Luang Prabang

Got up bright, ok after coffee the day brightened considerably and early this morning, did not need an alarm since the country seems to provide it’s own ‘natural’ alarm being the roosters!

I was picked up by a mini van as promised from the hotel and taken to a slow boat on the Mekong.

On the way to the Pak Ou caves we stopped in a small village that makes Lao Lao whisky, aka rice wine of various potency of 15%, 25% and 45%.  The 15% and 25% kind of taste like cordial they even look like it since the 15% was yellow and the 25% red.  The 45% was clear and like liter fluid!

There was a young American guy on the boat who was quite adamant that he was not going to drink any even if it was offered.  His reasoning was that he had not been sick on his trip yet and he did not want to be.  His determination lasted as long as it took him to climb up the bank of the river to the village and have a small shot glass containing lao lao shoved in his hand.  Of course he drank it and those of us who heard his proclamation in the boat laughed. 

The Pak Ou caves are small and contain hundreds of Buddha statues inside the caves.  Not much more I can say about them really.

On the way back the boat stopped at a village that made paper out of banana leaves and also did the weaving.  It was interesting to see how they did it all but I did not buy anything from them.

In the afternoon after returning to town I had a foot massage, now that is something I must do again.  It was great!

Luang Prabang to Pak Beng

The slow boat is very relaxing if a little hard on the rear!  About the only thing to do is sit back listen to music, read, talk to fellow travellers and watch life on the Mekong and the banks as we chugged slowly up the river.

Saw many of the infamous speed boats go past…... you would have to be desperate to save time to go on one of them. 

They fit up to 6 people, some seem to cram in a few more. All the people in them are wearing crash helmets and life vests and mostly they are tourists. You can hear the buzz of their engines long before you can see them which should tell you something since the slow boat is not all that quiet either.

Then you see them a whole heap of tourists with their knees pressed up to their chins hurtling down the river. Six hours in one of those things just so you can get to Luang Prabang in one day instead of two?! Personally I stick to the slow boat.

Pak Beng, what can I say about this place. I stayed in what is possibly the worst accommodation since I’ve been in the country. Bounmy Guest house, this place is a dive! They charged us USD $5 for the night, they tried for $7 but we all refused to pay that much. The room had it’s own shower, cold water not hot and a fan in the room. About 10pm - 11pm they turn off the generator and along with the noise you also loose your lights and of course the fan. The other places in town charge about $1 to $2 a night for the same sort of room but some of them looked a good deal nicer. Unfortunately they were full.

At least the company was good. I had dinner with a group of other travellers who were on the slow boat today and will also be on the boat tomorrow.

Pak Beng to Huay Xai

That was quite easily the worst nights sleep I’ve had since I’ve been in the country & the others concerned.  The bed smelt terrible and I was left wondering how often the sheets etc were cleaned and what else had been sleeping in the bed.

On the slow boat again today.  It was just as pleasant as yesterday and is something I would recommend if people have the time.  Though bringing ones own cushion would be a notion.

We got into Huay Xai a lot later than expected.  It took 9 1/2 hours instead of 6 hours.  Oh well.  The only down side was that I couldn’t book the Gibbon Experience which means I’ll be stuck here for another two days as the next one does not leave until Wednesday.

So another good night was spent in the company of the guys from the slow boat as we were in to late for them to all cross the border.  The night ended up in singing Lao karaoke and since none of us speak lao I’m sure you can guess what the results were.

Huay Xai

This place is a typical border town.  There is a mass exodus and entrance from / to Laos in the morning.  Thailand is visible just across the river.  I can see the small boats ply their trade between the two countries.

Once the new arrivals get here they for the most part head for the ferry terminals and straight out of town.

After the morning rush the town except for the few odd arrivals returns to its sleepy self.  There are very few travellers remaining after about 1030.  Not that I blame them since there isn’t much to do here.

I managed to find the office for the Gibbon Experience and booked to go on Wednesday.  It is a little expensive USD 125.00 but it is for 3 days & two nights and everything is included.  At first I was a little bit disappointed that I am going to be stuck here for another day particularly since there is not much to do here.  Still delays while travelling are inevitable.

I was sitting in a riverside restaurant and the last minute dash of boats has started with travellers crossing the river in a last minute bid to get across the river before the border closes for the night.  The slow boat has just pulled in and a couple of the travellers are running up the road, quite hard work with a back pack on.  I didn’t have the heart to tell them there was no point in running since it was already after 1800 and it is about a 15 minute walk between where the slow boat pulls in and where the boats for Thailand leave.

Huay Xai to Bokeo National Park

The morning started about 0630, kind of that hurry up & wait thing since we didn’t end up leaving until about 0815.

The first part of the trip is sitting in the back of a truck fitted out with a couple of planks of wood, with a little padding on them and a canopy to keep the sun off.

There are 9 of us from various parts of the globe.  3 Canadians, 2 British, 2 Swedish and 1 German.  The drive was mostly on gravel roads some of them were not too bad, others were a little, um, bumpy.  Though it seems they are trying to upgrade the road still it will be awhile before the work is finished.

We arrived in a small village of Ban Tup about 3 1/2 hours after we left Huay Xai.  From here we learned we had to walk for about 1 hour to get to the tree house.

The trek up to the tree house was not really that bad.  We had to wade through about 4 streams the last just above the knees so they really were not that deep.  The journey after the 4th stream was mostly straight up and personally I was glad when we got there.

The kitchen was the first building we saw, ground side for obvious reasons, open fires in a tree house really do not make sense.

We got given a harness each and then walked up to the first zip line.  There was some brief instruction on the harness and safety before we all zipped across to the tree house one at a time.

It is rather basic but still has more than I expected.  The main level is the living area with a small kitchen.  There is the upper level a small ‘bower’ that sleeps two people and a lower level that sleeps 4 people.  On the lower level there is also a bathroom.  The water in the bathroom is cold but they have plans to put in solar hot water panels in the future so there can be hot water.

Here we got to have a break for about an hour.  Three of us had to go to the number 3 tree house as this one only sleeps 6 people.  I volunteered and so did the Canadian couple.  So off we went zipping with one of the guides leading us to the 3rd tree house.  All up it took about 40 minutes incorporating another 4 zip lines and small treks between the lines.  Zipping is fun when you get used to it and the views as you are zipping across are spectacular.  On the way the Gibbons started singing but unfortunately we did not see them.

The 3rd tree house is some what smaller and all on one level housing a maximum of 4 people.  The advantage is a truly amazing view across the top of the canopy.

The day was finished off watching the sun set across the canopy and we ate dinner & played cards by candlelight.