Tuesday, March 27, 2012
March 26, 2012 Talat Sot and Hmong Market Vientiane
For our last day we headed off to the small Hmong market near the Talat Sot. The Talat Sot used to be a quaint old market with stalls selling various handicrafts, Laos skirts (sinn) and other products for daily life. It is now in a modern shopping center. We canvased the Hmong market and came away with a few turban scarves with beautiful weaving at the bottom which would show on the women's heads. We then wandered through Talat Solot and on the second floor were overwhelmed by the shop "Yia Thao". One of us was happy to have a chair and a good book while the other looked through all the goodies. More of these headscarves with weavings were purchased - need to research the weavers - Thai Dam and what the motifs mean. 
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Saturday and Sunday March 24th & 25th 2012 Vientiane, Laos
Saturday and Sunday March 24th & 25th 2012 Vientiane, Laos
We have been reading our LP guidebook 6th edition and the Inter City Hotel is an "our pick"! That is where the choice came from as initially we had been trying for the the Hotel Beau Rivage Mekong but it was fully booked. In the morning we browsed through antique and textile shops, tried to change our departure date to the 26th instead of the 27th but Loa airways does not fly daily to Chiang Mai at this time of the year. After a lunch of quiche and salad at Le Banneton we headed back to our hotel to escape the heat. One of us also ended up with tummy troubles from the salads we suspect.
The city's name, Vientiane, comes courtesy of a bastardized French transliteration of Wiang Jan and is translated as Fort of Sandalwood, but by all accounts it mustn't have been much of a stronghold, as the original city was overrun on a number of occasions by the Burmese and Chinese, and absolutely flattened by the Siamese in 1828, after which the city was abandoned and left to the jungle.
This is one reason why many of the wats in the city are of a relatively young age, and the road layout was designed by the French when they oversaw the rebuilding of the city from the turn of the 19th to early 20th centuries. We have strolled by many of the wats but have not been going in and reading our guidebook at each one. Hopefully tomorrow David will feel better and be able to venture out.
We had invited for dinner, our friend Victoria's guide (www.tribalmusicasia.com) from Phongsali. We were delighted when Phonexay could join us. We went to Ban Vilayac restaurant and had an excellent Lao dinner of which the steamed fish and chicken laab were very tasty and not too spicy. We enjoyed meeting Phonexay and hope that we will see him again as our tour guide in Phongsali. He is currently with his family working here outside of Vientiane with the immigration police. Vientiane has a river border crossing with Thailand.
David was still not comfortable leaving the room to go touring so Sinday was a quiet day with lunch at Loa Kitchen and dinner at the rated French restaurant, Le Vendome. We had soup, a main course, dessert (a yummy chocolate soufflé ), and a couple of wines each for a total of $34. There are several second hand book stores here so we both have been reading much of the day, with David reading "TheRavens" about the "secret" war in Laos.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Friday March 23, 2012 Pongsavan to Vientiane, Laos
Friday March 23, 2012 Pongsavan to Vientiane, Laos
We had a slow morning and just walked around the town checking out what was happening. We saw the tour company that we had asked the hotel about right across the street and not far away like we had been told. They had a good variety of tours available (Soupath travel) that also including weaving villages. While we did go to a Thai Dam village, near Moun Khoua , and saw 4 women weaving it was not the tribal clothing but modern skirts. We ate lunch at the Craters Restaurant which David chose for the decor featuring large unexploded bombs. We had thought of going to Mulberries to see the silk production, dying and weaving center, but as only one of us is really keen on this we decided to give it a miss.
At 1 pm we headed for the airport for a 2:30pm flight to Vientiane. The check in process was slow and required going to an immigration office to record our presence in the area even though we were not leaving the country. The plane was a prop plane with seating for about 50 and all seats were taken for the 30 minute flight. From the Vientiane airport we took a taxi to our hotel, the Inter City Boutique hotel, which we had paid for four nights in advance using Agoda. When the cab stopped outside I asked him twice is this the "Inter City Boutique hotel?", are you sure this is the "Inter City Boutique hotel?". Not too fancy, but about $46 per night with breakfast. Vientiane is the first sizable city we have been to in Laos.
Well we have a Karen drum in our room, and a lot of interesting antiquities, including 2 large spider webs on the ceiling that did not just come overnight. We are now in the large "deluxe" room over looking the Mekong river with lovely antiques, but music is BLASTING from speakers in the median outside our window, and an announcer trying to sell some Kia cars that are displayed. Now I have read the trip advisor reviews about the noisy night club next door, the night market just out front.....when we arrived David had to carry our luggage up 2 flights of steep stairs as the elevator is "broken"..... We will see how soon it is fixed. If I had seen pictures of the outside of this hotel I would never had picked to stay here, but after walking around the river side and main tourist restaurant street, this building does not look terribly worse than the others. So far the Internet is excellent, which is a major plus, but also because we are directly across the Mekong River that here marks the border with Thailand, our Blackberry is receiving emails off a Thai provider. The music blasted until 10 pm and then it got quiet enough to sleep.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Thursday March 22, 2012 Phonsavan, Laos
Thursday March 22, 2012 Phonsavan, Laos
Major wars have been fought on the plains around Phonsavan over the centuries, as both Lao, Siamese and Vietnamese armies attempted to win control of them. In the nineteenth century, Chinese bandits further pillaged the plains so that, by the time French archaeologist, Madeleine Colani, arrived in the mid-1930s, almost all that remained of the ancient civilization of the plains were the assemblies of huge stone jars aligned above the plain.
Colani claimed to have discovered beads, bronzes and other artifacts that led her to believe that the jars were funerary urns, dating back 2000 years - an opinion that is held by many researchers today. However, Colani could not shed any light on how the huge jars, carved from non-indigenous limestone, had been transported to the plains - or why so many remained, despite centuries of war. Another mystery surrounds the artifacts Colani found at the site, for they have all since vanished...In northern India and Southern Indonesia there are reported to be similar types of jars.The jars themselves, weighing over three tons each, are carved out of both limestone and sandstone. Some are as tall as two meters and are over a meter in diameter.
An expansion on the funeral theory is that the jars were used as fermentation vessels for the bodies of the deceased. Upon passing on to the spirit world, the body was placed into a jar and left to rot until only the skeleton remained. The accompanying stench of this process might explain why the jars are located on hill tops as compared to the valleys where the villages were. The skeletal remains were then supposed to have been cremated and buried ceremoniously at an offsite location. These mortuary practices of both cremation and secondary burial suggest the sophistication of thought and belief of this ancient civilization. To further this theory, at site 1 there is a cave is located nearby, with carved out chimneys to create a draft for kilns where human bones and ash have been discovered.
Another completely different theory has recently been proposed under which the jars were used for metallurgy rather than fu real practices--who knows?
We went with our private tour guide Iko, who is from the Hmong tribe, and saw jar sites I, 2, and 3, as well as the old town of Muang Khoun, where we saw two old stupas that had been pillaged by Chinese bandits, a French hospital in ruins, and the local Buddhist temple destroyed by American bombs. This province's location along the border with Viet Nam and the Ho Chi Minh Trail supply line to the south for the Communist forces condemned it to being bombed with more tons of ordnance than any other country in history. The Vietnam War is still a real factor here, with unexploded bombs throughout the countryside, and bomb craters next to ancient stone jars, in some areas the craters now being filled with water and used as fish farms. The people do not seem to hold this against us as Americans, and are quite friendly. A major element of the population are Hmong tribesmen, who mostly fought against the North Vietnamese as a "secret army" of 30,000 supported by the CIA. Many Hmong were given asylum in California and Minnesota after the war, and our guide said that some of the men return to Laos in their old age to buy a young bride "very cheap" - about $2,000. Some older Hmong ladies return to Lao to find a young husband, which provides the man with a chance to go to the US, and financial security, but at the cost of a broken heart, says Iko.
We finished our tour at 4:30pm, had a nice dinner with wine at Bamboozled ($19) which is run by a Scot married to a Lao lady, and retired to read our novels in bed.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Tuesday March 20, 2012 Luang Prabang, Laos
Tuesday March 20, 2012 Luang Prabang, Laos
Today we were up early with the plan of being at the National Museum, which is in the old royal palace, by opening time of 8am. We were there on time but unfortunately it is closed on Tuesday. Misinformation in our guide book, but we have walked past this building so many times you would think we would have confirmed the days open. We continued on with our plan to take the tuk,-tuk out to the Living Craft Center for Leslie to learn something about the back strap loom and to have lunch out there. The restaurant there has decent food and you have a lovely view of the Mekong River, so it was an enjoyable time. Good thing David has a book he can't seem to put down.
After returning to town we browsed in a second hand book store, which you can exchange books and pay $2.50 which goes towards books for the children's library adjoined to the book center - this looked like it was in a old converted church. Late afternoon and evening was spent collecting laundry, exchanging David's book and getting packed up to be ready to travel to Phonsavan by minibus tomorrow. Dinner was at Rosella Fusion again and we had a crepe with coconut icecream for the lady on the main street and wrote postcards.
One thing we did not do here that we would have enjoyed is renting a bicycle to go around the historic town and out to some of the close by outlying areas. The bicycles are available all over town and our Villa Somphong has some for rent as well. They usually all have baskets and locks but only a few places seem to rent with a helmet.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Monday March 19, 2012 Luang Prabang, Laos
Monday March 19, 2012 Luang Prabang, Laos
It has been a very lazy day today as neither of us felt on top of things today. The morning we spent catching up on emails, posting reviews on Trip Advisor, doing laundry etc. lunch was at Art Cafe which was recommended but we did not think it was really noteworthy. We had a foot and shoulder massage and then browsed in the shops. We were disappointed in the lack of knowledge of several different sales people when we asked about the tribal jewelry. We thought they should be able to tell us at least from which tribe. Maybe the more sophisticated sales people are working later in the afternoon and evening when there are more potential customers about. We had fresh tarts and tea at a cute cafe which was fun as they also had excellent coffee table books on Lao that you could browse.
In the late afternoon we walked across the historic temple district and looked in several temples (wat hopping) and read the appropriate descriptions in the guide book. I tried to book a back loom weaving class (portable loom) but it did not work out; however we had agreed to meet Mon, from the Katu tribe which uses the back loom at the Center tomorrow morning. Dinner was at the Blue Lagoon which was again excellent.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Sunday March 17, 2012 Luang Prabang, Laos
Sunday March 17, 2012 Luang Prabang, Laos
Every morning in much of Southeast Asia monks can be seen out on the roads collecting alms. This is an ancient, religious tradition and those who give alms earn merit for their next life. In Luang Prabang the alms gathering ceremony is simply spectacular because it involves almost 30 monasteries and several hundred monks. The alms ceremony is an early morning event with people starting to gather along the main road (Sisavangvong) around 6:00 am. At that time it's still dark and the only light is coming from a couple of shops selling coffee and a string of white lights wrapped around a tree. A handful of street vendors wander around trying to sell small, round bundles of sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves. Another has a big pot of sticky rice and she just scoops it out and sells it as is. As you can see from the photo of the Alms giving instructions, we were not encouraged to buy rice from these street vendors. We noticed a long group of about 80 places being set out with a kneeling mat, a larger bamboo rice container and a sash. We photograph this setup and then all these mini vans start arriving and we were discouraged with the number of people getting out. Then we recognized them as our Thai tour boat friends so we chatted and learned that it is more respectful to donate your food with a sash on and that is why they have been provided for the group, and the mats make it more comfortable to kneel while putting your rice into the monks bowls. When your offerings are finished you get out of the line. There are a couple of obviously needy people (non-monks) seated by the sidewalk, each with an empty straw basket, and we notice monks passing some of their alms on to them.
As the sun starts to rise a long single line of men and boys in saffron-colored robes make their way down the sidewalk from another temple. They stand and wait as the monks from Wat Sop Sickharam go ahead of them in the alms line. Their feet are bare and each is carrying a bowl. The oldest monk from each monastery leads his line with the youngest at the end, but the lines are so tight that it is difficult to tell when one monastery ends and the next begins.
We were back having another excellent breakfast overlooking the river by 7am. We then headed off to the small but excellent Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre where the exhibits explore the unique cultural aspects of four of Laos' most well known ethnic minority groups: Akha, Hmong, Kmhmu and Tai Dam. There is currently a special exhibition on the Wedding Celebrations of the Hmong, Tai Phuan and Mien. Our friend Victoria (tribalmusicasia.com) has loaned a Yao Mien horn to the Centre for this exhibition. We bought some Lenten cotton at the gift store and had a coffee and lemon tart at the cafe there. After browsing in the Dara market we had lunch at the Scandinavian Bakery. David went back to Villa Somphong to rest and read his book and Leslie went to Ock Pop Tok's Living Craft Center to enjoy her Hmong batik class.
This was a one on one class with an interpreter working on preparing bamboo sticks while not needed to translate the Blue Hmong teacher's directions. The cloth used by the Hmong is hemp and the motifs come from nature, such as snail shell, rice and pumpkin seeds. Beeswax is melted in a pot together with indigo paste which gives a color to the wax so it can be seen on the hemp. Bamboo pens with metal nibs are used for drawing the wax onto the hemp. Holding the pen feels strange because the drawing nib for all the lines is at your wrist! For the central motif the teacher used a different bamboo pen and held it more like a normal pen but she scored the hemp for the curved lines first. The wax marks will resist the dye when the cloth is dipped in the indigo pot and left to dry. To achieve dark shades of blue a cloth must be dyed more than 20 times over a period of two weeks. When the cloth is in the sun drying, care must be taken that the was doesn't melt. After the last dye bath has been completed, the cloth is boiled to remove the wax. The batik process is finished and bold designs in white are set against shades of blue indigo. Leslie was 4 hours working on her 18 inches of cloth.... She bought 6 meters at the night market for 290,000 kipp ($28) for a purpose still to be determined.
Dinner was at a local Laos bar-b-q, for which this shared cooking is known in Laos as Sin Dat, on the Khang river across from the Apsara hotel. It was excellent and has always been full of locals and tourists when we have walked by on previous evenings. We had Sin Dat with chicken, pork and beef. The meat is first grilled on a directly heated griddle from hot coals in a clay pot. Any juices are caught by the surrounding annulus to which has been added a simple stock. The bar-b-q sauce that you get separately in a little bowl is made from a fermented product of glutinous rice with chili and mixed with fermented soy bean sauce.
You get a plastic tray holding: a bundle of cellophane noodles; mushrooms and funghi; selection of green leafy vegetables; a few raw eggs; tofu skin; tomato sections; green onions. You place a piece of lard on the top of the griddle. You may rub the entire griddle surface with the lard and then return it to the top.The fats will slowly drizzle down the griddle and maintain the greased surface. You crack the eggs into the stock, and place some mushrooms and other veggies in the broth around the ring.
Gently submerge the contents with a chopstick or fork. It was a very a fine shared eating experience but the coals did make you warm!
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Saturday March 16, 2012 Luang Prabang, Laos
We had a wonderful omelet with tomatoes and herbs, baguette, fresh orange juice, fruit salad and wonderful coffee on the hotel breakfast area over looking the Khan river. While at breakfast we used the iPad to look up reviews of restaurants in the city as Laos is known to have interesting food. We learned that last nights Rosella Fusion is ranked number 8 on trip advisor. We switched rooms to one closer to the wireless so that we can receive a signal in our room and then headed out on the Lonely Planet walking tour.
The first stop was Big Brother Mouse, a publishing house and book store for Laos children's books. Few children's books are published in Lao language, so BBM is trying to make literacy fun and at the same time is giving writing, editing, drawing experience to elementary to high school students and recent college graduates. We bought 17 books to take with us for the hill tribe Schools in the north around Muang Sing and Phongsali and gave a donation for books that will be going with one of the staff to her hometown in Luang Nam Tha, again in the northern hill tribe area. We then proceeded down the road browsing in the shop stores and studying the cafes. Leslie signed up for Hmong Batik class tomorrow afternoon at Ock Pop Tok's Living Crafts Center. Ock Pop Tok has as part of its philosophy to empower women through their traditional skills, and has created various weaving projects in Laos. Their shops have lovely unique items. We kept on going down the street and as the heat picked up to 94F we decided that we had missed the walking tour route. So we stopped for lunch at the Blue Lagoon restaurant, which is rated number one on TripAdvisor. We had an excellent cold fresh papaya soup, and a sampler of the Lao specialties of chicken Lara, fish mok, and lam beef. The fresh warm baguette and herb butter were delicious too! Cost was $34 for the two of us.
We took care of a travel administrative chore and booked 2 seats on a mini van to go to Phonsavan on the 21st. Cost was $33for two. The trip should take 7 hours including a lunch break. After a nap as it was not worth sightseeing in the heat, we went to exchange David's book at a book exchange we saw earlier. The night market starts at 5 pm so we cruised through that. By comparison with Chiang Mai's Sunday street market, this was very small and extremely quiet and low-key. Some interesting items that we will go back and check out in more detail tomorrow.
Dinner was at the highly rated Tamarind restaurant. We ate the lemongrass stuffed chicken, a 5 sampler plate, and pumpkin ginger soup which was very good. Our lunch though was better in terms of the food; the price almost double but we did get that unbelievable bread and butter! We then walked to the main street and stopped at a wine bar and had a glass of French wine before having a lemon and sugar crepe from a street vendor.
We really did enjoy the food of Luang Prabang today! Tomorrow we are out the door early, before 6 am to catch the monks starting their alms procession.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Friday, March 16, 2012 Cruising down the Mekong River to Luang Prabang
Friday, March 16, 2012 Cruising down the Mekong River to Luang Prabang
We were up and checking out of the hotel by 6am and got a reduction in price as the packed breakfast had not materialized. We walked swiftly to the travel agent for our transfer to the boat.... Took several phone calls to the agent now in China to get ourselves squared away, what with no transport to the boat, being put on the"wrong boat", shifted to another boat, and then moved back to the same boat we had originally boarded. For someone from the town to have gone to China is not unusual as this town has a long history of being the disembarkation point for Yuanese caravans led by Chinese Muslims on their way to Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai.
The Thai tourist group that had chartered two boats, amongst which we had been shuffled,arrived at 7:15 and we were off by 7:30 am. The boat is about 34 meters long and is carrying about 45 people. We have our own little booth at the back near the dining/card playing area and bar. There are two western bathrooms on board. The breakfast buffet consisted of rice soup, pickled eggs, baguettes and a fried dough item along with coffee and tea. Lunch was served at noon with rice, noodles, chicken green curry, sweet pork, stir fried vegetables and tofu and son tam salad. Only the salad was too spicy for us to eat.
The Thai group is celebrating their 40th college reunion so interesting to observe - a much different experience than a younger back packing group. The card games going on at the front and the back of the boat are for 20 baht a hand of Pok Peng. From what I determined only totals of 4 to 9 are worth holding. Face cards count as zero. That is all I have determined of this game that went on for the entire almost 13 hour trip. The other activity on board was karaoke and dancing.... A DVD of the Thai equivalent of dancing with the stars was played while members of the group sang and danced. Beer Lao was consumed by the men but not really the women but they were enjoying the cards and TV entertainment. We spent most of our time reading a novel or the Lonely Planet guide book and getting a list of things to do, see, and places to eat in Luang Prabang.
Initially the river was the border between Thailand and Laos and it was obvious looking at the two river banks that Thailand's was more developed and Laos was largely undeveloped almost all the way to Luang Prabang. There was a bridged being funded primarily be the Chinese across the river to link Thailand and Laos. Then the river turned inland and Laos was on both sides of the border with no development really along the whole river except for a couple of ferries that serviced graded roads.
So while not absorbed observing the goings on onboard we studied the Mekong river banks and the flow of the river. The level of water in the river is getting almost too low for this trip as the hot dry season is coming up. Thus you see larger boulders, more sand banks, ripples and little rapids for the boat to navigated through. The engine is a turbo which allows this "slow boat" to do this trip in one day versus the usual 2 days with the required overnight in Pak Beng. The diesel engine is the same that is used in a 10 wheel truck.
The Mekong river near Huay Xai is known for the endangered giant Mekong catfish which with 12 years of growth will measure 2 to 3 meters in length and weigh up to 300 kg. we saw various methods of fishing along the banks either with throw nets, or nets stretched over a narrow pass with the use of bamboo poles. We saw cultivating of peanuts along the sandy shores that appear when the river water has receded, water buffaloes, including an inordinate number of pink (albino ones), and women and children panning for gold. They seem to be using a wooden pan and can earn 500 - 600 baht a day with the current price of gold. It must be very lucrative as you saw large numbers of women by the Lao Loom villages involved in this activity. We also saw groves of teak trees higher up on the banks.
The river has been quite narrow the whole trip and it is easy to see both side of the banks clearly. While we started with morning midst that lasted till almost 10:30, and a brisk breeze that made us think we should have brought a wind jacket by the time it was noon, we we had removed our long sleeve shirts and just had a t-shirt on later in the afternoon. The whole trip we had a wonderful fresh breeze, towards sunset, you could start to smell the smoke and see the the smoke and fires going that are such a part of the slash and burn agriculture that is practiced in this area.
The last 2 hours on the river were lovely as the light was so nice. We arrived at the riverbank dock, climbed up to the road, and took a song taw to our hotel for $3--it turned out close enough we almost could have walked.
We are staying at the Villa Somphong in the historic temple district. While our room is new, clean and with a balcony and view there is no Internet service in the room so we will see about changing tomorrow as we are here until the 21st. We had a lovely Lao meal at Rosella Fusion overlooking the Nam River for all of $16 including wine and dessert.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
March 15th, 2012 Huay Xai, Laos
We were up and over at the Viengneua Tour Co., as this seems to be the successor agent to the previously known Phoudoi Travel company by 8am having already breakfasted by then. The small one street town along the river was bustling with activity and various vehicles driving on the right. The air was clean, fresh and cool after the rain storm we had during much of the night. Fresh baguettes were being used to make sandwiches for those traveling on the slow boats.
At the travel agency, Lan, the owner said his company did not offer those day trips anymore and that he was off to China momentarily (4 hours by private van) and could not help us. We mentioned also the one day slow boat trip to Luang Prabang was of interest to us. Many people have told us 2 days on the river on hard seats with only a basic bathroom is too long. Lan remembered there is a private Thai tourist group going tomorrow on a special boat, so he sold us tickets for that journey for 8,000 baht and a start time at their offices at 6:15am. Expected arrival in LP is 6pm.
We managed to also work out a guide, driver and van for "the day- 9am to 4pm" at a price of 2,500 baht. We went first to the new market to drop off a tv set at his mother's store in the new market. The market location is being switched with the bus station which is a good thing as for all the tourists it is 7 kilometers from the immigration office to the bus depot. We continued on the road and stopped at a Green Hmong village. The school was in full swing, ladies sewing while they minded children, with pigs, dogs and children in abundance. The Loa language is very similar to Thai so we can communicate a bit with the people we meet. They also like to watch Thai movies and people pay to watch a show at someone's house in the village, like we pay to go to the movies.
We then drove on to Lao Huay (Lenten) village of Ban Nam Sang. Lao Huay means "Stream lao" because this tribe chooses to live near permanent rivers.The Lenten emigrated from China in search of stability and new mountain rice fields. Legend holds that the Lanten were separated from their older brothers, the Mien, during the flight and made their way alone from China's Hainan Island through Northern Vietnam, settling here in the 19th century. We saw many women spinning cotton, working their looms, woven cotton hung to dry before dying.
We met the village headman at the school and enjoyed seeing a very well established and busy school in session. We gave a small donation for the school and Somsy the headman was very pleased. He offers trekking trips to other hill tribe villages in the area that can not be reached by car.
The Lenten's in this village are animists and each house has a special place for the spirits. The masks represent ancestors.
As you can see from the pictures, the Lenten wear distinctive black indigo-dyed cotton clothing with pink trim and silver jewelry. With their immigration from China they brought their cultural practices and beliefs based on a mix of Taoism, ancestor and spirit worship. The Lenten produce high quality cotton cloth, wooden ceremonial masks and durable bamboo paper. Like the closely related Yao, they have a well developed writing system based on ancient Chinese characters. Men record religious texts, rituals and legends on bamboo paper that is produced by Lenten women. Purchases today only included paper from this lovely woman who thinks she is close to 100 years old.
We drove back to Huay Xai for a quick look at the local market followed by lunch at a local noodle shop. We would have never picked to eat there or known what to order if the guide had not taken care of that for us. We had noodles with pork and it was very tasty and couldn't beat the price at about a dollar each. With that the tour was finished so we were taken back to the Riverside Hotel. At the hotel we did laundry, had a nap and when the heat dyed down we went out to check out life in the town and along the Mekong River. Dinner was at Mueang Nueau, though located on the road, there was a dining area that was by the river, and they served Italian food as well as Laos food. Laos food is spicy like Thai but not as sweet. We tried to confirm our boat trip for tomorrow and were frustrated because no one there was aware that we would be showing up tomorrow at 6:15am for this "special deal" on a private boat chartered by a Thai tourist group for a one day cruise to LP. In the end we had them call Lan in China to reconfirm the deal. We understand our boat has a bathroom and that lunch wilL be served on board.
We hope we will be returning to Huay Xai again in October when we plan to visit northern Laos hill tribes, cross into China and also continue into Vietnam.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
March 14th, 2012 Chiang Mai to Huay Xai, Laos
March 14th, 2012 Chiang Mai to Huay Xai, Laos
We have packed the lightest we have been in awhile and have only between us one backpack, one day pack and a waist pack which can be expanded to another day pack, plus the canon camera. The packing list is similar to the Camino List but we have an iPad, smaller camera, blackberry, Thai cell phone,iPod and all the accompanying chargers. Our tickets for the air conditioned minivan cost $24 for the 2 of us. We had booked these tickets 4 days in advance and had tried to reserve the front seats. Our pick up time at the Galae Thong was to be 9:30am. No bus had arrived by 9:45am so we called the travel agent and they called back to say the bus was running late. They could assure us of the front seats by picking us up first so we opted for that. We were picked up a little after 10am and then spent the next hour driving around in various areas of the old city that we were not familiar with picking up fellow passengers at various guest houses. They were back packers and we were definitely the older flash packer with lighter loads, dressed more conservatively and older in age by at least 30 years. Interesting to just sit quietly in the bus and listen in on the dialogue...everyone gets taken for a ride by the Bangkok Tuk-Tuk drivers and it is funny to hear the tales as long as you are not the one having the experience. We already had that experience in 2010.
The road is curvy so I had applied the little white eucalyptus patch that is a herbal remedy the Thais use for motion sickness and migraines. For motion sickness you cover your belly button. It seems to work for me so i now carry it with me for the windy roads. We stopped for a 30 minute lunch break and there was a choice of Phad Thai or fried rice. We made a 20 minute stop at the White Temple near Chiang Rai. We had seen the temple a few weeks ago with our friends the Gilligan's when we had done a hill tribe tour.
We finally arrived in Chang Kong after 4pm and unloaded the passengers that were overnighting on the Thai side of the river and crossing the Mekong in the morning to catch the boats or to travel onwards. By 4:30 we were flying across the river in a long tail boat which was much quicker than the very slow visa processing at the Laos border. A thunder storm ensued while we were waiting and we had to look for accommodations in the pouring rain but we did have umbrellas. We were able to get the room and the hotel we wanted - the best in town with AC, hot water showers, and WiFi in the lobby. We chose the room above the lobby so we actually have WiFi in the room.....including breakfast the price is $24. We walked through the small village and tried to book the tour to see the Hill tribes in the area tomorrow but were not successful. We will get up early tomorrow to try and get that arranged. We are wondering if there're is a disconnect between the guide book Lonely Planet Laos 6th edition and reality. After a nice dinner at the Riverside Restaurant we went again walking through the town to enquiry after the tour company written up in the guide book. Seems there has been a name change and the lady there did not know anything about the local tours written up so she advised us to come back tomorrow morning at 8am when they open. We will try and be there then as the slow boats for Luang Prabang leave at 11am and if we can not get a guide to take us to some of the Hill Tribe villages we might as well start down the river. The rain started up again and has really dropped the temperature and hopefully will be clearing all the smoke in the air!
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