irst of all, let me say how unbelievably slow Internet access is in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, or Lao PDR as it’s known in it’s short form. It’s as if each packet is being transported across the Mekong River by rice barge, carried over land to Thailand and reassembled there.
Well, the bus made it from Chiang Mai to Chiang Khong without incident. In fact, the bus was a nice air-conditioned affair with comfortable reclining seats, and it even arrived half an hour early at its destination. Some Western countries could learn a trick or two from the Thais in this regard.
We stopped for refreshments after the 6.5 hour bus journey in Chiang Khong and then walked up the road to the Thai immigration office, where we surrendered our departure cards and then paid the 20 Baht to a ferryman to carry us across to Laos in his long-boat.
Once on the other side, we filled out the necessary Lao immigration forms and then headed up the hill into the Lao town of Huay Xai. We found a great guest-house for the very reasonable price of 10,000 Kip (10,000 Kip = US $1). There wasn’t much to do in town, but we found a good restaurant serving vegetarian food, so Sarah was happy. We paid in Thai Baht, as we didn’t yet have any Kip and the bank was closed, because it was Sunday.
With nothing much to do in town, we seized the opportunity for an early night and went to bed.
The next morning, we headed down to the bank to change $80 into Lao money, coming away with some 845,000 Kip as a result. We then headed down to the boat dock and bought tickets for the slow-boat to Luang Prabang, at a cost of 100,000 Kip each. Not bad for a two day trip.
At 10:30, we boarded the boat with a surprisingly high number of other tourists. The boat turned out to be a noisy and uncomfortable barge, but hey, there’s no point to complaining and it’s all part of the experience, anyway. Sarah didn’t like it much, though.
There were several Dutch people on board, so I got plenty of opportunity to practise my Dutch and discuss life in general, which was very nice.
At about 17:30, we arrived in Pak Beng, our port of call for the first night. This turned out to be a little more civilized than we had expected. The electricity ran until 18:00 and a couple of the guesthouses had rooms with a private cold shower and toilet, so we were pleased to be able to not have to share a bucket shower with other grimey tourists.
Once again, we found a pretty good restaurant and ate well. Lao food is quite a bit different to Thai, with lots of very pungent sauces and no end to the cuts of meat and types of animal they marinate in the stuff. My dinner was fairly mild, though, so I enjoyed it a lot.
Today, we were up at 06:00 to make sure we had enough time for a quick walk around Pak Beng before the boat’s departure. What we in the West think of as animal cruelty, is simply the way of life over here. Butcher’s shops and abattoirs are virtually non-existent, so people tend to the slaughter and processing and transportation of animal flesh themselves.
The Pak Beng village market was in full swing by 06:30, sporting some gruesome sights that might make a hardened carnivore seriously contemplate vegetarianism. I took a few photos to remind myself of the place.
After buying a few sandwiches for the long boat-ride, we headed down to the boat in good time to ensure seats well away from the hammering and grinding of the engine. Being close to the front has the added advantage that you can crawl through a small doorway onto the front of the boat and sit on deck, because there isn’t much of a view from inside. The reason for this is that the vessel is really a freight barge, not a passenger vehicle.
A few Lao people got on board, carrying some dead rats by their tails. These rats they later chopped up and fried as lunch. Yum, yum.
Sarah was offered Lao whiskey and fried worms by one of the Lao people on board. She partook of the whiskey (which I reckon must be 100% proof), but declined the worms. A Canadian girl had one, though, and said it tasted like popcorn. I was only offered the whiskey yesterday, but I declined.
We eventually arrived in Luang Prabang around 16:00 today. This town is on the World Heritage list and is thus very well preserved. It’s an interesting mix of old French colonial style housing and traditional Lao temples and shack accommodation.
As we’ll be staying here for a few days, we decided to go upmarket and book a room with a warm shower. It even has air-conditioning, so we’re living in the lap of luxury.
We only had a little time to look around before it went dark, so we went to a travel agent and bought plane tickets to Vientiane, the Lao capital, on Friday. We even managed to verify that we’ll be aboard an ATR-72 aircraft, so the pilot won’t need to rely solely on visual flying techniques. This is apparently the safest plane Lao Aviation has, so we’ll be putting the warnings about neglected maintenance out of our mind, crossing our fingers and our legs and hoping for the best on Friday 🙂
If all goes well, our 17:00 flight will put us in Vientiane at 17:40.
Tomorrow, we’re planning to head out of town up the Mekong River and visit some caves, called the Pak Ou. There are apparently some Buddha images worth seeing, located deep within these limestone formations. It should be very cool. On Thursday, we’ll probably head out to the Tat Kuang Si waterfall, which also looks beautiful in the photos.
This evening was spent enjoying a pleasant meal along the side of the Mekong. Once again, Sarah found great vegetarian food. The Lonely Planet book claims that Laos is a real trial for a vegetarian, but so far it’s been easy going.
I, on the other hand, was not quite so lucky. I like to push my frontiers ever outward, so I opted for a wild boar dish. The wild boar itself was actually quite tasty (rather like minced meat), but the acrid sauce it had been smothered in was more than I could handle, so I left most of it. The sauce tasted like fermented lemon juice and vinegar, but I’m sure it was something entirely different. Oh well.
Now, we’re in one of the town’s several Internet cafes, who seemingly all share the same modem to connect to the outside world. Never mind; it’s more than fast enough for reading and sending a couple of e-mails.
OK, that’s it for now. More soon, either from Luang Prabang still or Vientiane at some point.