Huay Xai, Laos

  Huay Xai, Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Our bus from Chiang Mai to the Thai - Laos border town of Chiang Kong broke the trends set by all other buses we've taken in South East Asia and arrived half an hour early. The bad thing about it was that the majority of people on the bus were on a 2-day package which included their accommodation and onward transport to Luang Prabang in Laos, so our bus stopped at the guesthouse they they were booked into and didn't bring us to the border control. For this we hired a Sawngthaew (tuk-tuk) and myself, Lydia, 2 English girls and an Australian all crammed in with our bags. I was hanging off the back and thought the tuk-tuk was gonna topple over any second. We made it to the border, on the Mekong River and got our visa stamped out of Thailand, then the 5 of us went down to the river where we got on a really dodgy boat (the water was about a centimetre from the edge of the boat) and crossed the Mekong River into the Laos town of Huay Xai. The border patrol there was quite straightforward and we were issued with our 30-day visa on arrival. Had a quick walk up the street and found some okay accommodation for just $5 a night.
That evening we went out and had a traditional Laos dinner of Sticky Rice (rice you pick up with your hands, roll into a ball and dip into your curry) with Curry washed down with a couple of bottles of the delicious (and cheap) Beer Laos. When we got back to our hotel the corridors were like a zoo - Butterflies, huge insects and the biggest lizard we've seen in almost 5 months of traveling. It was at least a foot long and it was nothing like the little lizards we've been seeing all along the way.

Huay Xai Wat

Mekong River

It rained for most of the day on Saturday but cleared up later in the afternoon. We met a Scottish couple in the hotel and went out with them for a walk. We went to the temple which was really nice and had a walk down to the Mekong River. Had another nice dinner in a restaurant overlooking the river and had a few beers with the Scottish and four Dutch we picked up during the evening. Another early night, everything closes here at 11pm. We didn't mind though as we had to be up early for a bus the next morning.