The Sloooooow Boat to Luang Prabang
Trip Start
Jan 13, 2009
1
13
28
Trip End
Ongoing
Luang Prabang, Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Friday, February 20, 2009
I met some good dudes on the minibus to the border and we stayed in a guesthouse at the border overlooking the mighty Mekong. One of the lads from the Chiang Mai trek, a lad called Joe from the US was among them and he became my travel buddy for this section.
We were up early the next day to go through customs. I had to pay a fine for overstaying my visa by one day then take a longtail boat across the river into Laos. More messing around getting a Lao visa and then packed like sardines onto the slowboat.
The first day on the boat was six and a half hours and we stopped at a strange little place called Pak Beng for the night. It was a steep scramble up a sandy slope from the boat and then there was just one raod with some guesthouses and restaurants on either side. There was no electricity and they had to run generators when it got dark but they all switched off at 10pm! We had some traditional Lao food and got offered all sorts of illegal substances then went to bed looking forward to another day on the boat!
The next days boat journey was even longer at seven and a half hours but it went a bit quicker as we played lots of cards and drank lots of whiskey! (It was two dollars for a litre bottle of Lion King whiskey in Pak Beng!) I realised when I'd had enough and spent the last few hours sitting in the window in the afternoon sun with one leg dangling in the river! The scenery was a lot more rocky than I had imagined and there were even a few rapids. We saw many water buffalo and a few monks bathing and washing their robes in the river.
When we got to Luang Prabang it was dusk so we quickly found a cheap guesthouse and settled in. We found a great food stall on the night market which was a vege buffet for 5000 kip which is about 40p! We had a few Beerlao and then headed to bed.
Luang Prabeng is the old capital of Lao and the ancient Kingdon of Lan Xang. There are some really old temples from the 15th century that are still active and there are about 500 monks living in the town. The town is really chilled, there are no road marking or traffic lights and hardly any traffic. Laos used to be a French colony and there is still a French feel to the town so there are some great cafes selling croissants, baguettes and Lao coffee! We took a walk around the town and checked out some of the monasteries. At one of them some monks were building a new drum and they were stretching an animal skin over the drum by wetting it and whacking it with drumsticks that they were making from palm leaves. They let us have a go at whacking the drum too which was a laugh. Couldn't get them to play any Led Zeppelin though! We watched the sun set from the temple at the top of the hill in the middle of town and then got an early night so we could get up the next day to watch the monks collecting alms.
The monks collect alms at sunrise which was about 6.30 so it was an early start. Well worth it though. The monks walk in a long line and the locals come out and kneel down and give thjem sticky rice and food for the day. There was an amazingly long line of orange going into the distance. The colours look amazing against the old temples. Joe and I then hired a couple of bikes and cyled about 35km in the hills to the Kuangsi waterfalls which were by far the most impressive we had seen so far. The cycle was hot but reallt picturesque through winding mountain roads and across paddy fields. The last climb up to the waterfall was a toughie but it got dominated!
There were three or four pools for swimming at the base of the falls. They were the most amazing opal/aquamarine colour. There was a tarzan swing and we also jumped off the top of the waterfall (of course!) The cycle back was much easier and we cycled along saying hi to all the local vilagers and racing against schoolkids on their way home.
That evening we had dinner at a place by the river where you have your own little barbeque in the middle of the table that you cook your own dinner on. It got pretty sweaty though (nothing that a few cold beers couldn't sort though!)
Next day it was south to Vang Vieng.
