Laos and the Mighty Mekong!

Well... SO much to say since my last blog and that was only a few days ago!!!

Before I start though.. i just HAVE to get something off my chest... an incident that happened earlier today. Visions have kept entering my head and had me in absolute hysterics all day!!!! This must be THE funniest thing that has happened on my travels so far...

Let me set the scene.. me and Mike and a boat full of people were arriving at the Pak Ou Caves today, just north of Luang Prabang. We pulled in to the jetty area where there were another 5 boats lined up to our right. In order for us to get onto the jetty we had to first cross over onto the boat next to us and then we could jump off. So... the boat next to us got off... and the boat to it's right was still FULL of people but we were allowed to go first. So... everyone else on our boat jumped over onto the next one and then happily hopped off onto the jetty... Then it was mine and Mike's turn....!!!! Mike climbed over onto the other boat with our rucksack (containing our passports/money/cameras/clothes/towels/EVERYTHING OF VALUE) and was stable and everything was looking good. I was the last off and looked at the gap between the boats and thought it looked quite far apart but decided to brave it and quickly try to get across... well.. i got one foot on the other boat and before i knew it one foot was going in one direction and the other foot in the opposite direction... i was heading for the splits and i knew this could only end with me falling like a plonker into the Mekong river! So... i screamed a little and grabbed for a steady looking Mike on the other boat. As i did so, i managed to pull my other foot and scramble onto the other boat but at the same time pushed Mike back towards our boat! In a moment of panic ... (i was heading for the deck) ... i grabbed whatever i could... which unfortnately turned out to be Mike's shorts... (ELASTICATED ONES)!!! His hands had ended up on our ORIGINAL boat and his feet were on the other and the boats were getting further and further apart!!! AND HIS BIG WHITE HAIRY BUM WAS ON SHOW FOR ALL THE BOAT DRIVERS AND THE ENTIRE OTHER BOAT LOAD OF TOURISTS!!!! HAHAHAHHAAHAHAH!!! I was sprawled out on the deck of the boat and looked up to see Mike hanging on almost horizontally between 2 boats with his bum out .. unable to pull them up as he would have just fallen straight in the river.. I tried to get up and pull them up but i was in uncontrollable fits of laughter which seemed to drain me of all my energy...!! (either that or i was just enjoying the cries of laughter from the other boat too much!!!) At the same time as all of this.. as I had pushed Mike and he had had to grab onto the other boat... he had dropped our rucksack straight into the river...!! obviously this was more important than covering his arse up so the boat men were fishing around trying to get that before it was swept away in the current - all the while Mike was still in the same position!!!! Eventually our boat guy managed to pull the boats closer and Mike could rearrange himself but i swear i laughed for a good hour!!! I am giggling my head off whilst i'm writing this too!!!! :) I escaped with just a few cuts on my legs and think i may have done something 2 my index finger as i cant bend it without it hurting but at least nothing serious!!!

Right.. back to the blog... !!!

So, we stayed another day in Pai and soaked up the nice weather! On our last night we found this cute little bar called 50 Satang bar.. we started chatting to the owner and it turns out that this was the first bar in Pai!! Opened 21 years ago! He showed us pics of what it was like at this time and it was unrecognisable!!! It is amazing how much it had grown in the space of 21 years and to see what influence tourism has had on it. I suppose some could say it is a shame because the western influence has completely changed the old village lifestyle but on the other hand... tourism has brought them wealth and lots more opportunities to make and sell things and use their skills in order to bring them money. Anyway.. i absolutely loved Pai...! If i'd had more time there I would have loved to go to one of the yoga or spiritual healing retreats... i love all the hippie style things Pai has to offer!!

So... after our last spider/snail/slug/cockroach and mosquito infested night in Pai, we took a minibus to Chiang Khong (got fed a load of bulls*** about having to go back to Chiang Mai first as we couldn't get a bus straight there which turned out to be a big fat lie and took us 9hrs instead of 5-still feeling a little bitter about this so lets not talk about that). We stayed in Chiang Khong for 1 night... not much going on here .. think everyone just comes here to cross the border into Laos really.. but nice enough. Found a little guesthouse called TN-something for 150b per night - about one pound something each!!! Hot shower, a fan and NO bugs!!! Although the pillows were like sandbags. We booked the slowboat to Luang Prabang the next day - 1100b for transfer to pier, boat to Huay Xai (Laos border), transfer to the pier, 2 day slowboat AND lunch!! About 20 quid!

We got up in the morning to change 1250b for 35USD - the cheapest currency in which to pay for our visas at the Laos border - dont ask me why but it is!!! We were v unsure about which currency to bring. I had heard that baht, USD and kip are all in use and as i know Kip has no value elsewhere i thought we should just take baht. Bit of a mistake... everything is priced in kip and if you pay in baht it makes things very confusing.. i was getting all this change for things.. WADS of cash.. which only amounted to about one pound!! They have really high denominations of currency. 1 pound is about 13,800 kip!!!

Crossing the border was ok and we got our visas alright but to be honest... the whole day i just felt like i didn't have a clue what was going on!!! My first taste of Laos was very strange... everything was so unorganised and i was prepared for things to take longer than usual but not SO long!!! I have done SOOOOO much waiting around since i've got here and it seems like they do everything the long way.

Our boat was supposed to leave at 10,30 but didnt go till 12!!! There was about 80 of us just wandering around aimlessly not knowing what the hell was happening.. AND they had taken our passports again and gone off somewhere which i was worried about. I've heard about people copying them and selling them on... British passports are worth the most!!! To make this waiting around worse.. the heavens opened and soaked us..!! i scrambled around to get my rain cover on my bag and my plastic mac on me... SO attractive.. (yes Sar... the same one from the hilltribe trek... a handy little garment).

There were 2 slowboats put on the first day but we still didnt manage to get a seat. Instead... we had to sit in the engine room!!! It was very uncomfortable and every time i breathed in i took down a mouthfull of fumes but at least we could lie down and chill out!! There were about 15 of us in there and we had all bought pillows at Chiang Khong (tip for anybody doing this slowboat ... BUY A PILLOW!!). The first day went quite quickly... we were on the boat for 6 hours. We made a BIG mistake by eating our lunch at 11.30am whilst waiting around ... eating out of boredom is NEVER a good thing!! Although we were so uncomfortable, it was a great experience! The scenery was breathtaking. I was quite shocked when we got to Pak Beng - the little village on the banks of the Mekong where we spent the night. I was expecting my first Lao people to be much more relaxed than the tuk tuk thai men but i was wrong! They were on the boat as soon as we stopped putting our bags on and asking if we wanted them to carry them off. Mike was like 'sweet... this bloke is carrying my bag for me Em'... i had warned him only the previous night about this... they offer to carry your bag for you then bloody charge you for it!!! He quickly snatched his bag back and carried it himself! As soon as i got off the boat they were bombarding me with offers of guesthouses and i was a bit overwhelmed when 2 blokes grabbed me by the arm... !!! But i shook them off and we walked to find our own room.. i'm so glad we did!! We stayed just opposite the indian restaurant.. only walked for about 1 min and it was a lovely little place!! And the owners have a beautiful little girl who was amazed by my necklace!!! The room was 200b.. cant remember the name. I had heard that this little town had only 'squallid hovels' on offer but this was the best night sleep i've had yet!!! The only have electric from 6-10pm so we went for some food (mike wasn't impressed - his first laos dish and his first mouthfull was full of eggshells!!! - at least thats what we hope it was) and had a couple of famous beer laos, and chatted to a nice irish girl for a while then went off to bed by 9.30!!! We didn't want to be scurrying around with only my torch light getting ready for bed!!!

The next day we woke to an amazing view of the Mekong! We had breakfast and made for the pier.. this time armed with baguettes, crisps and bananas! We were all shoved onto one boat this day!!! But we managed to get a seat, only to find that the novelty of these benches wears off very quickly - they are extremely hard and Mike couldnt even fit his legs in! We were moaning the previous day about being in the engine room but now we couldnt wait to get in there! So off we went with our pillows and plotted up in there for the 8 1/2hr journey! We literally stopped every hour or so to pick up beer, crisps and locals... quite funny really! The engine room was fun! People from all over the world all lazing around passing the time! At one point, one of the locals scurried through the engine room holding the freshly skinned carcus of what looked like a chicken but who knows. He hung it out the back of the boat and then sat down with us all and people were showing them their ipods and stuff and sharing Lao whisky with him!! Bizarre but such a good experience!!

We arrived at Luang Prabang at arund 5.30pm and before i say anything else - THIS PLACE HAS THE BEST FRUIT SHAKES AND BAGUETTES I'VE EVER TASTED. Anyway - So far i am struck by how relaxed and 'different' it is to thailand! We are staying at a lovely little family run place right on the river called Cuc Phurong. The family are so sweet! They invited for some lunch when we walked in the other day.. it consisted of mushed up crab... whole fish with the heads and eyes (nothing goes to waste here) and lots of greenery..!! Luckily we had just eaten but it would have ben a great experience!! Maybe i'll pluck up the courage before we leave!!! Room is 50,000 kip per night... about 1.70 each!!

There is a MASSIVE night market here which is really spectacular! Really vibrant colours everywhere and loads of monks just wondering around! I even got eye'd up by a few in an internet shop the other day... WAAAAYHEEEYY!!! But i did have my legs on show and my blonde locks flowing!!!!!! Ahh while i'm talking about my legs..mosquito bites... i've cracked it!!! just dont shave your legs!!! They dont like the hairy legs so i've gone one week now and they hardly come near me!!! I am really minging at the moment by the way... i dont wear perfume (attracts the mossies), i have hairy legs and i smell like a sweaty old tramp.

Anywhere.. more about Luang Prabang... it is a unesco heritage listed place which means there is a ban on buses & trucks and you really notice how quiet and quaint this place is when coming from Thailand! There is a curfew of 11.30pm and all the bars are practically empty by 10.30!!! There are apparently only 2 bars here where dancing is allowed which is weird bcs we passed a big carnival thingy last night and they were all drinking and dancing outside!!!

Laos seems a lot less spoiled than Thailand.. but i suppose it's only a matter of time. Also, the women seem to do most of the work here! You see them running guesthouses, businesses, foodstalls, restaurants and they are still supposed to run the house too! Whilst the Laos men seem to sit around with their friends drinking whisky!!! BLOODY MEN!!!

We rented bicycles the other day... not as cool as our mopeds in Pai but still so fun!! We had a little breakfast by the river.. french bread and fresh fruit and tea... i love how you can still see the French influence so prominently here, even the architecture like the French looking villas... kind of reminds me of Moliets last summer - especially the baguettes which are EVERYWHERE!!! We cycled to Wat Xieng Thong which is apparently LP's most magnificent temple! you can see the difference in these temples compared to the Thai ones... the roofs seem to sweep really low down here.. almost to the floor. We then cycled south through some little villages which was great! All the women hold umberellas up to stop themselves from tanning (they perceive white skin to be beautiful) and even ride their bikes whilst holding them up - sometimes 3 to a bike!! crazy!!! We rode right up this rocky path to a small waterfall where the locals were cliff jumping.. we didn't try it!!! madness..!! Was certainly NOT deep enough but nobody was hurt!! Then we rode back into town to the Royal Palace Museum which we decided not to go into bcs it was too expensive but i know i'll regret it! Then we hiked 100m up to Phu Si in the heat of the day.... what a wrong-un.. but the views were absolutely amazing!!! We could see all of Luang Prabang and the Mekong going around. Lovely.

We then rode over the bridge - scary - and came across a tiny school where they were playing really loud music and having some kind of dance like a prom or something! We stayed and watched!

Had some food at Martins bar on the way back which was ok. REALLY missing the thai food you know!!! But their fruit shakes and baguettes make up for that!!! :)

Today we went on a trip to the Pak Ou Caves which are up the Mekong at the mouth of the Nam Ou - there are 2 caves crammed with buddha images - supposed to be a kind of graveyard for unwanted images. A bit spooky but interesting. One cave was pitch black!!! My torch came in handy (thanks Debs!!!). We then visited a 'whisky village' where we saw how they make their laos whisky and rice wine.. we had a taster... well... the rice wine was 65% proof.. we had one shot each and were in pain!!! i could feel it burning my insides for an hour after.. come to think of it.. we did this BEFORE we went to the caves... probably contributed to my laughing fit as Mike exposed himself. In our boat along the Mekong i was shocked to see kids as young as about 3 playing by the river and in boats etc... SO dangerous... they could fall and get swept away so easily and their parents were nowhere in sight.. scary.

In the afternoon we took a minibus thing to Tat Kuang Si... a beautiful waterfall south of town. It was absolutley amazing.. AND ... we climbed...scrambled and pulled ourselves up to the top.... SEE MY PICS TO COME... and got right on the edge (dont worry mum i was holding onto branches HAHAHAAH!!) it was so so surreal!!! beautiful views!!! On the way back .. after waiting for about an hour for our driver, Moon, to finish his game of pool, we were all chatting away and Moon was putting on his police siren to get people out of the way... was really funny! He had brought a plastic bag full of massive frogs into our van and stashed them at the back.... yes.. it was his intention to bbq them and eat them tonight washed down with some Lao Lao (whisky!!!)!!! Well... one of the b*****s escaped...and before i knew it he had taken a massive leap and was on my chair!!! We were all screaming (i thought he might have been posionous.. he was VERY intimidating with those bulging eyes) and Moon had to stop the van, catch him and find another bag for him... then another one got out!!!! There were frogs all over the bus HAHAHAHAH!!! SO funny!!!

Anyway.. we're off to Vang Vieng 2mo hopefully but haven't sorted our transport yet so i'll have to go and look into that now!!!

Hope all is well at home and you are not too cold :)

Love 2 all and spk soon!

Ems

xxx