From Chiang Mai, at the urging of various travellers we met in SE Asia, we worked our way to Laos. We began our two day journey taking a bus from Chaing Mai to the border town of Chiang Kong. After staying overnight there at a small hostel, we headed to the water to depart on our boat and cross the border into Laos. This proved to be a much longer and more tedious process than any of us had prepared for. At the port, we exited Thailand, only to be shuttled across the river to the Laos border on a longtail boat. Here, we paid for our visas, got stamped and made about three other random stops alongside a group of equally clueless westerners before boarding our slow boat down the Mekong about three hours later. One would assume that the seats of a boat that we would be spending enough time on in the next two days to drive from Portland to L.A. would at least have cushions. This was not the case. We each bought them before boarding and found a place in the only two remaining wooden benches in the back. Because the seats were full, however, in no way meant the boat was full. As long as there is space on the floor, the boat is not full.
We finally started our slow journey. After two long, sweaty and occasionally tipsy days, everyone on the slow boat got to know eachother. And we arrived at our first Laos destination, Luang Prabang.
LUANG PRABANG
We had few expectations going into Laos beyond the tubing in Vang Vieng, so we were pleasantly surprised when our first stop was a quaint, French inspired town with cobblestone streets, wooden shutters, striped umbrellas and monks in tangerine colored robes. We settled in to our guest house, grabbed dinner and strolled in and out of the shops lining the streets. We retired early the first night weary from travelling. We took it pretty easy the next day, walking around, watching the monks swim in the river and checking out the night market. That night, our friends who we stayed with in Australia, Lindsey, Hillary, Jai and Alexa came and met up with us from Vang Vieng. It was a great reunion-we always enjoy having new people join the group. The next day we decided to go to some waterfalls 35 km away. Beth and Molly decided to do it by bike and about halfway through they realized that there is a reason that they are called beach cruisers. Apparently the baskets on beach cruisers are not meant to be used because Beth's tire became flat, fortunately when they stopped to fix the tire they stumbled upon some adorable puppies :). After two hours riding through undulating hills they reunited at the base of the falls. They were spectacular and had an enchanting feel to them, like they belonged on one of those unicorn fairy posters that grace the walls of magic card playing high schoolers. We hiked to the highest fall that fell into a series of clear pools. Shortly after arriving, middle-school aged monks arrived and started doing backflips off the surrounding trees into the small pools. Later everyone gave the rope swing a try. Around dinner time we headed back to the guest house and got ready for a big night at the bowling alley-the town hangout. The night ended with Rachel, Molly, Jai, Hillary and Alexa playing a variation of hide-and-seek, called sardines in the street.
THE INFAMOUS VANG VIENG
The next morning we took a tuk tuk to a van where we were shuttled off to Vang Vieng. Lindsey joined us, even though she had just come from there. The ride was one of the funniest, most unpleasant rides of the trip. We were all exhausted but the road was windy and the car lacked seat belts or any way to keep yourself in one spot, so sleeping wasn't an option and every turn sent us flying into one another for a grueling 8 hours. All we could really do was laugh because everyone was in the same boat. When we finally got in to town, we got a bungalow along the Vang Vieng river.
After settling in, Lindsey and Molly were on their way to the internet cafe to meet a friend from school who was already there, Carrington, when they ran into him on the street. Our first night, the six of us grabbed some of the best kebabs of the trip and Linds and Carrington filled us in on what we were in store for with this tubing. The next day Danielle and Beth weren't feeling well so they decided not to go to the river. Molly, Rachel, Carrington and Lindsey hopped in a tuk tuk and were greeted at the river with MGMT's Kids blaring from the first bar. It consisted of a bar counter, area with picnic tables and a railless deck covered in mangy rugs and college aged kids drinking Beer Laos and Whiskey buckets. There was a circus style trapeeze swing hanging about 20 feet above the water hanging from a tree. Molly and Carrington climbed to a platform and seconds later were flying through the air while people looked on. As we advanced down the river people got a bit rowdier, music got a bit louder and rope swings, zip lines and water slides materialized. It was a good way to spend our first full day.
Most days played out like this, but on the third day, Molly dove into murky water and had a run in with a rock, sending her to the emergency room in a tuk tuk. Rather than asking her what happened, accustomed to dealing with injuries from the river, the doctor simply asked "were you diving or swinging?" She left bandaged like a cartoon character with a tooth ache. Two days, twenty-something stitches, a black eye, a border crossing and 13+ hours of bus rides later we found ourselves back in Bangkok. As always, John was extremely hospitable and let us stay with him until our flight to Greece. It was a good time to rest, recoup, catch up on The Hills and for Molly to get checked out by a hospital. One night we went out on the town in Bangkok to see how the locals did it-not as much dancing as we expected. We went to a place called Titanium that had an ice bar-a freezer that had a bar sculpted from ice and a bartender in a puffy jacket inside.
Our final night was Cinco de Mayo, and by coincidence, we prepared John a goodbye Mexican feast. The next morning headed to the airport to leave Bangkok for the final time. Goodbye SE Asia!
