Laura's Year in Asia = Fun Stories

I'm in love with Laos - not so much with these slowboats though

Just arrived in Luang Prabang after 3 days of grueling travel. First I left Nan on Friday, of course when they told me, "YES you can get a bus straight from Nan to Chaing Kong" in reality it was just a thai-yes. A Thai-yes neither confirms that they comprehend your question nor does is it an afirmative response to your question. It is just a sound they make. So I ended up having to transfer busses twice, once at the side of a road and another at a random bus staition where I was again the only farang for miles. I ended up 8 hours later at the Thai immigration check point, and they didn't want to let me leave since I had just renewed my visa...that is until it turned out taht the immigration office went to Sriwiangsawittayakarn school a long time ago. Once that was figured out I was expidted through and didn't even have to pay the bogus 20 baht "bribe". Got a small boat accross the mekong and checked into Laos immigration. Bought or visas there, whcih were supposed to be 15 day visas, but they gave us 30 day ones. Hm? Great. Met a British couple who I went out for dinner with, but Huay Xai is a really small town so we were back at the guesthouse by 9pm.

The next morning got on the 2-day slow boat that was to take us down the Mekong river to Luang Prabang. (A much better option than the 20 hour bus ride on Lao-roads) There were about 25 other farangs there - all of us sitting on the 2-piece plywood seats. Not the most comfortable! We survived the first day of 7 hours though through lots of card games and the Beerlao service onboard. Our stopover was in Pak Beng which is a one road town filled with guesthouses and sandwich shops. A few british travelers and I followed some 17 year old girl from the dock to her family guesthouse, which was nice and cheap, but dark due to the lack of electricity. We went out for a great Indian dinner and lost track of time enjoying more Beerlao at a riverside restaurant and missed our 11pm cirfew and had to walk back in the dark and wake up the family to let us back in. Oops. The next morning we piled back on the slowboat (which in Asian style, got smaller and more uncomfortable) in the pouring rain and tried to prep ourselves for the 9 hour trip that day. It wasn't too exciting at all, more cards, more travel stories shared, and even flatter bottoms.

We arrived in Luang Prabang, the UNESCO World Heritage City, that evening and ended up at a beautiful guesthouse with friendly owners and a nice terrace to enjoy...more beerlao ;) I'm in LOVE with Luang Prabang, its an incredible city with such a nice feel to it. Lots of French colonial influce in the architecture and food (best bakeries here....I just had an apple croissant to die for) and its just a nice laid back river side town. Going to hike up to the temple on a hill overlooking hte city for sundowners tonight. And tommorow going on a trek to the nearby caves and incredible waterfalls. Probably throw in a few more pastries too...and some more beerlao ;)