I woke up bright and early thanks to about four hundred nightmares of being eaten alive in my sleep by mosquitoes and giant spiders and hopped in the van to cross the border into Laos. Everyone travelling had to hand over their passports to the guesthouse to arrange visas for Laos. We got the the bank of the Mekhong River and could see Laos on the other side. A quick 15 minute crossing and we were there. We hopped off the long boat and grabbed our backpacks and ha to stand in a line to have our temperature taken via ear (thank god) to ensure good health and no swine flu before we could go to immigration. Immigration was a small shack with 3 officials and about 100 tourists pipes around trying tiger to the front of the line. At this point I still had no received my passport back but within a half an hour I saw a Canadian passport being held up to the glass and I took that as my cue to run up and get my stamp. Luckily I was the only Canadian.
Once that was sorted I had a very disturbing squatty potty experience and then went to wait for the slowwwww boat. It was a day of hurry up and wait and although we were told we'd be getting on the boat at 9am we didn't leave till closer to noon. The boa was soooooo packed- probably close to a hundred people- and I managed to find a seat on a wooden bench next to another Canadian named Thad. Although it was a long uncomfortable ride, day one proved fairly entertaining between watching the other teacellwrs fall victim to too many Laos beer and playing cards. There was one gut travelling we nicknamed mr. Stinky who is worth an honourable mention- 60+ years old, looking grey hair and beard, no shoes, dirty clothes he wire for 3 days straight and the WORST B.O. IMAGINEABLE!!!!
We stopped for one night at a small village in between huay xai and luang probang and had an uncomfortable nights sleep before getting on the boat for day 2 of the long trek down the meykhong. Day 2 was much more comfortable as we were lucky enough to get on a second boat that was chartered for the day so there was way more room and everyone had a seat. We arrived in luang probang around 6pm and began the long sweaty walk to find a hostel. It took forever as many places were full but eventually we got a tuk tuk to take me and a couple people I met on the boat to a hostel with room.
Yesterday I went to some nearby waterfalls for a few hours and swam in them. It was grrrrreat!! There was a rope swing from a tree that I flew on and got a funny picture of me mud flight with a look of horror on my face. After the falls I had long shower and had dinner. Then I had a Laos massage for $5.... Heavenly. I'm gonna miss my massages when I get home that's for sure!!
Today thad and I did a walk up mount phousi (pronounced like the female body part) and saw some amazing views and temples up there. Luang prabang is an unesco world herratige sight, and I saw it. That's two including borobrudur in Indo... No big deal. ;-) after the long HOT hike we met a guy from the states and grabbed some homemade icecream!! Sooo good! After that I went and explored the night market here which is fabulous and nurses some dehydration at a nearby coffee shop. I also bought a bag full of books and crayons wwritten in English and Laos that I am bringing to a small villiate up north tomorrow to give to some local kids. I'm pretty excited about that.
Tomorrow I'm getting ip at 5am to watch the monks have their morning parade here and then I am atchibg my bus to go north. Probably won't have Internet access for a bit- but who knows!! This place is closing now so I gotta run!! There is a midnight curfew here so everything closed around 10:30. Fun. Hope all is well with everyone!! Sorry I don't have more time for blogging and emailing. Love ya!!
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