After a very educative week at the ENP, we were back in Chiang Mai for some days before crossing the border to Laos. The first thing we did was finding a washing machine on the street to wash all our things. That evening we met some of the others volunteers at the night market. We had dinner there and bought some souvenirs to send home. The next night we met again with friends from the ENP to watch a Ladyboys show at a Cabaret, which was really funny and amazing! They are very good dancers!
The ladyboys with nothing to hide
David was actually lucky that he had Tachi by his side, otherwise those ladies would jump on him! They were really "aggressive" against the men!
One of the performances
We decided to cross the border to Laos with 3 other friends from the ENP, Roberto from Puerto Rico and a couple, Fabrice (France) & Franzi (Germany). We bought bus tickets to Chiang Khong for the next morning. At the border we got our stamps out of Thailand and had to take a bus to cross the bridge to Laos. On the other side we had to get our visa on arrival. As we arrived 30 minutes after their regular office time, we had to pay 1 dollar extra as an "overtime fee". Good start.
We had to take a tuk tuk to the city, Huay Xai, where we would spend the night before our journey on the slow boat would begin. David, Fabrice and Roberto went hunting for a room, while Tatiana and Franzi waited with the backpacks. We got a big room with aircon for all five of us that night. As we were very hungry we decided to try the first place we were suggested, by a guy in the street. He was handing out fliers for a home kitchen where all the profits went to the Hmong tribe in the area. Later on we had some beers and played cards until it was bed time. Early the next morning we went to the dock to buy our tickets for the slow boat to Pakbeng, our first stop. Arriving early to the dock was a good idea so we got some good seats. As for a group of tourist who arrived late, were pushed onto the boat by an angry and impatient crew even though the boat seemed to be full. While we drifted slowly down the Mekong we past time playing cards, reading, making bracelets, eating and enjoying the views.
All the slow boats waiting in line
We literally filled up the boat before leaving
Ready to drift down the Mekong
Enjoying the views
The slow boat used to arrive in Luang Prabang, but as the locals have learned how to exploit the tourist, they moved the landing pier for the slow boat about 20 km away from the city. As we found our tuk tuk we saw another group having problems with a driver who was cheating them for money. They had paid the driver and were expecting change, but the driver walked away and when he came back he was demanding more money. When we were driving away we saw the driver unloading all the backpacks and shouting "F*** you!" as he walked away in anger. We made it to the city with no problems. Tachi and Franzi sat down at the night market while the boys, again, walked around trying to find a cheap place to stay. Unfortunately they didn't find a good deal, so we all brought our luggage and headed in the direction of some guesthouses we had gotten fliers for. On our way we found the place that ended up to be our home for the next few nights. Again we had found a nice big family room with aircon, fridge, balcony, and a hot shower.
Dinner at the night market
After dinner at the night market we bought some beers and sat outside the shop to play cards. It's obviously a big weed business in Laos; as we were playing cards, a man on a scooter approached us asking: Hello! What are you doing? We just looked at each other and answered him: Playing cards! What are you doing? He answered us honestly: I'm selling weed!
Luang Prabang is a lovely city, specially the old town that reminds us of the French colonization with its restored mansions, mostly guesthouses and boutique hotels today. We could also spot many bakeries and find some good breads around there! Almost everyday we had a baguette sandwich from the street market. Tachi was actually craving for some bakery goods and western food. She was happy that she could finally have a delicious spaghetti carbonara in Luang Prabang.
Two young monks trying to get some shade on a hot day
French colonial buildings
30 km away from Luang Prabang, are the stunning Kuang Si Waterfalls. We got a tuk tuk to a village called Ban Lo Lao, from where we hiked to the waterfalls. When the tuk tuk driver left, a man wanted us to pay 2 dollars each just to walk through the village, and that was about 3 minutes walk. We didn't want to pay so we just walked and he followed us for sometime until he understood we would not be paying. It was a 13 km trek, crossing some private lands where we got chased by protective cow moms, trails through corn fields, and some muddy paths in the forest. In the forest we heard many loud shooting sounds. We had no idea what was going on, or if we were being hunted or something, but we were quite frightened as some of the sounds were very close. Franzi and David saw a guy carrying what looked like a rifle who ran just as they saw him. That makes us believe the sounds we heard were poachers who didn't want to be spotted.
Arriving to the falls was a relief! We could finally enjoy our baguettes for lunch and refresh ourselves in the pristine water. We walked from the top of the waterfall down to its pools. The color of the water is just stunning!
Happy to arrive at the waterfalls
This amazing color is from limestone minerals
When we were nice and refreshed the same tuk tuk driver that drove us to the village was waiting for us to bring us back to the city. The next day we went to the Vietnamese Consulate to get our visas. As a Norwegian, David could enter Vietnam without visa for 14 days and we knew we were going to spend more than 2 weeks in Vietnam, so we asked them if he could get his visa in Vietnam, but they couldn't answer us. Communication was really difficult there. It would take 3 days to get our passports back, so we decided to go to Vang Vieng in the meantime.
A beautiful sunset over Luang Prabang
We decided to cross the border to Laos with 3 other friends from the ENP, Roberto from Puerto Rico and a couple, Fabrice (France) & Franzi (Germany). We bought bus tickets to Chiang Khong for the next morning. At the border we got our stamps out of Thailand and had to take a bus to cross the bridge to Laos. On the other side we had to get our visa on arrival. As we arrived 30 minutes after their regular office time, we had to pay 1 dollar extra as an "overtime fee". Good start.
We had to take a tuk tuk to the city, Huay Xai, where we would spend the night before our journey on the slow boat would begin. David, Fabrice and Roberto went hunting for a room, while Tatiana and Franzi waited with the backpacks. We got a big room with aircon for all five of us that night. As we were very hungry we decided to try the first place we were suggested, by a guy in the street. He was handing out fliers for a home kitchen where all the profits went to the Hmong tribe in the area. Later on we had some beers and played cards until it was bed time. Early the next morning we went to the dock to buy our tickets for the slow boat to Pakbeng, our first stop. Arriving early to the dock was a good idea so we got some good seats. As for a group of tourist who arrived late, were pushed onto the boat by an angry and impatient crew even though the boat seemed to be full. While we drifted slowly down the Mekong we past time playing cards, reading, making bracelets, eating and enjoying the views.
The first day on the boat ended after about 7 hours downstream. We barely got off the boat before the locals were offering us weed and room for the night. And yes, there were many people buying. After 7 hours sitting still on a boat we decided to explore the small village of Pakbeng. We saw more or less the whole village on our 20 minute walk along the only road.
Exploring Pakbeng
The next morning the boat left around 11 AM and was supposed to be a 5 hours trip to Luang Prabang. This time the boat stopped many times picking up local people. At one of the stops 2 women and a sick baby got on the boat. David gave his seat to the woman with the baby. When some people stood up to go to the toilet the other woman just laid down on their seats, using 4 seats only for her. When the others got back they didn't say anything and ended up having to sit on the floor or stand.
The slow boat used to arrive in Luang Prabang, but as the locals have learned how to exploit the tourist, they moved the landing pier for the slow boat about 20 km away from the city. As we found our tuk tuk we saw another group having problems with a driver who was cheating them for money. They had paid the driver and were expecting change, but the driver walked away and when he came back he was demanding more money. When we were driving away we saw the driver unloading all the backpacks and shouting "F*** you!" as he walked away in anger. We made it to the city with no problems. Tachi and Franzi sat down at the night market while the boys, again, walked around trying to find a cheap place to stay. Unfortunately they didn't find a good deal, so we all brought our luggage and headed in the direction of some guesthouses we had gotten fliers for. On our way we found the place that ended up to be our home for the next few nights. Again we had found a nice big family room with aircon, fridge, balcony, and a hot shower.
After dinner at the night market we bought some beers and sat outside the shop to play cards. It's obviously a big weed business in Laos; as we were playing cards, a man on a scooter approached us asking: Hello! What are you doing? We just looked at each other and answered him: Playing cards! What are you doing? He answered us honestly: I'm selling weed!
Luang Prabang is a lovely city, specially the old town that reminds us of the French colonization with its restored mansions, mostly guesthouses and boutique hotels today. We could also spot many bakeries and find some good breads around there! Almost everyday we had a baguette sandwich from the street market. Tachi was actually craving for some bakery goods and western food. She was happy that she could finally have a delicious spaghetti carbonara in Luang Prabang.
30 km away from Luang Prabang, are the stunning Kuang Si Waterfalls. We got a tuk tuk to a village called Ban Lo Lao, from where we hiked to the waterfalls. When the tuk tuk driver left, a man wanted us to pay 2 dollars each just to walk through the village, and that was about 3 minutes walk. We didn't want to pay so we just walked and he followed us for sometime until he understood we would not be paying. It was a 13 km trek, crossing some private lands where we got chased by protective cow moms, trails through corn fields, and some muddy paths in the forest. In the forest we heard many loud shooting sounds. We had no idea what was going on, or if we were being hunted or something, but we were quite frightened as some of the sounds were very close. Franzi and David saw a guy carrying what looked like a rifle who ran just as they saw him. That makes us believe the sounds we heard were poachers who didn't want to be spotted.
Finding our way to Kuang Si Waterfalls
The cows were very protective when we passed
Arriving to the falls was a relief! We could finally enjoy our baguettes for lunch and refresh ourselves in the pristine water. We walked from the top of the waterfall down to its pools. The color of the water is just stunning!
When we were nice and refreshed the same tuk tuk driver that drove us to the village was waiting for us to bring us back to the city. The next day we went to the Vietnamese Consulate to get our visas. As a Norwegian, David could enter Vietnam without visa for 14 days and we knew we were going to spend more than 2 weeks in Vietnam, so we asked them if he could get his visa in Vietnam, but they couldn't answer us. Communication was really difficult there. It would take 3 days to get our passports back, so we decided to go to Vang Vieng in the meantime.
