After taking a bus to the Thai border town of Chiang Khong, through the Thai immigration... and across the Mekong on a small long-tail skiff... to the village of Huay Xai in the Peoples Democratic Republic of Laos. The Laos share a lot of similarities with the Thais... but as one of the most under-developed countries in the world... they lag far behind the Thais economically. Will John and Anita be able to survive in this Communist country... and will Anita be able to sleep in their slightly dodgy accommodations...
HE SAID:
Not much to say about Huay Xai. It was a bit of a tiny culture shock coming from relatively rich Thailand... but other than the dirt road and the slightly more rundown buildings... the town looked like any poor rural town we had previously seen. Actually, I think that HX was probably quite affluent in Laos as it seems to benefit greatly from its status as a border town. While I am sure 99.9% of the tourists who come through are only transitory visitors... there were a number of guest houses and restaurants in the tiny town... and they looked like they were doing OK.
The guest house we stayed in was not quite as nice as the places we had been used to... but Anita was extra freaked out by the place. It was mainly due to the fact that it was an Old style building, that had real wooden floors (probably teak wood) that were dark and more easily hid bugs. I am sure some one at home would have spent a fortune to have the beautiful rich dark floors for their condo... but Anita would not be mollified.
Anyway, after a decent dinner and a relatively good sleep... we woke up extra early to board the slow boat to Luang Prabang... but more about this in our next section.
SHE SAID:
(before my rant, a big thanks to John for including all of the most flattering pics of me in the photo section...that's what I get for not being the photo downloader!)
Before leaving the Thai border, we had to pay a whopping 500 x 2 baht for a leaving one day after our VISA expired. It was more much more expensive than our travel book mentioned (for any Thai travellers out there)...but the guy at the desk was very excited that we were going to Laos, were married and didn't have kids yet. He proposed that this was a good time to plan a family! Well, not yet...sorry Mum :)
1ST NIGHT...
So we got the first room that we saw, and no, I didn't sleep all night, despite keeping the light on all night to keep any pests away (and perhaps disturbing John just a little, oops). Though we didn't see anything, I thought the room and bathroom were nasty...or maybe I've just become pickier I don't know. It was also difficult to stay here because the night before, we stayed in that immaculate room in Chang Rai.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF LAOS...
Well, because of the VISA upon arrival in Lao and other payments we had to make in different currencies, it seemed they 'screwed you', as John would say, on the exchange. They seemed to take USD, Laos and Thai currency, but it was best if you had a lot of all 3 and paid with what they posted, otherwise they'd choose their exchange rate. That bothered me, but we didn't have a lot of choice.
Also, as displayed at the booth, the VISA for Canadians was the most expensive out of all of the other nationalities, why we don't know.
The exchange situation and our first room in Laos didn't make me a lover of Laos yet. But there was still time.
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