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On the road again (sans scooter)
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We picked up after a few days in Pai (actually James literally picked up most everything thanks to my new ailment and fragile left collarbone) and changed our planned course of travel. We went back to Chiang Mai which turned out to be really great because we got to go to bible study at the church in Chiang Mai and see our friend Gade again.
She and some other folks from the church had just spent the week in Cambodia working with kids living on the street there so it was very encouraging to hear them share about their experiences. It reminded me so much of the fresh enthusiasm I felt each Spring Break after our high school youth group returned from our annual house building trip in Mexico with Amor Ministries.
We continued moving northwest on a fun-filled 6.5 hour bus ride that dropped us in the middle of the afternoon in a small border town called Chiang Kong. Not much to see there so we decided to say goodbye to Thailand for a while and move into Laos.
The border crossing was incredibly fast and easy and involved a water crossing in a small boat. The only bummer was that it was about a million degrees outside and that always makes me a bit more edgy. Plus, James had about 90 lbs. of luggage covering his body so he was the sweat master.
Our Laos journey began in another small, rather unappealing border town called Xouay Xai (pronounced "way sigh", i think). I was on the mad hunt for a guesthouse with air conditioning but couldn't find one but fortunately we got a kickin' fan that sufficed to prevent me from totally overheating!
Our main focus that evening was to figure out how to get out of there...we were headed to the very cool place called Luang Prabang, but transportation was the big question. Our options were such: a flight in a small plane (also the most expensive option), 12-14 hour public bus ride leaving at 12 pm and arriving sometime in the middle of the morning (the public bus looked a bit scary), and boat travel along the Mekong River via a) a speed boat ride lasting 6 hours and described in our Lonely Planet guide as dangerous and only for the foreigners who were crazy, or b) a 2-day long slow boat ride (stopping for the night in a small village called Pak Beng). We researched and debated and finally opted for the slow boat ride leaving the next morning.
From the first moment the trip began I was starting to wonder if we'd made the right decision. The 60+ passengers show up to board this boat (see pictures...it's wild!) and before the last of us is on they say that all the seats are full and we have to sit on the floor. Um, I don't think so. The ride is 7.5 hours on day 1, and 8 on day 2, and I paid for a seat and that is what I was going to get! The "seats" deserve some description as well: wooden benches with not a bit of recline to them. Yikes!! Fortunately we had purchased seat cushions for the trip and they turned out to be quite useful.
After my initial fear, we did get on the boat when they managed to yank a few more benches from storage (on the roof of the boat) so that we had seats towards the very front. It turned out to be the place we spent both days and I am convinced they were the best seats on the boat!
We had a great breeze from the river which kept us cool most of the day, we had great views of the countryside, and we also were entertained by the Lao kiddos sitting on the floor in front of us. The trip turned out to be really great, very relaxing, and a beautiful way to see the Mekong River. Besides, day 2 we upgraded from the wooden bench to wooden chairs with a bit more recline to them...luxury!
Most of the pictures in this blog are from various sites we passed along the ride...the villages along the river, the very simple fishing boats, and the people enjoying the river for its many uses. Adults and kids bathing, people cleaning pots and pans, fishing, and of course, throwing trash in the river. We just cannot get used to seeing that...it is so sad to us. One older woman was laughing at us as she watched us bagging up our garbage and she gestured to us that she thought it was silly that we didn't just huck the bag over the side of the boat. Never!
We spent most of our days reading or listening to the iPod but the most exciting times were when we made a stop along a river to pick up or drop off passengers. It was always entertaining...at one stop our boat was bombarded with kids and their boxes of snacks and sodas to sell to tourists...another stop they loaded about 20 huge bags of food, peanuts in at least some of them, on top of the boat...another stop, James' favorite I think, was when the meat vendors came to the boat selling all sorts of crazy meats-bat, fish on a stick, duck, and some sort of rodent, perhaps a rat?
We learned quickly that Lao people love their meat and eat all parts of the animal it seems.
The scenery along the Mekong was quite pretty most of the time and we arrived in Luang Prabang to a beautiful sunset over the river. A great way to start our time in a really wonderful city.
(By the way, we were glad to chose not to go with the speed boat option to Luang Prabang. We were passed by quite a few on our trip and the passengers wore helmets, life jackets, and ear plugs with legs tucked closely to their bodies on a very LOUD trip. The speed boats are not what you picture a typical speed boat to be as they looked more like small racing boats.)
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