Huay Xai Hotels
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From Thailand to Laos
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I got off the bus at the Thai border town of Chiang Khong and took a songtaew to the border with two Kiwi guys who were on my bus. The border crossing was uneventful and involved a small boat taking us across the river to Laos (it's actually pronounced Lao - the s is silent - those crazy French added it on when they controlled the country). After checking into a guesthouse for the evening we went and bought our tickets for the slow boat to Luang Prabang. There are three options for getting to Luang Prabang from Huay Xia - the slow boat (2 days of sitting on wooden benches for 6-9 hours a day depending on the currents and water level), the fast boat (a speedboat packed tight with 9 people in life jackets and crash helmets that only takes six hours if it doesn't crash into anything on the way), or a treacherous 12-15 hour bus ride. Not surprisingly, the most popular option is the slow boat.
On our way back from buying our tickets, we walked by a group of Lao people sitting in their front yard and drinking. One guy yelled out hello to us and invited us to join them. We looked at each other and said why not. Only one of them knew English, so we spent our time talking to him. He had just come back home after living elsewhere in Laos for awhile so this was his welcome back party. After about an hour with them, we decided to leave to go get dinner. They invited us to join them at the disco that night, but by the time we got back to their place from dinner (around 8:30pm), they had already left. Oh well.
It was really interesting how different Laos felt than Thailand, even in this tiny border town. The people in Laos were so much friendlier and I didn't feel like they were all trying to get money from me, like it felt in Thailand. While I enjoyed my time in Thailand, I didn't love it like many people seem to and don't plan on going back there. Thailand was so packed with tourists that it felt difficult to get any sense of actual Thai culture. It felt like the locals viewed the foreigners as walking ATMs and did whatever they could to try to get more and more money from us. They also seemed to try really hard to separate the foreigners from the locals, trying to persuade you to take a tourist-only minivan instead of the local bus, among other ways.
In addition to all the backpackers and package tourists, there was a larger amount of what I refer to as the creepy old man tourists (though they range in age from early 20s to almost dead) than anywhere I've ever been. A huge percentage of these creepy old men tourists were American. They came to Thailand because Thai whores are cheap. It's really disgusting watching them walk down the street with the girls looking bored out of their mind. Most of these guys have been to Thailand many times and like to boast about how many girls they've had on each of their yearly trips. It's so gross and sad and very difficult to get away from. From what I hear, the south of Thailand is worse than the north in this respect, but since I haven't visited there, I can't comment on it. I find it incredibly sad that so many Thai women feel like they don't have any other options and have to turn to prostitution. And equally sad and outraged that so many Western men would perpetuate this. It's also incredibly stupid with the large problem that Thailand has with HIV/AIDS (it's the most common cause of death in Thais under the age of 50).
I also didn't find Thailand to be nearly as cheap as everyone made it out to be. Yes, it could be dirt cheap if you're willing to stay in a rat-infested room with only a cold shower, but to have a decent standard of living (an occasional cold shower, but mostly hot or at least warmish water) and actually do things during the day I would say it was on par or a bit more expensive than Ecuador and Bolivia. Traveling with one or two other people would make things quite a bit cheaper, since there really aren't dorm rooms anywhere and the guesthouses all charge per room instead of per person as is standard in South America. Whenever possibly I shared rooms with people I met along the way, but this wasn't always an option. All that being said, I can understand why someone who hasn't traveled much would view Thailand as a great trip since it's really easy to get around, plenty of English spoken, and loads of other tourists to make you feel more comfortable and in a more Western society.
Since I'm writing this after having already been to Laos, I can tell you that this does not apply to all of South-East Asia as my experience in Laos was very different. If I could travel back in time I would head into northeast Thailand from Bangkok and immediately cross into Laos, spending a few weeks there before crossing into China rather than spending three weeks in Thailand and only one in Laos. But hindsight is always 20/20 so instead I may just have to try to make my way back to Laos at some point, either in the coming months or in a future trip.
Where I stayed:
BAP Guesthouse
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