Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang

Spent most of the day, about 7 hours, on a bus travelling to Luang Prabang today.  Unlike the other trip the bus was full this time so things were a little crowded on the bus.  Still the scenery on the way was amazing as the road winds through the mountains

The bus stopped once on the way about 1100 but since most of us had just eaten just before getting on the bus none of us had anything at that stop.  After all, it’s not lunch yet….. wrong.  That was the only stop the bus made so lunch did not happen.  Just as well I had some water with me and since the person sitting next to me did not speak English the ipod really came in handy.

Strangely enough the prices in Luang Prabang seem to be a little inflated in comparison to those in Vang Vieng, though we’re talking about 0.20c here and there so it really does not make a difference.  It only seems a lot since prices are in Kip so the difference in price is in 1000’s which seems like a huge difference until you convert it.

Luang Prabang

I’ve decided that I don’t like roosters.  Maybe I should start a campaign for the extermination of all roosters in the world.  Or maybe they should all take lessons on how not to crow.

The choir of roosters started at 0330 in the morning…. ARGH!!!!

I was walking up and down the main street trying to organize a couple of trips out to the Pak Ou Caves and the Tat Kuang Si waterfalls.

Every time I walked past the tuk tuk drivers would give me a lower price, they started at USD$12.00 just for the waterfalls.  I laughed and kept walking.  After all it took me $8 to get here from Vang Vieng.  It was amazing how the price came down with no attempt by my part to bargain with them.  Every time they saw me they would just take a dollar off the price.  It ended up being $8.00, which I still did not accept.  I eventually accepted a seat in a mini van for $8 and that included both the falls today and the slow boat for the caves in the morning.

It amazes me that other travellers do not even attempt to try to find out how much they should be paying for things.  When I mentioned the, to me outrageous, price of $12 for the tuk tuk to the waterfalls another tourist told me without blinking that was what it cost and you couldn’t get cheaper.  They looked somewhat dumbfounded when I told them the price dropped to $8 with out any bargaining or me saying a word to the drivers.

There was an American couple on the mini van for a, thankfully, short period of time.  They started oh so dramatically mopping their foreheads, proclaiming how hot it was and demanding that the air conditioning be put on which meant the rest of us had to close the windows.  The rest of us thought it was a beautiful day and it was not really that hot.

The American couple waited for all of about 2 seconds before muttering and complaining because there wasn’t an instant blast of cold air headed in their direction.

“Does it work any better than this!  I’m not getting any cold air.  It’s too hot in here.  We paid for air conditioning!”, and so on the diatribe continued.

Thankfully a Swedish guy in front of them lost his temper before I did and turned around told them to shut up, stop complaining and have a little patients as they were in Laos not America.

They waited for all of 2 minutes before their complaints started up again.  They were eventually told by someone else on the bus to stop complaining or do us all a favour and get off the bus.  They got off the bus, much to our relief, demanding their money back.  It was amazing but the mood on the bus lifted considerably, the air conditioning was switched off and the windows opened again.

The falls were quite beautiful with a series of pools that were open to swimming being fed by a waterfall.

The water was a little, um chilly or perhaps you could call it refreshing….. ok so it was cold but it was still nice the worst bit was getting in.

The good part about getting in the water at the lower pools was that at the upper part of the falls you walk up a trail to on side of the falls and you tend to get wet from the spay of water and the pools of water you have to walk through.

By the winces and shocked expressions from those encountering how cold the water was for the first time I think our method was preferable!

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.