Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang

Chiang Mai seems like something from a few months ago now, even though it has really only been a matter of days since we left. Being on holidays does funny things to your sense of time.


We left Chiang Mai by bus, and it was a seven hour trip to the border town of Chiang Khong. It was fairly uncomfortable, however I am sure that there's worse to come, so won't complain too bitterly just yet. They did provide water and a snack, but the blaring t.v. wasn't so appreciated.


From Chiang Khong it is a short boat trip to Huay Xai in Laos, and after the usual immigration paperwork we were free to go and find some accommodation. It does seem sometimes that once a guest house makes its way into the Lonely Planet guidebook that it then takes the liberty to drop its standards. We felt this of B.A.P. Guest House, which charged us 600 baht for the night.


The following day was the start of the Laos Gibbon Experience. Man, what a cool way to start our time in Laos. We packed out a couple of utes (cab and tray) and set out on the two-hour drive to the start point. They drive on the right in Laos, but in reality they drive wherever there are less potholes, and overtaking on corners is par for the course. Needless to say, we made it in one piece, and so began the hour-long uphill slog in the blistering midday heat. Having a flu didn't help matters, but I certainly sweat most of the bloody thing out by the end of the trek. They gave us a good 20 minutes breather, and then distributed the harnesses and divided us up into our separate tree houses, in groups of six or so. Zip lining from place to place was an amazing experience and we all had a lot of fun. There was a bit of walking to do between zip lines, but it was worth building up a sweat to have the instant cool-down effect of flying 150 metres over the forest. We stayed two nights in the treehouses, and while we only saw a fleeting glimpse of a gibbon, it was still well worth it. The excitement was added to by the thunderstorms we had both nights. And these weren't just run of the mill thunderstorms, the lightening and thunder was a constant melee for hours on end, and when the thunder was right over head it really was almost deafening. The wind (in our minds) threatened to topple the tree house, and one of the other houses was evacuated by their guides, while another self-evacuated to a small hut for 4 hours. We were bitten by mosquitoes, had our blood sucked by leeches, and dowsed by rain in the middle of the night, but man it was awesome.

After returning to the relative calm of Huay Xai, and indulging in some Beer Lao and some different accommodation, we caught the slow boat south on the two day trip to Luang Prabang. What sounded like a peaceful and picturesque meander down the Mekong, was picturesque, but as they crammed as many people onto the boat as possible it wasn't exactly comfortable, and if you weren't there early like we were, you got wooden benches instead of converted mini-van seats. Overnight on the trip we stopped at a small town called Pak Beng, although it seemed for a moment that we may not make it, as the motor cut out just as we reached the town and we started drifting perilously close to some rocks. Some quick thinking men in boats came to the rescue and with the help of barge poles and some nifty lasso work our drift was halted and our motor finally started again. The second day saw some very dodgy activity of what looked like two monitor lizards stowed under a step on board (while still alive) and made to endure the day long journey tied up for transport to what I can only assume will be a dining plate somewhere. I am still unsure what to do about this, I found it pretty disturbing.


And so it is that we are now in Luang Prabang, a lovely little town with a lot of French influences, and probably my favourite town so far on this trip. We have another night or two here before moving south again, and then we will make our way to Vietnam.


I haven't been writing on here as much as I thought I would, I guess I've been having too much fun. Keep an eye out for the next installment.