Poolman99's travel blogs:
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Day 59
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This morning I decided to go with Bjorn and Susan so that I could enjoy a five hour boat ride from Nong Khiaw to Louang Prabang. This trip is mentioned in Lonely Planet guide as one of the best boat trips to do in Laos so that helped sway my decision. Pascal, who was going all the way to Loung Prabang by bus, came with the three of us to the bus station as it was the same bus for all of us anyway - Pascal would just be staying on longer.
The bus station was a little hive of activity at 8.30am and I bought my ticket and was pointed to the bus. I threw my main back up to the guy on the roof and shouted my destination so that he could pack it in the right place. It was surprising to see the bus about 1/3 full with Westerners - we had a nice Scottish couple behind us who were on a 2 year trip round the world! The scheduled journey time was four hours for us but the roads were awful and we seemed to stop every few miles to take villagers on mini bus rides along the way.
I'd heard that Lao people don't travel very well and most bus journeys get the odd person throwing up. We had three people get sick on this bus and as in China, I had one next to me! This time though, the girl was very quiet and she wasn't really sat next to me as she was occupying a plastic stool in the aisle. At about 5pm, and nearly four hours late, we arrived in Pak Mong. Most folk got off the bus to stretch their legs, but we were the only three getting off. It was a dusty little place and we still weren't at our home for the night - Nong Khiaw. I began negotiating with a tuk tuk driver to take us the final hour to Nong Khiaw. There were three of us and I was surprised by how expensive this next journey would be. We didn't have any other options so the guy knew he could get his price out of us. We all stood there haggling for around 15 mins and we only set off once a local got on board whose fare allowed the driver to lower his demands on us.
Nong Khiaw is a delightful river-side village and I was excited to be here and not on the bus to Louang Prabang. We found a guesthouse that had a good restaurant and settled down for the night. I was really tired but we stayed up to chat with two Austrian guys and another Dutch girl who were having a good chat in the guesthouse. The Austrians are a seventy-year old father and his son who were on a three week holiday in Laos. The son had paid for the trip as a gift and both had left their disinterested wives behind to come to Laos for some backpacking adventure. I liked the fact they were here and doing what they wanted despite age concerns and domestic obligations.
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