27th November 2007: - Yeah we had no alarm to wake us this morning, although we woke naturally early as we have been doing the past couple of days. Our morning is taken up by me writing the blog & catching up on emails, whilst Drew writes his journal. We also managed to book the 1st leg of our slow boat journey to Pak Beng for tomorrow. We can not wait to just get on the boat & chill out for a couple of days. In the pm we visit Tat Kuang Si, a many tiered waterfall that flows over limestone formations. This in turn forms fantastic swimming pools the colour of turquoise. Although the sun was setting Drew & I could not resist the inviting pools of water so we use the rope swing & plunge right in. I tell you the water was freezing at first, but once you started swimming for a while you got use to it a bit. Our only regret is that we did not find this slice of Laos @ the beginning of our trip; we could have spent a whole day just relaxing @ the waters edge.
28th November 2007: - We wake early to make sure we have time to catch the boat to Pak Beng. We climb on board the large slow boat that carries about 30 other passengers, majority of them being foreigners just like us. We leave the pier @ about 9.00am in the misty morning haze. We find out very quickly that it is surprisingly cold traveling the Mekong. Everyone else rushes to their bags to put on extra layers, luckily for us we have our sleeping bags to hand, so we get right in there & huddle up, v cozy. Weather does not improve until about 11,00am, when the sun has burnt through the early morning mist. Our journey takes 9 hrs to get to Pak Beng & once we hit shore there is a mad rush to get off the slow boat to find accommodation. Young lads come on board to help carry bags for you (@ a price). However we had planned ahead & already had our packs on. We walk up the very steep sand bank, which is a tad bit difficult with the packs on & head to the numerous accommodations that is available to us. We find a guest house that charges us a massive 9 US$ for one night. Our room is nice & clean, the only prob is there is no hot water. Hey ho I’m sure everyone is in the same boat (LOL). We order our breakfast & lunch for the following day & then drift off to sleep with the hum of the generator next door.
29th November 2007: - Today is our last full day in Laos & we are spending it traveling up the Mekong to the Thai border in Chiang Khong. We did not make it in time to cross over to Thailand so we will be spending one last night in Laos & then getting a minibus over in the morning. Our boat trip was uneventful & we spent most of our time reading & watching the lush green country go by, interrupted only occasionally by speedboats cruising along. We end up in a guesthouse costing only 4US$ for both of us & it is fab a hot shower & a very large bed in a clean room, bargain. As for Laos we are both slightly upset that we did not get off the beaten track here, I think then we would have sent he untouched country. I suppose the good thing is there are not that any beggars on the street & children are not aware of the phrase “Hello money” yet! The people of Laos are very kind & laid back, you just have to go with the flow & not get angry with their time keeping, but then again that what holidays are about. The areas that we explored were extremely touristy, but then again if you want to get away from the crowds it is achievable. Our last comment has to be about the local beverage, Beer Lao; it is for me the best beer we have had so far on this trip. Even better than Windhoek I’m afraid, Carlos
