Day 14 - 17

Leaving Chiang Mai we stopped on route at a natural hot springs where people were boiling their own eggs (yes didn't smell great) and Chiang Rai to see the White Temple. This was not really like any other temple (featuring Star Wars and Spider-Man) so it was a bit Disneyland. However the detail was impressive. It was a bit of a joke that the toilet was the 'gold temple'.
Immigration was a bit of an experience and I was glad that our guide was with us. You get a bus from the Thai side to the Laos side and we were crowded on with locals who had bags of fresh meat from Tesco. Luckily there weren't any live animals but I imagine sometimes there might be. Handing in my passport I was starting to get worried when nothing happened after 30 minutes. I had to remember that now everything worked on Laos time. Laos PDR (peoples democratic Republic) more accurately stands for Please Don't Rush. Eventually we were through and it was a tuk tuk to our home for the night. Stray Asia has promised to deliver an experience off the beaten track and this was now happening. I wasn't expecting the difference in 100 meters to be so different but it was. The roads (we were now driving on the right and not the left as in Thailand) still were a mix of cars and motorbikes were much less developed, just some gravel and rocks in some places.
My guesthouse was lovely and only £6.64 for a double en suite with mountain views. I had my first Beer Lao (thanks Mark Steele for the tip!) It was very refreshing but I had to share the bottle! (it was 640mls - they don't believe in small measures out here).

Had my first Laos dish, Lap, which was to become a firm stable of the holiday - either minced chicken, beef or fish, with onions, garlic, chilli and masses of fresh coriander and mint. I think it actually provides one of your five a day from the amount of herbs. One for the Brand Development Team I think! We had been told to wait for our first whiskey Laos for our homestay the next evening. Buying some pens, books and toothbrushes as a gift for our homestay it was an early night before our journey down the Mekong.

The next morning after my banana baguette for breakfast (there is much more bread in Laos thanks to the French influence) we set off down to get our boat for the 2 day trip down the Mekong to Luang Prabang. Elise and Neil had warned me to bring a cushion for the ride, sorry both, no wooden benches for us!! Our boat which would comfortably seat 40 plus lots of standing room was just for the 9 of us and our captain, wife (Cook) and son (entertainment). I had my own table for 4 and the comfy seats I recognised from my first car, Ford Fiesta. It's pure luxury and comfortable travel for us which I am pleased about as its a long way. We were soon chugging out of our the port (a wooden plank and a jump) and we were on our way.

I am not a writer and I can't describe our view for the next 48 hours to do it justice. It was a bit chilly, first time I had worn my hoodie but it was just beautiful. No view was the same and despite all my photo attempts I won't be able to capture it. Lush green hills sides, Palm trees, sandy banks, rocky cliffs, the occasional water buffalo, cow or elephant pottering about. Fisherman, children playing / washing in the water and other slow boats. The river is for everything (accept drinking). The only noise was the was the rumble of our engine or when a speedboat ripped passed us. This method of transport was only 6 hours to Luang Prabang. No thanks I will take our slow boat every time.

After a delicious lunch of sticky rice (think you all know now that this is a given), chicken Massaman, chicken and onions, vegetables and (was once crispy) chicken we stopped at a hillside tribe, an unexpected stop as we were making good time. It was a steep climb up the hill side. Keo had explained that the river was at its lowest as we were in the dry season. I can't imagine that the river would rise to the tree line, but it would have been an easier ascent! The tribe was like nothing I've seen except on t.v. There was no electricity and one pump for drinking water (provided by the government) which the chickens drank the drips from. I don't know if it had a name but I will refer to it as chickenville. They were everywhere hens, roosters and baby chicks that just came right up to your feet they had no fear and the right to wander anywhere. The locals stared at us, again no smiles. I felt uncomfortable like an intruder. A girl no older than 15 was carrying a baby. I didn't think it was hers until Keo explained that the girls marry young into an arranged marriage and it would be unlikely to see a girl unmarried under 20. Jeepers. The school was a fairly decent building. The children were shy with us until you took a photo and showed them the image back and they were mesmerised. They only wanted to see pictures of themselves. They were less interested when I showed them a picture of a tiger from Chiang Mai. We had a group picture taken and I left a donation. I wish I had bought more stuff like pens and paper to leave. I couldn't see they had anything. One boy shrieked with happiness when we pulled him around on a petrol bottle on some string. It was upsetting but he was so happy.
Back on the boat it was a couple of hours into our homestay. Another steep ascent up the hill. This place was totally different and the first clue that it was more developed was the base of a stereo booming. We passed 2 shops (someone's front room) and passed a group of men who all offered a drink from a water bottle. It was soon clear that this was no water! When it came to my turn I hope my dad would be proud that I joked with them that it was water and they wanted to offer me another one!! This was my first experience of Whiskey Lao Lao and as an accustomed rum drinker I actually found it rather good!

Our home for the night was the grandest house of the 60 families there. A tiled floor was the living area which would be made into our bedroom. We were offered a snack of sticky rice and banana in a banana leaf and more whiskey. Not wanting to be rude I took another shot, I'm sure it must have been 5pm somewhere.
We had a walk around the village. It was very much a building site with new houses going up and there was quite a lot of diggers and equipment around. It was hard to believe that 2 hours up river we had seen such basic living. The locals were the friendliest we have come across and there was lots of smiles and greetings of Sabadee! What upset me was the litter everywhere. Put it in the bin guys!

Dinner was tasty, rice pumpkin soup, chicken and ginger and my new favourite glass noodles made from yellow bean. Do Waitrose sell them?! Afterwards we had our blessing ceremony. This involved most of the locals coming into the lounge watching us sit around a circular table eating and drinking (more shots) and then we had to turn around and each of the women tied a string bracket on each of our wrists and gave us a blessing. It was a bit over welming (as well as painful sitting cross legged for 30 mins which I haven't done since school). Some were friendly and some a bit rough. I felt a little like Indiana Jones when he visits the hill tribe in the temple of doom but without the hat and bravado. It's safe to say the Mosquitos won't get to nibble my wrists while these are on. The best part of my evening was playing tag/ tickle with the local kids. No language barrier was a problem here. Think they loved he attention.
The evening was more whiskey for the men around a make shift bonfire that a small child had lit. There was no safety concerns here. Deciding I'd better not have anymore I called it a day.
The bedroom for the ladies (boys were next door even for our married couple with us) was 2 mattresses for 6 of us. Safe to say we all got to know each other a bit better!

At 5 am the lights went on (we were expecting 6.30). Clearly we had outstayed our welcome and at 6am we were back on the boat for a scenic float down to Luang Prabang to arrive for New Years Eve celebrations. The day was pretty much the same as the day before, fantastic views, fantastic view....... But it didn't get boring. I did get to Captain for a few minutes. It was incredible difficult to steer and constantly required manoeuvring to avoid rocks and rapids. We stopped at the Pac Ou Caves, not amazing more Buddhas and creepy massive spiders. Think I am going to like Luang Prabang. There is a good ratio of temples to cafes. There are 2 main streets and going out to explore you would think we wouldn't get lost but thanks to the most rubbish map provided we did. It was a tuk tuk home and a quick change before our New Years dinner of water buffalo burgers and then onto the Utopia club (name very misleading) but we celebrated the new year in, 7 hours before the UK. Hello 2016.

For photos see cruising the Mekong on facebook