Laos

To get to Laos from Pai is not the most simply of journeys. We were going to have to take one six hour coach journey, a few taxis, a taxi ferry and two days on a slow boat that would take us from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang. Not to mention the hours we would need to spend getting our Visas. We are pleased to say that the first leg, being the coach journey, went very smoothly. Although we arrived two hours late we managed to get a very minimal amount of sleep.

Having read all the reports about the never ending, noisy, hot, cramped, bumb-numbing boat ride. And staying in very undesirable village half way, which is infested with rats and has limited accommodation, we expected and prepared ourselves for the worse. . . .
The truth is we were pleasantly surprised.

Ok, our free accommodation that we received as part of our package deal to take us from Pai to Laos wasn't the best. We arrived there at 4am and our room had seen better days, there was a dead bug which could have been a fly or cockroach, it was to dead to tell, had crusted its self onto the curtain. There was a rather large snail on the toilet, no toilet roll and the drainage in the bathroom was somewhat non existent, just a large mouldy hole in the floor and again at the bottom of the wall. But its free so who are we to complain.

Crossing the river from Thailand to Laos went fine, the guys from our hotel were there to help us. They didn't speak the best English but then their English is better than our Thai so we cant really talk. They were very entertaining and excited people which helped ease the nerves for the long journey ahead. We crossed to Laos on a small ferry boat where we were met with a crowd of people trying to organise visas. It was a bit chaotic and apart from our 50 dollar note being rejected due to the smallest tear everything went ok. We then had to grab a tuctuc, organised as part of our package, which took us to the slow boat at the harbour. As promised we were there early enough to secure a nice seat at the front of the boat away from the engine, which we had heard was very noisy and released a lot of fumes.

The first day of our journey on the slow boat was actually lovely. The seats were not half as bad as we had read. In fact they were old car seats which had been pulled out of a vehicle and put into the boat and were rather comfy. The views and sights were at times breath taking as we cruised along the river. The sun shined down the whole journey and there was a gorgeous breeze keeping everything cool. The sound of the water gliding past was incredibly relaxing and we were so happy we didn't opt for a bus or plane and miss this once in a lifetime experience.

First class comfort

Our boat

As mentioned earlier, we weren't looking forward to our over night stop in Pakbeng. We read we needed to grab our things from the boat and run as quickly as possible to find a room to avoid sleeping rough for the night, or in a rat infested room. We were lucky enough to be one of the first to be given our bags as we disembarked the boat and we made our way up the hill into the town. We had researched that a really nice place to stay is Monsovanh Guesthouse, we managed to find the Monsovanh Guesthouse and they just happened to have a double room for us to rent at £4 for the night. A real result. It was clean, cool, quiet and 2 mins away from the harbour, perfect. We managed to have a lovely refreshing shower and after a nice local meal, managed to get a decent nights sleep.

Pakbeng

Our second day however was very much the same and we now honestly believe there is only so much beautiful scenery that can be seen before you get bored of the same sights. But overall our experience on the slow boat was in fact excellent, we are so pleased we did it. We were lucky enough to travel at the end of the monsoon season when it was still quiet. If we were to travel during the busy season, the journey may have been less enjoyable and more like the reports that we read on the internet. We are really pleased we did it and we are even more pleased we did it without one rat in sight.

Sweet boys selling "chips n peeeeenuts"

One of the beautiful views from the boat

Slow Boats - Luang Prabang at Sunset

On our first day we managed to find a local pub that was showing the Rugby World Cup Final, and with beers at just over £1 for a litre it seemed rude not to go and watch it in the glorious sun. After the rugby we stumbled across a local night market which sold lots of local handicraft and cuisine. We managed to find a local lady that was selling an all you can eat buffet for 10,000 Kip (90p). The food was delicious, so delicious that in fact we paid her a visit the next night as well.

People eating yummy food at the Luang Prabang night market

Amber finds her own method of using a chopstick

Yesterday (Monday 24th) we paid to go on a tour to a local waterfall. The waterfall was just amazing and took our breath away. We decided to go for a hike into the jungle around the waterfall. All was going well until the biggest Lizard that we have both ever seen jumped out in front of Amber and scared the living daylights out of us both. After climbing up the side of the waterfall, we came to a large area in which we were able to swim. So stripped down to our swimming costumes and headed in. The water was very cold but after the hike it was most welcoming and refreshing. The waterfall had a clay bed meaning that the water, although blue was very cloudy. We were in the pool up to about our waist when i felt some 'fish' nibble at my feet. Free foot treatment i hear you say, well yes until i mentioned it to Amber and she was out of the water quicker than you can shake a stick. I did try to convince her to come back in but, but she was not having any of it. If she had been able to see what was nibbling her feet she would have come back in, but not being able to see the fish, in her words 'freeked her out'.

Jonny loving the waterfall

We both have very much enjoyed Laos and are looking forward to seeing Vietnam and all that she has to offer. Hopefully it will live up to and deliver on everything that both Thailand and Laos have given to us on this amazing adventure so far.

P.s - Not sure how good the internet is going to be in Vietnam so we will try and make contact when ever we can. One thing we do know is that facebook is banned so you may have to wait a while for the next load of photos.