful Buddhist  monastery where there were two local couples having wedding photo’s taken, not only by the official photographers but also by the tourists (including us).

 

We spent around half an hour in there looking inside the temples and the local worshippers and also the local vendors which included a woman with caged birds that you could pay to release (most probably only to be caught again the next day!).

We then visited a few more of these monastery’s one which was of particular interest as once again it was very beautiful but it had quite a few novice monks going about their business and cooking over an open fire in the courtyard.

 

Having done a lot of monastery’s we then headed down to the river and walked along until we came to a famous wooden bridge (that we didn’t cross as they wanted £1 for the privilege) where we took some pictures.

 

It was getting past the witching hour so we carried on to a Bar/restaurant that was on the route map and was called ‘Utopia’ and with a name like that it had to be done. Once we got there you could tell it was a big backpacker bar with lots of Hammocks, Chill Out Mat’s and even a volleyball area in case you felt energetic.  So we got a couple of beers and settled down into a chill out area overlooking the river.

After this short break we wanted to find somewhere for food, but we were running low on cash so instead we thought we would climb up to the big viewpoint above town and then get some cash and go for lunch afterwards.

As we started to climb up we found that it was a big Monastery complex with different Buddha statue’s and Temple’s along the way.

 

About half way up we saw a sign for Buddha’s Footprint so we thought we should add this to our collection of Buddha sights (Hair, Tooth, Toe-Nail, Etc.).  When we got there a young monk was standing there and started chatting to us in very good English, he told us that a Scottish Teacher had taught him and that he waited there to practice his English with the tourists.

 

We had a quick look at Buddha’s foot which I could not make out as I was looking at the bottom of a small crater for it, but Shell pointed out afterwards that the crater was the foot print!!

 

 

Heading now for the top we saw plenty more Statue’s and the monk’s doing a bit of gardening along with another caged bird lady.  At the op you had a great view over Laung Prabang and the Mekong river that surrounds it.

 

Having covered most of the suggested sights we then headed back down in search of sustenance and soon found ourselves in the Bar/Restaurant from the previous night.  We sat down and had some noodle soup and crispy buffalo which was really nice a cross between beef jerky and barbequed spare ribs!

During the course of the afternoon we had been messaging with the other couples and had arranged to meet up with them to go to the waterfalls the next day.

After lunch we took a slow walk back to our guesthouse via some more temples and a food market.

 

 

In the evening we met up with Chris, Nathalie, Steve & Loucie for a few drinks before heading home for the night (sorry a bit vague as I’m getting behind with this and my memory is not that great!!)

Day 3 – Waterfall’s

We got up early and headed out to check out the early morning food market (Starts at 3 am!) and wandered through slowly the produce looking at what was on offer which included boxes of live toads and spatch-cocked rats!!

 

Deciding not to purchase these local delicacies we then met up with the two couples and got a minibus to the waterfalls.

On the way up you pass a black bear sanctuary where they had penned area’s with a number of bears, it was a bit worrying as the fences did not look that high and the bears were pretty close.

 

Carrying on along the path we eventually came to the falls which were picture postcard beautiful with crystal blue pools and number of small falls. 

 

 

We kept walking up and we then came to the main waterfall which was about a 200 metre drop and again was very pretty.

 

After looking at them for a while we found out that you could continue up a steep path to the top to see the source of the waterfall.  It was quite a tough climb and Shell had one of her ‘I don’t like this moments’ but we managed to get to the top and were able to stand near the edge and look at the falls right from the top.

 

Running out of time for this trip we spent about 10 minutes looking around the top before we had to head down again, Shell instantly going into Bambi on Roller Skates mode!  So we took it very slowly back to the bottom.

Once and the bottom we just had time for a quick dip in one of the pools, which was considerably colder than some of the waters we had recently been swimming in on the beaches but it was quite refreshing.  We just had time for a quick beer in a bar at the bottom before getting into the minibus and heading back into town.

 

We then went for a few drinks with Chris, Nathalie, Steve and Loucie as we were heading in different directions the next morning (yes I know we don’t need an excuse!!).  In the early evening we side our goodbyes and headed out for some food and a couple of beers in our favourite bar.  Whilst we were sitting there Jacob and Danielle turned up looking for us and they guessed where we would be!!!

So after a few more beers and some more farewell's we headed back to the guesthouse for the night.  God know how many new facebook friends we will acquire by the end of this trip, however it is interesting seeing where they are travelling too.

  

Notice to readers

Unfortunately the internet in Phillipines is very poor so blog may be a bit slow, bear with us we will try our best!!

There is a post below this if you are interested!

Laos – Let’s Throw in Another Country

Day 1 – Another Bus Journey

As we had gone through Thailand quicker than we thought, we had decided to check out Laos as it was one country in Asia that we hadn’t visited yet (It was on our original plan but we had discounted it).

We were picked up by a mini-bus around 10.00 and we were then driven to the Thai border of Chiang Kong, the journey was pretty uneventful apart from Shell feeling unwell halfway through (6 hour journey), she did well to get back on the minibus after our lunch break.  Also a few annoying younger traveller’s singing nursery rhymes and talking rubbish the whole way there.

When we arrived and Chiang Kong, we were put up in basic lodgings which were wooden sweat boxes with shared toilets and showers, but it was only for one night so we didn’t mind.

In the evening we went to the restaurant where we had a meal in the price of our ticket and had a couple of beers whilst catching up on our blog.

We had an early night and retired back to our room to read for the rest of the evening, unfortunately two of the young girls from the bus were in the room next door and the walls were paper thin.  Around 11.00 the came home drunk and were shouting at the top of their voices and we really did not need to know their sexual preferences and who they were going to send pictures of their bum’s too!!, however they passed out after about an hour and we could get to sleep.

Day 2 – Long Boat to Luang Prabang

In the morning we showered and surprisingly they were pretty hot before packing and going to the restaurant.  We had a fairly decent breakfast and were then issued with pack lunches for the boat journey (All included in the price of the ticket).

Next we were mini-bussed about ½ a mile down the road across to the Laos border to the checkpoint to get our Laos visa’s.  The system was a bit chaotic you first queued in one queue for around half an hour and then submitted your forms, passport and photo’s and then had to huddle round a second queue where they held up your passport at the booth when it had been processed, you then muscled your way to the front to identify if the passport was yours and paid the visa fee and then you were done (another ½ hour later).

We then were taken by mini-bus to the other side of the border (Hyay Xai) where we asked to wait in a café near the boat jetty whilst other people turned up, it gave Shell and I a chance to check out the new local brew,  Beer Lao – once again fizzy lager but not too bad!

Eventually we boarded the boat but it was not going to be like our nice Mandaly-Bagan journey as they had really packed people in and it was a bit of a free-for-all for seats together.

Also you had to carry your luggage on boat and take it to the back of the boat behind the engine room, which was a bit of a fight as there 80 – 100 people all trying to do this at the same time!

Once seated we were off down The Mekong river and watching the countryside go by which was very pretty and gave us our first impressions of Laos. 

We then got chatting to a couple of the couples from the UK, Chris & Natalie and Steve & Loucie and we passed the rest of the day chatting to them whilst watching fishermen on the riverbanks and long-tail boats going by.

After about a 6 hour boat journey we were then moored up at a town called Pak Beng for the night.  Once again fighting to get our bags back and then realising that we were not moored at a Jetty and had to cross a plank and scrabble up some rocks – not easy when you are carrying two 17kg bags!!

At Pak Beng we had to sort out our own accommodation for the night and we were quickly accosted by a hotel tout, Shell negotiated a decent rate (but said we wanted to see it first) and the other two couples decided to join us and then we were joined by a further 6 people.  We were all crammed into the back of a pick-up truck with us sitting around the edge and our bags in the middle.  The ride was pretty uncomfortable and a bit worrying when taking a corner.

Instead of what was promised, a five minute journey to some bungalows close to the main street, we found ourselves on a twenty minute journey up into the mountains into the middle of nowhere with no sign of life.  Collectively most of us decided this was too out the way so told the owner we wanted to go back to the main street, he tried to convince us to stay but we just stayed in the truck until he gave up and drove us back.

He actually took us back to a guesthouse he ran in town and after checking the rooms were OK we agreed to stay there for the night.

In the evening we went out with the two couples and we found a little restaurant down the road and had some dinner and drinks, a nice buffalo curry for me and a chicken masala for Shell (It’s a bit of a fusion of Asian foods in Laos).  Later we were joined by another couple from Manchester (Can’t remember their name’s) and had a couple more beers until we were told the restaurant had shut (apparently everything shuts down a 10.30 there), so at that point we headed home for the night.