Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Chiang Kong - Pak Beng - Luang Prabang - Vang Vieng

Time flies when you are having fun or so the saying goes and it certainly does when you spend two days on a boat down the Mekon as you gently slip into Lao time. The final leg of the Northern Thailand trip was spent on yet another local bus all the way to Chiang Kong. The town serves essentially as a border town to step into Laos. The next morning was confusing as I tried along with about 120 people to obtain a visa. As we were getting on our boat other goods were being unloaded namely loads of squealing caged pigs covered in their own mess. The French couple next to me said it put her off eating pork: enough said!The benches were hard but I was not going to buy a teddy bear pictured cushion so I was very grateful when Jamey and Ariel came to the rescue with a spare for me. We had a relaxing day meandering down the mighty muddy Mekon. It was sad to observe swathes of burnt forests but the untouched scenery was amazing. We all piled off the boat at Pak Beng and I ended up walking up the hill with Angie, as we had not pre-booked, to look at a place together. It turned out that Angie is from Witchurch Canonicorum. Off we went to find a beer after our tedious journey and were invited by some locals to sit at their table. Mr Son, Deth and Cegc kept the beer flowing as we asked questions about their culture. The heavens opened in the jungle that night and we made it home as the first drop fell - impeccable timing. The next day every one had bonded and were chatting away to each other so the 6 hours went much quicker. Claus and John kept me in Whisky as Angie and I discovered who exactly we knew in Bridport. After two days of dodging prominent rocks on the Mekon we arrived in the genteel Luang Prabang with it's beautiful architecture, café culture and tempting supply of shops.Laos is great for being outdoors and I have certainly been out there getting active: cycling, tubing, climbing and walking. The cycling trip in Luang Prabang was a classic. John and Claus hit the whisky not long after we left town and our trip deteriorated further when they found a group of lunching Laos outside singing with their synthesizer and drinking. It was very entertaining and I made sure that I didn't drink too much Beerlao as we had to get back on our bikes. Claus' tyre had already exploded within the first 2 minutes so we didn't want any more biking incidents. The next day we headed out to a gorgeous waterfall called Kuang Si and saw more small villages on the way.The mini van trip (new mode of transport) felt luxurious but cramped for 5 hours as we climbed steep roads and saw precarious bamboo houses perched over sheer drops. We were greeted by neat villages and free roaming children with the odd little boy carrying his sibling in a sling.Vang Vieng is in a lower plateau but surrounded by amazing tree covered cliff faces. We found some bamboo huts across the river from the main town over a wooden home made bridge. It felt like I was finally a backpacker in my minimal hut with only a bed and some inscects for company. The town is great for meeting lots of friendly traveller types and of course to go TUBING. I had the best Sunday ever sat in a tractor inner tube, floating down the river with Rob, Christina, Kier and Kylie. We barely floated 50 meters when we reached for a piece of bamboo to be dragged into the first bar for the first bucket of Vodka. We did make it to the last bar on the course but not the whole way as the distractions are too great: tarzan swings, volley ball and lunch kept us from reaching the final stage and we got our giant donughts and into a tuk tuk back to town. Shame on us.That night me and the tubers got caught in the worst storm ever. As we reached the Bamboo Bar on the little island the wind came from nowhere and we could barely make it inside the tin stucture for some shelter. We waited for an hour for the thunder and lightning to subside but getting back over to my hut on the rickety bridge was very scary. Unfortunately I hadn't closed my windows and my hut was full of water. Wet clothes and bedding isn't much fun when you are already wet and caked in sand. Note to self: always close your windows!

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