LAOS - Monday 21 June to Sunday 27 June

Monday 21 June - Chiang Mai
Very sore muscles - a day of recuperation, computer work and trudging to the bus station to buy a ticket for tomorrow. You should always buy your tickets from the source. One of the guys had a lower bunk on the train and paid 881 baht - going rate - but the lady in the top bunk which should have been cheaper booked through an agent and paid 1400 baht!!! Back at the guesthouse Tawan gave us a sour mango which you dip in salt. We asked Noi to prepare us three dishes of her choice and we had the most beautiful meal - it was a wonderful evening.

Tuesday 22 June - Chiang Mai to Huay Xia, Laos
We got up at 4.35 and headed about 4km to the bus station - we got there at 6.15 and the bus left at 6.30. It took 6 1/2 hours and was quite a comfortable ride - second class bus with aircon and it was 211 baht each ($7). The scenery was mountainous at first and so green then it went into a valley full of rice paddies and most of the buildings were made of wood. Very picturesque! We arrived at Chiang Khong on the Thai border and walked the 1 1/2 km to Immigration and got stamped out of Thailand, walked down to the river bank and clambered aboard a long skinny boat and crossed the Mekong River to Laos. For our Thailand leg we spent on transport/accommodation/trekking $200/$59/$93 respectively. How much you spend after that is up to you!
LAOS
The long skinny boat rammed into the mud bank to stop and we clambered off onto a grassy bank. As we headed up to immigration we were called over by a man who sat us down to fill in our visa appliction and etry form. He then proceeded to tell us if we wanted to take the slow boat tomorrow we should put our names on the list to book so they would know whether to put on a big boat or a little boat or maybe we would end up sitting on plastic chairs. Of course you had to pay him the money up front. We declined and proceeded up and there was the real visa and Immigration offices. We couldnt help but think this chap couldnt be operating without collusion from Immigration. Our 30 day visa was US$30 and we were stamped in for a month. We walked along the main drag and found one of the guesthouses we had got of travelfish but fortunately for us it was booked out so we walked further up the road and came to our second choice - the Aramid Guesthouse which comprised lots of rattan bungalows with a lovely garden and verandah at the front of each one. Mr Sing, who has travelled in Australia, was extremely welcoming and very informative. He told us to go directly to the boat tomorrow to buy the ticket, the price of which is set at 200,000 kip by the Government ($29 each that is for 2 days of travel). We looked around the small town. The wat would have been interesting but there were so many steps - I might have been able to get up but I would never have made it down again - muscles in the tops of the legs are painful! We had dinner at Mr Sings and had a beer on our verandah and went to bed. The room was ok - clean, lino a bit shabby but shuttered, netted windows to let the breeze through and a fan. What more could you want - 300 baht ($10).

Wednesday 23 June - Huay Zia to Pak Beng by slow boat
We are a little confused as to which currency to use. They accept US$, baht and their own kip. There is 6,800 kip to AUS$1 or 1 baht = 255 kip. So we changed some more baht into kip as we had to pay for the boat in kip - 400,000! Mrs Sing cooked our breadfast and prepared baquettes for our lunch. We got to the boat early to get a good seat. We had our cushions we had bought at the market in Chiang Mai. We paid, got our tickets and there was only one other couple on the boat at 8.45. The middle of the boat had wooden benches with backs and a table so we grabbed one of these. Up the back they had benches and up the front soft seats but they were internal facing. People started to straggle on and 10am came when the boat was supposed to leave and people were still staggering on at 10.50! Have no idea when they thought it was leaving but it finally left at 11 and we still had both sides of the table to ourselves! The Mekong is a very muddy river - appears to be quite shallow - lots of rocks and sandbanks and rapids. The boats are around 110 ft long and 12 ft wide - steel outer. The river flows fast and there are whirlpools and eddies and rapids around the rocks and the sandbanks. the scenery is so green. We have seen people fishing with nets like huge butterfly nets with two bamboo rods and people sifting in the river - possibly for gems. The boat pulled in to a few villages to drop people off - they fend this huge boat off the rocks with a bamboo pole. One chap had to leap off on to the rocks and the boat reversed straight out. There are not a lot of villages and it is very isolated, the rocks are very slatey. We arrived at Pak Beng around 5pm. We pulled in between other long boats and Peter and Ben jumped off and headed up into the village to secure our accommodation. Mr Sing had recommeded we stay at Mosnsavhan with Mr. Tip. I got Peter's and my bag. We had to jump off onto rocks and up a steep rock slope to the road. It was pretty dicey. The town was spread out along one long road and our lovely, spacious clean modern room was just up from the boats and across from the restaurants (200 baht - $7). did I mention that they drive on the right in Laos. There was no footpath. We dumped our bags and went for a walk along the road. The people were very friendly and one family had a tiny baby monkey and let us take photos of it. Back to our room for a shower - didnt know how to turn the hot water off so had a hot shower! Went across the road to the Indian restaurant with a lovely view of the Mekong but the food was a bit bland. Lovely night's sleep.

Thursday 24 June - Pak Beng to Luang Prabang
Had breakfast on the verandah watching the village wake and people coming back from the morning market. Mr Tip prepared a baguette for our lunch and we went to the boat early to get a good seat. But it was a different boat and it was bench seats with a plank back - bit of a difference from yesterday but up the back were four sets of padded seats like arline seats so we snaffled those. Ben and Joanna got one and the next two lots of people then the rest had the benches. Quite a few people went forward and sat on the floor and others found comfort on the large bags of rice! The jungle passing by was very thick. There were a few villages - rattan walls. Then we passed a backhoe up the side of a mountain and he waved the arm of the backhoe wwas waving at us!! Such a kak! We couldnt believe we were going down the Mekong - who would have thought it!! Steep mountains where crops are planted. We saw three elephants just getting out of the river and goats and buffalo and cows. The buffalo are either dark or a kind of pinky white. Didnt see any other wildlife or birdlife. We arrived at 5.30 and walked across a gangplank and up a road behind the King's Palace. We didnt find the guesthouse we were looking for but found one mentioned in the Lonely Planet so went there. We walked up the alleyway through the market and had a meal there and then went to the walking street where all sorts of ethnic and other things were on sale. Hard to resist but we did.

Friday 25 June - Luang Prabang
Did a walking tour of the town which has been declared a UNESCO world heritage site. I'm not sure it deserves the tag but it was a nice enough town. We walked up to the top of Pu Si via steps. it was a lovely walk though it cost 20,000 kip ($2.90) each to go. There were lots of buddhas and even Buddha's footprint (going on the footprint he was rather huge). Then we went to the Palace and that cost 30,000 kip each ($4.41). By Australian standards that is cheap - the cost of a meat pie but by Lao standards it is expensive - two meat pies equals a night's accommodation!! The King and his family in 19777 were sent to labour in the fields and it is believed they probably died of malaria and malnutrition. In the palace there were lots of gifts from countries around the world including Australia dating around 1968. Laos it turns out was the most bombed country in the whole Vietnam war. The Ho Chi Minh trail whence Vietnam's supplies came ran down Laos so the US totally bombed it and many villages and towns were apparently wiped off the map. There's also interesting reading about the US and the 'Secret Army' but I will leave you to research that if you are interested. We walked all around the town then ate at the market and walked the street market again.

Saturday 26 June - Luang Prabang
We decided to hire push bikes to go a bit further afield and when we got them I thought my brakes were a bit dodgy and took a while to grip but foolishly I thought it would be ok. we rode out to the bus station and booked our seats on the express bus, not the VIP bus and the ticket seller assured us we had good seats - we were seats 1 and 2 as no one else had booked. We rode around, went up to what we thought was a wat but turned out be be their crematorium so we made a hasty exit, rode out of town and through a village on rough dirt roads trying to find the river, then rode back the way we came. Saw a cement fence which was made with donations from Australia and the US. We went in and the hill was quite steep so walked up and came to a gold Stupa which apparently is the only one of its kind in the world as you can go in it and it has seven stories. We didnt get in as it was closed for lunch but we did sit and talk to the young monk (he was 25) and his younger novice (15). It was very interesting and we talked for about half an hour. then we went to ride down the hill which as I said was very steep. My brakes immediately failed and the bike was increasing in speed alarmingly. The split second decision was get off so I tried to drop the bike and next thing I knew I was upside down flat on my back on the cement with a very anxious Peter kneeling over me. Managed to hold my head up so I didnt crack my skull - yep no helmets!! Anyway, I had a few bits of skin off and am a bit sore but ok. Fortunately I had my western shorts and trekking shirt on (not the thin stuff from here). Given the terrain and circumstances I was extremely lucky (I thought of you at the time Jean!!). We went back to the guesthouse had a quiet lay down then swapped the bike and went off again to finish our ride. There is another small river which runs through town and it is extremely picturesque. The French influence is evident in a lot of the buildings and they make very good baguettes!

Sunday 27 June - Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng
We caught a tuk tuk to the bus station at 7am. The bus turned out to be both express (95,000 kip ($14 each) and VIP (125,000 kip with a lunch and a water bottle). We had the front seat upstairs above the driver with the huge window in front of us - fantastic view!! It is drive on the right here so we were sitting on the left - middle of the road - we did dodge the trucks a couple of times!! The countryside is amazing - total mountains, green jungle, a few villages perched along the road but not too many. The fronts of the houses are on the flat and the backs on stilts. We were all given barf bags and quite a few of the locals used them. It was a very windy road - lots of hair pin bends so it was quite a slow trip. It took seven hours. At one point when we came to a bit of straight road the bus stopped and everyone got off the bus and disappeared into the bushes to go to the loo! Aftter a few hours the terrain turned to valleys with lots of rice paddies - very labour intensive. Everything is so beautifully green and the countryside is amazing. We thoroughly enjoyed the trip. We took a tuk tuk to town and walked around to find a guest house. Ended up at a room which overlooks the river - about 6m up and has a lovely verandah. The room is very ordinary and there is an island just across the river which wasnt there five years ago - it was made by the build up of silt plus a little help from the locals and now it is the nightclub island. so the beat and noise from the bars was pretty loud!! Apparently there is also a pizza place here which serves up happy mushrooms - heard a young welsh lad last night saying he was high for six hours!! to each their own! The photo in the Lonely Planet shows our view without the island so its pretty incredible. Had a pretty crappy dinner - apart from the baguettes we havent found any good Lao food.

Monday 28 June - Vang Vieng
Happy Anniversary to us - 35 years!! Charlie is two weeks old
Well we didnt sleep too badly despite the noise from the island. It poured rain all night. Watched a fisherman upstream with a net at the end of some bamboo poles standing in the river fishing. We were going to do the tubing today but the river is so brown and dirty that we didnt do it. We are currently considering a change in our plans but will let you know more next week.

Take care all and happy trails

Love

Dell and Peter