From crossing the border to Huay Xai, we eventually get ourselves on a slow boat that will take us to Luang Prabang......over 2 days. When we read about the slow boat it seemed like a good idea but come the second day, it is quite mundane! Good job we came prepared with books and iPods! The seats are more comfortable than expected though - they are old car seats!
We stop for the night in Pak Beng in a cheap guest house that we find.
The next morning we are up and back on the boat by 9am. We are under the impression that todays boat trip will be shorter but it turns out to be longer than yesterdays! We don't get to Luang Prabang until 7pm. Along the way we pass some lovely scenery with cows, temples and villages on the banks of the Mekong River.
We spend three nights in Luang Prabang and have a great time. The town has a very French feel about it with various Bistro cafes, old french villas and many stalls selling french baguette sandwiches!
During our time here we wander through the old city streets and go to the Royal Palace Museum. The Royal Palace was originally constructed beside the Mekong River in 1904 as a residence for King Sisavangvang and his family. When the king died in 1959 his son inherited the throne but soon after the 1975 revolution he and his family were exiled to North Laos and imprisoned in the caves of Vieng Xai, following which the palace was converted in to a museum.
In the museum there are various royal religious objects as well as furniture - not that you can take your camera in there, let alone take a picture.
We climb a fair few steps up to the Tham Phu Si and Wat Phu Si. Wat Tham Phu Si sits behind the wat - a small cave shrine. They are relatively recent but the climb was well worth it just for the views.
We leave Luang Prabang early Monday morning in a minivan. The road that takes us to Vang Vieng is quite shocking. Its not in a very good state but it does wind around the mountains. At one point, a coach in front of us has to wait for a digger to flatten the way so it could continue on.
It takes around 6 hours to get to Vang Vieng and we are soon checked in to our hotel. We are only here for 2 nights as we want to do tubing. The next day we have breakfast at a nearby place and then go and hire some rubber tubes. We pay 55,000 Kip (around £4) and then join a few others in a tuk tuk to take us 3kms up the road to the start of the river. The tuk tuk is the worst sounding we have encountered. We go down one bump, there is a big crunch and the gearbox falls out the bottom. We aren't going anywhere! Another tuk tuk is hailed and we all transfer to that one, getting to the river in no time.
At the start of the river there must be atleast 8 bars lining the banks. We cross the bridge to Q bar and grab a large Lao Beer to share. People are playing beer-pong and there is crazy music coming from here, the bar next door and the bar across the river. We spend a little time at Q and then jump on our tubes and float next door to Star bar. Every time you go to a new bar you get a free shot of Laos whisky - it is rank! It is no wonder that people get so drunk though!
We don't stay long at Star bar and cross the river to Mojitos. Each bar literally pulls you in - they throw a rope at you with a bottle attached to it. You just need to make sure the bottle doesn't hit you otherwise it'll hurt! At Mojito we get a Laos Whisky bucket for 80p and by the time we leave we are feeling a little tiddly.
Back in the water and we float downstream. The weather levels aren't too high so we often get a bump on the ass from a rock. We go rather slowly, using our flip flops to paddle us along.
We stop at the last bar and grab a coke. Now for 2kms of water, limestone mountains and watching the sun start to set. Near the end some local children drag us in and we walk back through the town and drop off our tubes.
The next day we head for the capital city of Laos, Viantiane. We have 4 nights here.....although we wish we only had 2. The capital really isn't very interesting. There are a few cafes, restaurants and places where you can get your car fixed. The highlight in the guide recommends bowling....so that is what we did! It was a pretty old school bowling centre - almost as if the one that existed in East Grinstead was shipped straight here
From Vientiane we head South for Pakse and spend 2 nights here. Again, there is not a lot to do here so we just chill out, have a wander and eat. There is a heavy storm on one of the evenings and it wipes the power out so we have dinner by torch light.
From Pakse we go to Four Thousand Islands and stay at Don Khong for 2 nights. We hire a couple of bicycles for 80p each and cycle around the island. We head North and, as we are cycling, all the local children shout out "Sabidee" and wave. Some of them run up to the road and we High 5 as we cycle past. The island is 18kms long and we cycle all around it - we cover around 40kms in 4 hours.
On Wednesday 2nd May we get moving to the border. We have to pay $2 for our departure stamp then $1 to fill out a quarantine questionnaire and then $25 for our Cambodian visa. It is actually meant to be $20 but the immigation officials add an extra $5 for themselves. We tried to avoid the extra $5 but they made it too much hassle so we ended up paying the extra.
But we were let in to Cambodia so all good!!
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