I left Chiang Mai a couple of days ago now. But the last
time I posted was four days ago so I'll start from where I left off. The last night
we were in Chiang Mai we went out for supper with the locals Kurt met. They
came by our guest house to pick us up on their scooters. The girl asked me if I
wanted to drive, but I politely declined. They took us to a very nice
restaurant that is up the mountain side overlooking the city, with a lake and
waterfall beside it. Those scooters could barely get us up the hillside and at
one really steep point we both started going backwards. These scooters must
have only been 40cc or something. So me and Kurt actually got off and walked
the last 100m because the bikes couldn't make it. The place was mostly full of
large groups of families and it seemed like they would come on special occasions.
I saw only two other foreigners there. We asked the girls to order us a bunch or
food and it was mostly very good. One dish was a whole fish on it's side with
the one side of it's stomach open and some vegetables and spices added in (see
picture). You just had to pick the meat off the fish. It was a little much for
me but it tasted OK, I think it was steamed. The girls loved it and even ate
the eye and some of the cheek. The whole meal (4 dishes plus rice and 2 beer)
came to only $34 total, and that included a live band. After that we went to
the Monkey club for a bit, but I was starting to lose my voice and get a sore
throat and we didn't end up partying too hard. The next day I went by myself to
Doi Suthep (Kurt already saw it), which is a beautiful Wat(temple) high on the
hillside overlooking Chiang Mai. It's very beautiful, but similar to other
temples I saw in Bangkok and it's too bad but you notice yourself not
appreciating it as much because you've seen something similar before. After
that I went and picked up some malaria pills, dioxycicline I think they're called.
Really cheap in Thailand, 2 Baht per pill, so I bought 80 for about 5 dollars.
Some guys I met from England bought 100 pills for 200 pounds in England. I've
heard they can give you bad side effects, but I haven't found that yet, which
reminds me I forgot to take my pill today... That night we took a 6 hour night
bus to the border city of Chiang Kong. It was a cramped mini bus packed with
people and we arrived at one in the morning and were led to a very basic guest
house. The shared bathrooms had an outdoor sink that just drained at your
feet.
The walls were paper thin and you
could hear the person in the next room shuffling in bed and when someone walked
by outside, you could feel the 2x4 floorboards sagging. I had a good sleep
though.
In the morning we got a ride to the border which is essentially the river, you get your
exit stamp and get ferried over the river to Laos. We got a visa on arrival and
they cost different amounts depending on which country you’re from. For some
reason Canada is the most expensive at $42 dollars. I don’t know what we ever
did to Laos to deserve that treatment. Over the border Kurt and I had to get a
Lao beer which is a great source of national pride and really quite good. And
for about 2 dollars you get a 650ml bottle, so you can’t go wrong. After
waiting around for awhile we finally boarded our slow boat for the 2 day
journey. Played card games and listened to music and drank for the 6 hour
journey which was quite fun. It’s pretty much impossible not to meet people
when you’re all stuck on a boat for that long. And the couple sitting across
from us were from, wait for it……. Saskatchewan! Small world. Pulled up to Pak
Beng at dusk and found a nice hostel/hotel for cheap. A whole bunch of us went
out for dinner and drinks and had a good night. They gave us some free Lao
Whiskey shots which is made from rice and taste horrible. But it’s flammable so
you know it’s good. The next morning they made baguette sandwiches for the boat
trip which are really good and seem to be a staple here in Laos, although I’ve
never seen a local eating one. Another note on Laos, here the ‘s’ on the end
doesn’t seem to exist, it is written and pronounced Lao. So another 6-8 boat
ride the next day, this time I get a seat instead of the floor, although they’re
just benches. Luckily I bought a pillow for $1. So boating down the Mekong
river is beautiful and definitely a once in a lifetime experience. But just
like with the temples, you get spoiled after watching it for 8 hours and don’t
appreciate it as much as you should. The mountainous river banks are spotted
with tiny villages and thatch roofed huts. We saw water buffalo grazing, being
looked after by 6 year old children and amazing mountains and cliffs
everywhere. It is the dry season and in some places you can see the high water
line which is a meter or two higher. We arrived in Luang Prabang at sunset (see
pic) and found a nice cheap guesthouse. It seems that in general guesthouses
and quite cheap. It’s common to spend the same on your guesthouse as on your
meal and drinks for the night. We went out to a bar with a bunch of people from
England, Scotland, and Australia. The bar was really nice, outdoor/indoor and
very stylish. For some reason all bars close in Laos at 11:30. The only place
that stays open is the bowling alley, so off we went. We ended up bowling
America vs the world with some guys Texas and California. Our team had England,
Canada and a guy who’s Korean, but it seem like he has lived everywhere. We
bowled for rounds of beer and our team won 2 of 3.
Today Kurt and I took a trip
to a nearby waterfall which was amazing. There was steep trails that allowed
you to hike to the top of the waterfall for a view. On the way down Kurt and I
did some exploring in the jungle and managed to make our way down to one of the
cascading pools of the waterfall. We were the only ones there and it was incredible,
the water was soo powerful and the views were amazing. It was a bit of a tricky
hike across the rocks to get there, and I’m sure we weren’t supposed to be
there, but the beauty of Laos is that there was no one around to tell us we
couldn’t leave the trail, so we did. We both thought that if we had a couple
extra days in this city, we would definitely go back and spend a day exploring
the jungles. There was a sign at the top for some caves that were 3km away, but
we didn’t have the time to check those out. Luang Prabang is very relaxed and
everyone is generous with the smiles. It’s too bad to be leaving but we’re on a
bit of a tight schedule because we have to be in Siem Reap in 7 days to meet up
with Kurt’s buddy down there. So were taking the bus tomorrow morning to Vang
Vien. I will try to upload some photo’s but this connection is slow. Say hi to
the snow for me!
