Laos Lowdown

Yes indeed, Laotians have the Internet (and I happen to be in the nicest net cafe so far, with a fast connection and an SD card reader!!!)

The adventure continues on - we got up early on Thursday morning, to be stamped out of Thailand, shuttled across the Mekong to Laos, where it took a while to organise our visas, but nothing too stressful. By around 10am, we were walking the plank onto the slowboat, like pack horses complete with all our bags, and goodness knows how I didn't take a tumble! As we expected, we were confronted with rows of hard, wooden benches, but the atmosphere was good.

Crossing the Mekong

We set off downstream and the views were beautiful. By mid afternoon, we had commandeered the rear (aft?) of the boat and were singing loudly to songs such as Wonderwall, The Final Countdown and Livin' On A Prayer - much to the amusement (and bemusement) of the locals!!! Thank goodness for iPod speakers!

We touched down in Pakbeng some time after 6pm, after a long but fun day. Then it happened again, touts and tuk-tuks descended on us like locusts and after retrieving our bags from the hold, we made our way up the hill into the tiny village. Our guesthouse, Bounme, was basic, but cheap and cheerful and suited us just fine. We enjoyed a lovely Laos meal in a local restaurant (and Laos fried rice is even more delicious than Thai fried rice!)

Pakbeng is practically just one street, and Laotians are early to bed, but we met up with some of the guys from the boat and then it was time for some good ol' drinking games. We were in the only bar with music, and that was thanks to an iPod being plugged into the speaker system! At about 10.30, Katie, Fiona and I made our way home, and the electricity went out en route - none of us had remembered a torch, so we managed to stumbled up the potholed slope to our guesthouse, arm in arm!

Off again we were on Friday morning for the second leg on the slowboat. We boarded at about 8.30am, but didn't leave for over 2 hours as one person on the boat had not given in a ticket!!! This resulted in an official making everyone show their passports and ticking off names on a huge list. I don't know if, or how, the issue was resolved, but it set us back a good couple of hours!

Day 2 was not as fun, as most people were really tired and all available floor space was filled with sleeping bodies. I lay down in the corridor at one point, in the dust and sand, just because I was too tired to sit upright any longer. It was a huge relief to finally make it to Luang Prabang yesterday evening.

Again, the touts descended but in full force - we just needed a break after the trip and took it upon ourselves to seek out our own accommodation, as recommended by the Rough Guide. We were a little disoriented, but yet again, Emma's map skills were spot on and the Heritage guesthouse appeared in view. Unfortunately, it was being gutted and renovated (just as the touts had warned but did we believe them??) so we settled for a little place, Namsuk, further up the road. 50,000 kip sounded extremely pricey and we weren't able to barter them any lower, but we were that drained, we agreed to stay for the night.

On reflection, we calculated that it was only GBP 1.60 per person per night, and that it is going to take a while to get used to all this silly Laos money!!! It was then time for dinner and after yet another delicious meal (of rice!) we met up with most of the people from the boat, who had all gone off in a myriad of directions with various tuk-tuk touts! There's not much to do in Laos of an evening, so while most people went off to the 24-hour bowling alley, I elected to go back to the guesthouse for an early night, I was far too tired for any strenuous activity.

When I got there, I was rather concerned to see that the guesthouse had locked up for the night, especially as I had been assured that guests were free to come and go as they pleased. I sped back to the gang, but they had already left for the bowling alley! Once again, I tried the door, which wasn't actually padlocked, but wedged shut somehow. I tried knocking... and knocking... and knocking. No answer.

OK, I can wait until the others get back, I thought, but I felt like I was being eaten alive and I didn't relish the thought of spending a few hours outside. I ran over to another guesthouse to tell of my plight, hoping that a local might be able to rouse my landlord, but he just told me to keep knocking! Eventually, a flicker of light appear around the door, and a sleepy looking man emerged - I was so relieved - until I saw that the room behind him was not my guesthouse!!!

So, I was banging on the wrong door, I was so apologetic, but the adjoining property wasn't a guesthouse either and the one next to that was, but not the right one! I was thoroughly confused, and felt awful for getting this guy out of bed, but I sheepishly walked down the road to the next crossroads - and then I saw it... my guesthouse, in an entirely different place to where I thought it was, with an unlocked door that I could creep through up to my room in shame... Something to tell the grandkids about, hey?!!!

Today we went off to Kuang Si waterfall, which was absolutely beautiful and a great time was had by all, swimming around in the turquoise pools. We were quite a large group by this point - me, Katie, Fiona, Ashley & Brian (U.S.A.), Sophie (Belgium) and Kendall, Josh, Guy & Vicky (U.K.). When we returned to Luang Prabang in the afternoon, it was gloriously hot and sunny, and after a big lunch of rice (again!) I was nodding off! It was good to take a warm shower and do a spot of laundry before heading here to the Internet cafe.

Kuang Si Waterfall

I think I'll take a wander around the night market later on, and maybe a bit of temple spotting tomorrow... who knows!