5th September
The start of our 3 day journey begins with a 6 hour bus ride to Chaing Kong. The luxury of an air con bus with only 4 people in it was well received by us! We met Anna from Sweden and Bas from Holland in our last hostel and decided to travel together. During the bus journey we stopped to see the White Temple in Chaing Rai. It is by far the most stunning temple we have both seen, and by now we have seen plenty! With its modern white walls, sparkling mirrors and sadistic hands crawling out of the floor, it was well worth the stop. We then progressed on our journey towards the border. That night we stayed in a tiny place Chaing Kong. Our hostel was more like a jungle retreat than a backpackers hostel. The town itself was like a ghost town, we found a bar after walking for what seemed like forever. However when the rain started it seemed like we might be stuck at this little family bar a lot longer than planned! I've never seen rain like it. The crazy Thai owner who laughed at everything we said found us a nice Thai gentleman to drop up back to our jungle.
6th September
Another early start and it is STILL raining, Walton is yet to crack a smile haha. North Thailand in rainy season, what did we expect. We crossed the border into Laos via the Mekong River, my god what an experience. The speedboat was tiny, flooded and looked like it didn't have many more journeys in it. We were ankle deep in water, you can imagine the relief in our faces when we found out we wouldn't be spending the next 2 days on the rickety old thing! Our tour guide who was included in our package sorted us out with passport control and all the other paperwork we needed to fill in before taking us to our next boat. However, the stories he told us of the stop over hostels with no electricity, thieves and dengue fever were not well received! Our next boat was at least covered with old car seats attached, unlike the plastic seats at the back for the poor sods who hadn't reserved a seat. What a long trip, however the surroundings and scenery were breathtaking (minus the dead dog Carly saw in the river!). The photos really don't do it justice. After 6 hours on the boat we arrived in Pak Beng where guess what? It was raining again. We checked into our hostel (which did have electricity thank god!) before going for a dodgy Indian. Again this was a sort of ghost town after 10pm so we got a few drinks and headed back to the hostel for a few games of cards.
7th September
Back on the boat again, and thank god it isn't raining....yet! Instead of staying in our designated seat we ventured to the back of the boat which had a hippy vibe with people of all nationalities, someone playing the ukulele and people drinking the local rum. After another 6 hour journey we stopped at a tiny port where the locals all vacated the boat. After being told our journey would last for 9 hours, we were confused as to why the locals and the captain had all got off the boat. At first we thought it was just us, until we looked around and saw all the confused faces on the westerners faces! This wasn't Luang Prabang, the port we were at and were being demanded by the captain and crew to get off at was in fact 7km outside of the centre. Low and behold there were tuk tuks waiting for us at the top of the port...just a slight scam I feel!! All the westerners decided to stick together and refuse to leave the boat until they took us to our final destination. It was like something out of a film! Needless to say after 20 minutes on the boat westerners numbers started to dwindle as people started sneaking off the boat. We decided to get off the boat and pay the 20,000kip (£1.80)to get to the centre, not before being told by Austria (as we nicknamed the Austrian girl) that we must stay on the boat and not break arms. Those of you who know Carly will realise that she doesn't like being told what to do, needless to say the Austrian looked rather sheepish as we left the boat as Carly gave her a few words about being stuck therefor hours and it ending up like an episode of lost, well done Carly! We finally made it to Luang Prabang, not the greatest start to Laos for us but hey, the only way is up!
8th September
Today we visited the waterfalls which were stunning. The water was a light turquoise colour and was so refreshing in the heat. I failed to convince Morgane to jump off the tree into the plunge pool, I went for it all the same. Morgane being the photographer that she is got some stunning shots of the waterfalls with the sunlight hitting in the right places making the place look even more stunning. In the late afternoon we went for a walk around the town, we were only supposed to be here for a few days but we decided to extend our stay. This place is stunning, little coffee shops line the streets with market stalls surrounding every area. In the evening we all went for Laos food...a strange mix of Thai and Laos. Not a favourite. We then ventured to the local backpackers bar Utopia which matched up to its name. Chilled out music, cushions on the floor and mixture of nationalities. It was here we discovered the curfiew of 11.30, however we were also informed of the infamous bowling alley that was open until 2am....that's where we headed. Walking into the bowling alley was like walking into the Walsgrave Megabowl, only we paid just £1 a game. One night here to experience it was enough, and that fact I was beaten by Morgane means I certainly won't be coming here again (pretty sure she cheated!). To get home we all got into a rusty tuk tuk, trust us to pick the one ready for the scrap yard. At one point we all had to get out and push it up the hill.
9th September
We love Luang Prabang!! We visited the temple on the hill, just a mere climb of 300 stairs was between us and the stunning views of the whole city (many groans came from Bas as we trekked up the stairs!).
I think we will spend the next few days sipping iced coffees, searching through the markets (i cant count the amount of times iv had to rein Morgane in from market stalls, think ill get her a pair of kids braces so i can just tug her back as she walks off with the money!) and visiting out favourite bar Utopia.
11th September
Today we leave Luang Prabang after what was an amazing stay, one of our favourite places so far. We decided to take the night sleeper bus to Vietiane a day later than planned. The sleeper bus was better than an expected (always a bonus) but not as good as the sleeper train. Oh well, only a 10 hour journey! We arrived in Vietiane at 6am (these early mornings are killing me and are not good for my infamous morning moodiness!!) and found a cafe that was open and would serve us a cuppa. We only had a few hours here before our flight to Hanoi, and a few hours was enough. We visited the Laos version of the Arc de Triomphe and enjoyed the story of how it was built. It was a sad moment having to wave goodbye to Anna and Bas but onto the new adventure that is Vietnam.