It was an early start on Thursday when we left Chiang Rai bound for Laos. We were up at 5am and got a taxi at 5.30am to the bus station where we caught the first bus (6am) to the Thai border town of Chiang Khong. Instead of the bus dropping us off right at the border, we were dropped off about 2km away and had to get one of the waiting tuk tuks to the actual border for our stamp out of Thailand. This was relatively easy and took about 5 minutes before we had to jump on another bus to cross the Friendship bridge into Laos. As we had caught the first bus out of Chiang Rai, the Laos border was relatively quiet so after filling in a couple of lengthy forms and handing over 35 dollars each, we were in possession of our 30 day Laos visas and ready for some more adventures.
These adventures occurred quicker than we had planned, or imagined. Once we had our visas, we jumped into the back of a van for the transfer to the departure point for the slowboat cruise to Luang Prabang. Unfortunately, whilst we were huddled into the back of this van with eight other travellers, and as we rounded a sharp bend, my big bag came flying off the top of the van and bounced onto the road. We quickly yelled at the driver to stop and he put the van into reverse to recover the bag. Unfortunately, he then proceeded to almost run over it and only our shouts prevented him from doing this. There wasn't too much damage to my bag apart from a couple of scuffs and small holes and we were lucky that it didnt get ran over by one of the large trucks that seem to frequent the roads here in Laos.
We made it to the ferry terminal for the boat we wanted to catch for about 9.30am so we were in plenty of time for the 11am departure down the Mekong river. We bought our tickets for the two day journey and jumped on the boat waiting for it to leave. We eventually left at 11.30am and enjoyed the stunning scenery of the Mekong river and the small Laos villages which lie on the river. We arrived in Pak Beng where we would be staying for the night at 5pm and quickly booked into a hotel for the night for 500 baht. We then grabbed some food and a quick drink in the small town which basically exists just to cater for the tourist boats. We were both knackered after the long day so we were in bed by 9.30pm ready for another long day of travelling tomorrow.
It was another early start on Thursday and we had our breakfast in the hotel by 7.30am and were on the boat ready for another full day. The boat eventually left at 9.30am when a couple of stragglers made it out of their beds. The scenery was as stunning as the day before but the boat was a lot less comfortable than the previous day. The company had crammed the people from the two boats of the previous day into one boat and there was a lot less room as a result. We eventually made it to Luang Prabang at about 5pm and we were delighted to be able to stretch our legs again. However, there was a problem as we were being unloaded at a pier 7km out of town. We had expected this as we had read blogs about the journey but a lot of the other passengers hadnt and refused to leave the boat. This was quickly resolved when the boat crew started to unload all the bags an everyone quickly got off. We jumped into a tuk tuk and got ripped off for the fair as we only had Thai baht to pay with and not Laos kip. The exchange rate we got was a joke but we didnt have any other option.
The journey into Luang Prubang took about 15 minutes and we checked into our hotel which is really nice. We got a really good deal for it on hostel bookers and we slightly nervous that it would be a bit crap. After having a much needed shower, we headed out to look around the famous night market which was full of locals selling homemade items. We found a food stall where you paid 10,000 kip (about 80p) for a plate and fill it up with lots of vegetarian dishes. It was really good and there were loads of tourists filling up on the delicious food. After this, we had a browse around before another early night.
Today, Saturday, we decided to explore the older part of town. We had a good look around and had a nice cool drink sat overlooking the Mekong river. We then went to Wat Xieng Thong which is one of the many Buddhist temples in the city. Again, it was decorated fantastically and we were both mightily impressed. However, the heat here is again scintillating and we were both really hot so we headed back to our room to chill out in the air conditioning. Tonight, we are planning to head back to the night market and then hopefully meet up with a Dutch couple we met on the boat for a few drinks.