Bordercrossings, Tubes, Joma, And Visas

"The S S Mekong"

Seeing as, as of late, I have become overly busy or lazy, one of the two, for this entry I am going to split it up into two parts to make it easier on me because I have basically missed an entire country and almost the last two weeks.

Part I

Once returning to Pai I decided that it had definitely become time when I should start looking at a calender and moving along if I planned to see Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia with enough time to get back to Bangkok to catch my flight on the 16th of December.

Since I was exhausted by the trek I checked into a guesthouse to have a relaxing night and a quick look at the reggae festival the was being held before having to start my traitorous journey which over three days brought me from Pai, Thailand to Luang Prabang, Laos.

I managed to make an appearance, only for about 10 minutes, to the reggae festival but decided that it may be my last good nights sleep for a few days so I turned in early and was quickly sound asleep.

The morning, that was to start my journey, couldn't have started off on a worse note, not that to most it would seem bad, but this was the first time in literally months that I was woken up by awful "beep beep beep" of the alarm clock that I can assure you, I haven't missed at all.

With the initial wakeup behind me, things smoothed out nicely and after a coffee and a little bit of sunshine, I was thrown into a mini bus and headed to Chiang Mia, for the first 4 hour leg of the journey.

We arrived in Chiang Mai with enough time to grab some street food and a coffee shake, mmmmmm coffee shake, then I was ushered away to a different, slightly bigger bus, for the last 7 hours of the first days journey which ended in the Thai border town of Chiang Kong.

When I first decided that I was beginning to slowly run short on time ,the one way you can save a few days is by booking a whole multi day trip ticket to where ever instead of doing every leg of it solo and dealing with whatever you run in to on the way, which usually means spending an extra night hear and there but when you have the time I find its much more rewarding and much cheaper. But because I definitely don't have the time I took the first choice where they basically assign you parents for three days that lead you around, have your accommodations booked, and meals ready when you are hungry. The down side to this is that you don't have say in where you stay, what you eat, things of this sort and, as I expected, when we arrived in Chiang Kong, it is a very good thing I am not at all a picky backpacker.

The next morning was better for me even if the rooms werent spotless...... I didn't need the alarm clock and the breakfast was decent. Once again I packed, got loaded in the van, and we were on our way to Thai / Laos immigration.

In Northern Thailand the border is the Mekong River which actually remains the border for most of the country. So once you get stamped out of Thailand you travel by long boat across the river to enter Laos. There you have to apply for a visitors visa then get stamped in and, walla, you are now legally into the country of Laos. The border crossing went smooth, surprisingly, and besides the very long ques, our group managed to be in and out in about 2 hours, which in Asian terms is lightning fast.

This is the part of the journey that gets interesting. There are two ways to get from the border town of Houei Xay, Laos to Luang Prabang and they are a speed boat or a slow boat. I opted for the slow boat just because I have heard that no matter how much you don't enjoy it, its one of those things you just have to do.

The second day of the journey consisted of 7 hours floating on a fairly large boat with around 75 people. I spent the day laying in the sun, reading, and meeting some fello travelers so when we arrived in Pak Bang for the night, I was somewhat confused about why people have so many bad things to say about the experience. The next day I quickly understood.

When I first started down the next morning I actually thought I missed the boat because our original boat was nowhere to be seen. After I talked to a couple Laos guys it became clear that our boat had left back to the border and our new boat that was the replacement was sitting in front of me and, at a glance, it sure didn't look to be quite as big.

When I border the boat my suspicions turned out to be quite accurate and not only was it noticeably smaller but there were also noticeably more people! None the less we all managed to pile on and we finally set off on the final day of our journey to Luang Prabang.

The final day was definitely the most uncomfortable but it was also a very enjoyable and rewarding day for me. From my 2 ft square piece of floor I managed to claim I had a great view of the river and landscape, and I was also seated next to a local family that was eager for me to join them for all there snack and meals through out the day. I ate a lot of things through that 11 hour bus ride but unfortunately I am unable to tell you what they were but some were good, some were bad, and some were downright scary. When I wasn't eating or playing with there little kids, I read and also managed to get a little siesta in before landing in Luang Prabang at sunset that evening.

I wondered around for a couple hours, not that that was a bad thing after sitting that long, before finding a place to call home for a couple nights. Then, for supper, I gorged on a 5000 kip (50 cent) vegetarian street buffet, picked up some "A" brand cigarettes (20 cents), before returning to my 3 dollar a night home. Boy I love this country!

"Not too Much Room To Spare"

"My Family For The Day"

Part II

"Kouang Si Waterfall"

Luang Prabang doesn't exactly have a list of too many possible activities that one couldn't hope to do in a couple days, basically all it has is shopping, bowling, and waterfalls. Like most towns in Southeast Asia the night market is also definitely up on the list, no matter how many you have already been to, of popular ways to occupy yourself in the evening.

The difference between Laos and Thailand is quite subtle at first but after spending a few days you soon learn and begin to truly appreciate Laos. One of the biggest differences is Thailand, because of all the tourists there mind you, has become party central. There is not an hour of the day or night that you cannot find a party or, at the very least, a drink. Laos is very very different. The biggest party you will find here is a small pub with a few people sitting around listening to live blues, but don't get too comfy. Come last call at eleven, you have to make your way home by midnight when the curfew kicks in, and being caught out after hours quickly turns into a hefty fine.

Another very welcome difference is people understand, no that's not even it, they respect the word No. In Thailand, whether it is Tuk Tuk drivers, tailors, or just people selling food; a simple no does not suffice. To get the point across they have to ask you enough for you too loose your patients and sometimes, I'm sure, come across as rude and impolite. Most people that are on holidays are neither, but patients is something that unfortunately runs out. Laos is the opposite of this. Of course all of these people still do ask you, but with a simple smile and "No Thank you," you are on your way.

During my two days in Luang Prabang I really only did manage to go out to the Kouang Si waterfall apart from the normal things like eating, wandering through markets, and sleeping. The evenings were a little more interesting. Apart from going bowling with 100 other tourists, (apparently its the thing to do and its also open the latest out of anything in town) I also got my first lesson and soon became quite addicted to Poi.

Poi is basically fire juggling but not in the tradition sense. You have two wicks that are soaked in Kerosene (in our case jet fuel, but Ill get to that), that are attached to small chains that you hold in each hand. Using your arms, body position, and a few different motions it become quite an impressive sight. With the help and knowledge of an Australian bloke I met earlier, I learnt some of the basic moves, unlit of course, and then practiced with them burning once I was a little more comfortable. We spun for all of the first night but after looking at the fuel supply we had left, we decided that we would have to find some fuel in order to be able to play with it again the next night. This brings us to my second day in Luang Prabang.

After a quick trip to the waterfall we made it our mission to find some Kerosene, easy enough of a task one might think. Its turns out that trying to find something in a small town in Laos with no English speaking people, not to mention that we found out that the word Kerosene doesn't exist in there language or there understanding of English, is quite a task. After walking around for a couple hours going to every shop we could find, showing them the poi and getting them to smell the fuel, we were no further than when we started. We were just about to give up when we came across a fancy, in Laos terms anyway, French restaurant that had little teky torches burning outside. This is when our great idea kicked in; torches need kerosene don't they? We walked inside and started to talk to the manager who was very skeptical about why exactly we wanted kerosene. Again we showed her the poi and made some motions to explain what it was when she finally gave in and decided that we weren't trying to burn down the town, and helped us out. When she asked us how much she wanted, we asked for two liters but she declined. It turns out that she wasn't using kerosene at all. It was jet fuel, just to note it was illegal jet fuel, that the Laos police brought her, and giving us that much could get her in a lot of trouble if we were reeking havok with it and it came back to her. We settled on 500ml and we were on our way to an exciting evening of spinning fire to amuse our night away.

This seems funny to me cause how many people can say they got jet fuel, from a French restaurant in Laos!

With Luang Prabang behind me my next destination was Vang Vieng. If any of you can remember any of my travels from the start of my trip this is where the legendary tubing down the river and rope swings are, which is something that no traveler in Laos misses.

Laos, as I mentioned, is a very quite country with basically no night life. Vang Vieng is definitely the exception to this rule. The bars here still do have a curfew but this only means that in this small town everyone starts a little earlier. Now that I think of it there is also one other very big difference between Laos and Thailand.

Drugs in Thailand are very strictly enforced and most people are smart enough not to even try to use them but Laos on the other hand goes like this. In Laos drugs are still illegal, don't get me wrong, but it is also a much more corrupt police force (at least in this) than Thailand. All of the restaurants and bars pay the cops off so as long as you're on there property anything goes. That means that along with the general food and drinks that you are accustomed to finding on a menu, you also have a "special" menu that has everything from shroom shakes, to opium tea, to happy pizza(use your imagination), to your preference to the size of joint you want whether it be small, big, or a bag. To anyone reading this that is now worried about me, don't be. You have to understand in my travels I have come across drugs once or twice. . . . and they just aren't my cup o' tea.......get it.

I could only afford to give Vang Vieng one day, and after I went tubing for the day I was once again on the road. When I planed on leaving Vang Vieng, my original plan was to take a local bus. They aren't nearly as comfy as the tourist busses but the price tag is alot more appealing. When I showed up to the bus station it turns out I had missed the bus and the next few busses leaving over the next few hours were all, as I like to call them, flashpacker busses. I do not have the money for those luxuries, nor did I want to wait a couple hours, so after me persistently asking how I could get there, they pointed at a truck full of locals, a few chickens, and a dog. And with a small charge of 15000 kip (which is better than the local bus) I was headed on the 4 hour journey through the mountains to Vientiane.

Vientiane is the capital of Laos and it is also a city that I have frequently visited when I had all those issues with loosing everything at the start of my trip. This visit was not so much to see the city, but to get all my visas in order for the rest of my trip so I could jump from country to country with hopefully no complications.

The day that I arrived in Vientiane I managed to get all of my business done by visiting both the Vietnam and Cambodian embassies. Then all I had was three days to relax (three day processing on visas) before I could embark on my next journey, so I made every second count knowing that for the next few weeks, things are going to be hecktic.

I spent my time reading, having coffee in Joma (a very overpriced cafe but darn there coffee is good!), and hanging out at an ol favorite; the Full Moon Cafe where I loaded up my Ipod with 30 new albums including Frank Sinatra, Eva Cassidy, and Elvis to name a few, to prepare myself for the 25 hour bus ride to Hanoi, Vietnam that I am going have to deal with in a couple days. Im not sure if I would say I am looking forward to that adventure.

"Backflip By Bru"

"Another Shot Of The Kouang Si Waterfall"

"One Of The Many River Bars In Vang Veign"

River + Tubes + Sunshine = Good Times!

"Mmmmm Chicken On A Stick"

"Nam Phou Statue In Veintiane"

Legend has it that buried beneath this statue is a Sevenheaded Dragon. Since this has happened

this monument is said to be the protector of the city.