LAID BACK LAOS

WAITING FOR THE TRAIN BANGKOK

We leave Bangkok on Saturday the 9th of August booked on the 1920 train to Chang Mai unfortunately no sleeper berths are available on any of the night trains due to it being a big national holiday weekend in Thailand, so we settle for the 2nd class air con recliner seats, after our Indian railways experience we are curious as to what condition the Thai railway network is in. The train leaves promptly and our carriage is clean and comfortable, food is provided which came as a bit of a pleasant surprise as we didn’t realise food was included, shame I went out and had a meal before leaving but you always have to remember that famous old adage “you never know where your next hot meal is coming from so eat when you can”. The cleanliness of the train staff was amazing after each meal they would come round collect up all the rubbish and then sweep and mop the carriage floor, unlike the Indian railways staff who at this point would open the door and throw all the rubbish out on the track the Thai’s actually kept it and disposed of it at the station, even when we arrived at Chang Mai some 12 hours later they where washing the windows of the train before we had even got off and then it returned to Bangkok.
Chang Mai turns out to be larger and a lot more modern than we had expected, Jan had a dodgey stomach so we spend the two days here quietly not venturing far from a toilet but we manage to see most of the many Wat’s (temples) and take in some shopping and recharging our batteries. THE THREE DRAGONS!!!!!!We stayed at the SK Guest House which is where our daughter Stephanie stayed when she was here last year the only difference being we are budget travellers and so didn’t get the air con rooms that she had, but we still get to use the pool which is a bonus. From Chang Mai we head off to Chang Rai on the bus a 4 hour journey on remarkably good roads but after India in the truck I suppose anything would feel good, the bus is full but thankfully no chickens or livestock are inside and our first public bus trip in Thailand passes without a hitch. We are on our way to the border with Laos we have a couple of nights in Chang Rai,

INTERNATIONAL FELIXSTOWE ROAD RUNNERS STRIKE AGAIN CHANG RAI

here is where we get caught in our first major rainfall of the monsoon while on our way to a restaurant in the evening, after 20 minutes of sheltering from the rain under a cafe awning with no sign of it letting up we make for the nearest bar that serves food and also happens to have a live group playing 60’s music, three bottles of wine and several beers later we all leave drier on the outside if not the inside than when we went in. It’s while in Chang Rai we learn of the unusually high water levels on the Mekong river the highest since 1966 which were due to peak 15 metres higher than normal the day before we leave, the Hotel that we were booked into was flooded up to the first floor and our river trip is hanging in the balance, this is the combination of high rainfall and the Chinese opening a dam further up river not thinking or probably not caring of the consequences of what happens downstream. We are still convinced that it’s a devious plan by the Chinese to keep us the E.O.E group out of South East Asia after not allowing us into Tibet and then not allowing the truck into China and now trying to wash us away down the Mekong River.
It’s an early 5.30 am start on Friday 15th to get a minibus to the border crossing point Hauy Xai, before picking up our slow boat down the Mekong river to Pak Beng, arriving at the border which is formed by the river and consists of small boats ferrying people and their luggage from one side to the other, this all takes place on the river where the water level is finally receding leaving some slippery dangerous banks, but everyone makes it across dry and no lost bags, mind you if you went in with a backpack on your back I don’t think you would surface until you got to Cambodia. BORDER CROSSING POINT THAILAND/LAOSWe clear customs and immigration in record time about an hour in total including the boat ride across the river, ensuring we have our passports and not somebody else’s after feeding them into the system one end and trying to retrieve them 20 minutes later from the officials who are happy to give them to just about anyone, if you ever need a spare passport this border crossing could just be the answer. We set off in search of our slow boat, now Stephanie had told us a little about this trip as she had done it last year when she was here so our expectations were set quite low as to what to expect and here’s where all the usual boating terminology goes out of the window, for instance delete quay and insert muddy river bank, delete gangway and insert muddy plank perhaps even 4 inches wide sometimes, so here we all are loaded up with backpacks, a very muddy and slippery river bank after the water levels have dropped, and loads of backpackers trying to squeeze onto this boat via the small plank, mind you we did upgrade a bit we purchased some cushions for 12,800 kip to go on the rickety benches that they use as seats and as there’s 16,000 kip to the pound we thought we could easily justify that huge expense of 80 pence for two days of bum protection but they were still numb at the end of it. We managed to get seats up the back on the quarterdeck, but as this was just behind the diesel engine I think it’s better if we call it the engine room annex, once they had squeezed everyone on, at one point Jan was about to get off and walk as she thought it was overloaded but we pointed out to her that it was a long walk down the river bank she stayed seated asking for her life jacket, which then highlighted the next little problem what life jackets, you can’t pack this many people on to a boat and expect to have room for life jackets as well. But once we were all seated and it got under way and the noise from the diesel engine deafened us, it turned out to be not so bad after all, cold beer I find always helps !!! We arrived at our overnight stop the one with the flooded hotel accommodation so we needed to source along with most other people on the boat some more,

OUR ORIGINAL ACCOMADATION NOW A BIT DAMP

Jane and Mo were going to go off ahead and try and beat the crowds to get our 8 rooms while the rest of us got the bags together on the jetty no sorry riverbank, the docking procedure seemed to be going well until there was this rumbling noise and everyone who was helping to tie up the boat ran away very quickly, the boat next to us started her engines and made for a hasty exit together with us. It turned out that a building just above our landing stage that we had been admiring some 5 minutes earlier because it was propped up on beer crates after the bank had been eroded in the recent flood, had picked this moment to slide down the bank and into the river, the people and boats were trying to get away to prevent being hit by any floating debris, at least this was one off of Jane’s list to try and book for tonight’s accommodation(well at least we hoped so !). But good news we find a near new guest house with fans and hot showers that can house us all comfortably the only drawback being the power goes off at 10.30 pm so no fans through the night but as the rest of the village is in darkness we don’t feel out of place. Back on the river the next morning to continue down to Laung Prabang the river level has dropped over night and our boat has been moved to the other side of a flooded part of the road which then means that some helpful village people can charge us for walking across their boats to get to ours at the extortionate rate of 10,000 kip about 50 pence, back on our way, this time we’re out the front of the boat a bit quieter but just as cramped,

A RELAXING BEER ON THE SECOND DAY

it was a shame the river was so high, it covered all the rocks and concete marker posts marking the channels, all we saw was a vast expanse of water with lots of whirlpools and logs going round and round in the same place, ( SF&RS take note, this could be a good place for the water rescue refresher training if of course it happens ! what was the budget again), we arrive an hour early at our destination due to the strong current. Laung Prabang is said to be the prettiest town in south East Asia and with its French colonial buildings it does look very nice, especially at night when the illuminations help to disguise some of the tiredness which is exposed by the daylight. Plenty of shopping as there is a large tourist market every night here and Jan enjoys wandering around the stalls looking at the jewellery and clothes, time for another ankle bracelet or toe ring perhaps.

THE ROOFS OF THE SETTLEMENT THAT USED TO BE BY THE RIVER, NOW IN THE RIVER AT LAUNG PRABANG

OH NO IT FITS !!!!!!!!

We take a trip out to Kuangsi waterfall this turns out to be a big hit the recent rains have turned it into a real monster, when we arrive we discover its running through the picnic areas and over the paths very impressive we all opt to go for a swim even Jan (must be warming up now) hopefully my camera will dry out after all the spray at the bottom. John in action at the waterfall.

We leave or should I say should have left at 1600 hours for a six hour bus trip to Vang Veng a much smaller town 160 km's away on the way to the border with Vietnam, this is our first bus trip in Laos and we start with a 2 hour delay not leaving to 1800 hours complete with plastic patio chairs down the aisle to house the other 20 people who don’t have seats, cosy but not to worry it’s only 6 hours? or is it, we were promised toilet stops every 2 hours and after 3 hours the driver finally stops on the road for people to visit the call of nature (definitely an advantage being a male at this point, life’s so much easier), at midnight the time we should have been arriving we are still some 75 km’s away and have just come across a landslip on the road which takes us another 2 hours to negotiate, finally at 3 o’clock in the morning we get to stop at a roadside cafe for hot food and facilities, not bad 9 hours into a 6 hour trip before we get our first proper stop, finally at 6 o’clock in the morning we arrive in the pouring rain at Vang Veng and we all crawl off to our accommodation to get into bed for a few hours kip (I never spent this long up at night when I was in the Fire service). Vang Veng is a lovely little spot set out in the mountains with a disused landing strip running right through the middle of it, I unfortunately go down with a heavy head cold (man flu) which takes me to my bed for two days unheard of before, but I think that in the hot humid temperatures it’s makes it worse and of course I’m a pensioner now so things always take time!, which means I miss out on the tubing down the river something Vang Veng is renowned for, you hire a tube and then a Tuk Tuk takes you by road up the river where you get in and float back down stopping off at all the bars on the way they have swings and slides and generally a good time is had by all, Jan rally enjoyed it.

MUST REMEMBER TO LET GO

We then have to try our second bus journey in Laos to get us to the capital Vietainne we are not looking forward to it after our first experience but it turns out to be much better we even arrive on time and there was no plastic seats down the aisle either.

ANOTHER BUDDA LOOK ALIKE COMPETITON

Vietainne as far as capital cities go is quite small but it does boast its own look alike Champs Elysees with an Arc de Triomph at the top of it, mind you as it say’s on the board next to it, its looks at its best from far away once up close it’s a bit tatty where it hasn’t been finished yet and they started it back in the 60’s. We leave Vietainne taking our 3rd coach trip to go to Savanghatn a town near the border with Vietnam from where we can make our final bus journey to the border crossing point, first impressions of our bus are good nice paintwork nice soft fabric seats and air con plus on board toilet could we be that lucky, almost once we set off no end of street vendors got on selling everything from fresh baguettes, and drinks through to barbecued cockroaches but once underway the air con temp is set so low that you could hang meat in there, the T V was playing Laos pop music so loud you couldn’t hear yourself think it was like travelling in a chest freezer listening to the Eurovision song contest (brain dead by lunch time) and don’t even think about using the loo as all the luggage that wouldn’t fit underneath gets stacked in front of the toilet door, but by the afternoon when they finally turned off the TV and either the air con had broke or it was connected to his gears because the first 2 gears didn’t seem to work either peace ensured but we did arrive on time bonus.
Our last bus is a real beauty looks like it was built in the 60’s and been patched every 5 years since, one large fan in the middle that doesn’t work but is just the right height to bang your head on as you walk down the aisle, a couple of chickens in the locker underneath and lots of locals inside, an hour into the trip we stop to pick up a lady who has 20 50 kilo bags of fertiliser with her which they stack down the centre aisle which makes for a nice foot rest! But the bus drives much better than a lot of the newer ones that we have been on and we get to the border at 1300 hours as promised. This time the border is a nice firm land crossing point with the Vietnam side having a very new swanky building most out of place. We have enjoyed our time in Laos the relaxed laid back lifestyle and cheap food and drink have made for a great time apart from the odd memorable bus journey we have really enjoyed this country, if Vietnam is anything like Laos let the good times roll.

A COUPLE FOR RALPH NOTE THE SAFETY FLIP FLOPS ON THE SCAFFOLD