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Wow, its only been 9 days since my last entry but so much has happened its a bit of a blur. I'll do my best to recount
From Huay Xai we wanted to get to Luang Prabang, to do that there are 3 options, Slow boat which takes 2 days, speed boat which takes 6 hours but has been compared to an out of control chainsaw and the bus which takes 12 hours, because we were short on time but still not stupid enough to get the speed boat, not to mention the bus was half the price we got the bus.... Big Mistake! Me and Anna were the only westerners, I dont mind that bit, but when the driver and his son's have a stereo system setup blasting Lao love songs for 12 hours it starts to get to you. It was a 5 hour trip and the forst 200km took 3 hours while the last 300 took 10- dirt roads, livestock on the roads, innumerable stops in villages so that the people on the bus could by produce and animals from villagers, so yes there were chickens on the bus with us. Couldn't sleep and noone had mentioned that it is very very cold in Luang Prabang. We arrived at 2.30 am- only 2 and a half hours after we were scheduled to arrive to find that we were walking the streets past the 12 o'clock tourist curfew so no guesthouses were open and lonely planet had failed us yet again with its recommended guesthouses now charging twice as much. We were lucky though because after curfew the only thing in town still open is the bowling ally so we met a guy from Israel who was getting back from bowling and who welcomed us into his room as he had a spare bed and Anna had a sleeping mat. I did the honorable thing and slept on the floor. Haha...
Early the next morning we were quite shocked to discover just how touristy Luang Prabang is, my sense of Laos as being an adventurous part of the world to travel was quashed when we realised that the town had more western tourists then locals, mainly retired couples and parents with young children all riding around on rented bicycles eating baguettes and croissants from the many bakeries in the French Colonial Buildings which lined the cobble stoned streets. The town resembled no aspect of Asian culture but more the French presence several hundred years ago. We joined the Israeli guy and some other people to go to a waterfall just out of town (See my pictures) which was pretty cool. We went swimming in the very cold springs at the bottom (again see photos). This is where we met Ivan and Andrea a couple from Chile who were really friendly and so went went out with them that night, Anna didnt feel so well so she went back to the room while me and the 2 chileans broke curfew to go bowling. Was really good night and now I have some contacts in Chile which is great.
The following day i faced a tough decision... I realised I had 5 weeks left and was yet to see Vietnam and I also need to get to Beijing to fly out on the 31st of march so I spent the day trying to decide whether or not to spend more time in Laos which is extremely slow to travel around or to go to Vietnam straight away and leave Laos for another time. Going to Vietnam straight away finally won so the next morning I boarded a bus to Vientiane (Laos capital) taking 9 hours, from there an 18 hour bus trip including a border crossing to vietnam then to Danang, where I crossed was about half way down Vietnam so to get to Ho Chi Minh it was another 18 hour bus trip, add them all together and thats 45 hours of travel non stop in non air conditioned local buses... They were fairly uneventful expect for the trip from Denang to Ho Chi Minh, by that stage i was tired and my patience was wearing thin, i purchased my bus ticket only to realised I had less then 10000 dong left (less then a dollar) so i needed to get money, the guy at the bus station organised a motorbike taxi for 3000 dong which was fine but the first 2 atms wouldnt take my card so then the driver wanted 30000 dong so I got off the bike and decided to walk back to the bus station (in the rain) without getting any money. Id decided to go the next 18 hours without food or anything. I was again the only foreigner on the bus but when we stopped for dinner a young vietnamese guy noticed i wasnt eating anything and invited me over to his table with his friends and I showed him my remaining 2000 dong and usuing hand gestures indicated he would buy for me which i didnt want but he insisted so he bought me food, then when we got back on the bus he came up to me and gave me a 1.5l bottle of water, not only that but then some of the other guys gave me some green mango and chewing gum and stuff, I gaver one of the guys my ipod to play with for a while which he seemed to appreciate and he looked through all my photos from everyone back home. Because I have 3 inflatable travel pillows i gave them to them so they could sleep and i just put up with thye hard seat but one guy wouldnt take it because he thought i needed it. In the morning when we stopped for breakfast the guy who bought dinner for me brought me a baguette and milk for breakfast, I was blown away seeing as we had no mutual language and then when he got to Saigon one of the guys walked around town with me and even came in the taxi with me to make sure i got to my guesthouse. It made the 18 hour bus trip seem worth it just to hang out with the locals and see how friendly they are.
In Ho Chi Minh i met up with Tayne when he finished his classes in the afternoon ( for those who dont know him he his a friend from australia who just moved there to teach english), so i hung out with him and a friend of his, the next day just walked around the city, i really thought it was a good city, very diverse, and you can get good pho noddles for real cheap. The next day i took a trip to the mekong delta, quite ordinary, the highlight was the people I met as the tour was cheap but we were herded on and off buses and boats like cattle. I got a photo with a huge snake around my neck though, another highlight. Then the next day (yesterday) i organised a bus to Mui Ne, got on at 4, meant to be a 4 hour trip, got here at maybe 10.30, got to get used to it over here. Met a french girl on the bus, she may have even convinced me to visit her hometown in Marseille. Then when we got to the guesthouse we met an Austrian guy so we went next door to a chilled out little beach bar with hammocks and such and drank some wine from Dalat ( a local region), today me and the Austrian walked to the end of the beach because the big drw in this town is the kite surfing, I got told it was about $10 an hour for a kite, only to walk 5km to find out its $50 an hour plus tuition, way out of my budget. So now just planning on spending the rest of the day in the Hammock by the beach under the palm trees. Life for me is really hard at the moment if you cant tell.....
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