I am writing this on my second day on the slow boat from Huay Xia to Luang Prabang down the Mekong river in Laos. I left Chiang Mai on the evening of the 17th of April. I had booked a package trip that was to take me to the border with Laos and onto this boat all the way to Luang Prabang. But before I talk of that I want to say farewell to Chiang Mai. I have spent so much time in this little city, so many weekends with friends over the last 6 months and I would love to come back again. I would most certainly urge anyone visiting Thailand not to skip it. It is tourist friendly without all the hassle of South Thailand and is somewhere I could feasibly envisage myself living for a while so im sure I will be back.
Anyway I was at 'A little bird' hostel waiting for my minibus to the border town when I bumped into Tom, whom I had met during my previous stay here before I went to Chiang Rai. He was going on the same trip as me so I had a new travel buddy for the forseeable future. Our minibus was over an hour late which was a little worrying but it did allow me the opportunity to stream the Manchester Derby on my netbook. I caught everyone's attention when the goal was scored and they all came over to see what the commotion was about. Once the bus finally arrived we were squashed into it with a gang of other people and their luggage. This made for a not so comfortable journey of four hours at night to a hostel in Chiang Khong where we got about 3 hours sleep. The we were woken up and told to eat breakfast before being herded to the ferry crossing. Here we officially left thailand and jumped across the river to Laos where we got our visas, not without its problems. A long time later we got to the slow boat and were squashed onto this. Things dont happen quickly in Laos so it was around 11am by the time we took off having been up since 7. The boat itself was little more than a barge with small and hard wooden benches so no comfort was spared for us here! We were due to get to the halfway stage of Pak Beng in the evening so that meant a whole day on a cramped boat. It doesnt take long for boredom to set in and pretty soon people are drinking and chatting and singing songs. Me and Tom get talking to some of the gang seated around us and meet Jenna and Orlagh, an English and Irish girl travelling together for a bit. Time passes pretty slowly on the boat, broken by conversation, drinking, eating snacks and looking at the scenery. The scenery is quite pretty, we are after all on one of the most important rivers in the world going through rugged, mountainous country. Lots of green and lots of rocks. But this too loses its appeal after a while. There was one moment which broke the boredom nicely. We stopped at some random point where an army of kids with snacks and drinks boarded us and tried to ply their wares. Each one tried to outdo the others and those that could shout “Beer Lao very cold” without lying did the best. It made for an entertaining break.
At long last we arrive in Pak Beng, a small village dug into the mountainside which seems to rely on this slow boat trade for its survival. Here we are greeted by a horde of people trying to sell us rooms in guesthouses and people came on the boat to try and “help” with our bags. Tom and I had arranged something on the boat that morning so just ignored all these guys. Getting the bags, however, proved tricky as there are so many people swarming about. Eventually we get them and scale the rocks to the town and find our hostel. Along the way the guy leading us there kept trying to sell me weed and even pressed some in my hand. I just said 'maybe later' and kept plodding on up the hill to my room where I collapsed for a while. It was nice to be on something soft.... Hunger soon brought me to my feet and down to the resteraunt and we meet the girls again. We have some food with them in the midst of a the power going on and off. A monsoon blew in and knocked the power out one last time which was the cue to go to bed. The next morning is a bit nuts as I try to get breakfast, my bag packed and supplies for the day as well as waking Tom up (no mean feat) all in time to catch the boat. Eventually we manage all this and I have now been sitting on it bored for some time. Roll on Luang Prabang!
No comments:
Post a Comment