After being rudely awoken by 2 small children running outside my room at 6.30am (no need!), I got myself to the border & managed to get myself through passport control. After waiting for 1hr 30mins, I was finally given my visa. No order whatsoever! Confused with a new currency (aprox 14,000kip to £1), I negotiated a tuk tuk to where the slow boat was leaving for Luang Prabang. Bought my ticket & found my seat. I was feeling pretty harassed & tired at this point as I was panicking I wouldn't get to the boat on time. Worry I need not.... this was Laos where the pace of life is just a little bit slower than everywhere else on this planet. The boat departed 30mins after the scheduled time. I was on my way!
The boat was fairly smooth & steady as we cruised along the Mekong River for about 6 hours. I got chatting to the girls sat behind me (Elisa from Brazil & Elke from Belgium), who were also travelling alone. We chatted, slept a bit, read & enjoyed the views over the chocolate brown river. Finally we arrived at our stop for the night; Pak Beng. Hassled a bit by the accommodation owner's as we disembarked the boat, we hopped on the back of a truck with a few others from the boat to see what was what for somewhere to stay. The room was fine, it was just a bed for the night as we had to be back on the boat the following day at 9am (I shared with the 2 girls). We all headed to the restaurant, conveniently located right next to the guesthouse, ordering food & our first Beer Laos. A good night was had getting to know each other & sharing stories of our trips so far. I headed to bed tired from my early start.
Next day we had breakfast at the guesthouse & got a lift down to the boat. A different boat this time, slightly smaller than the first. Unbeknown to us, everyone else had got there at 8am to get seats & were told the boat was leaving at 9am. Our accommodation owner had told us it left at 9.30am so we had a few dirty looks & it meant we were left with whatever seat we could find. I sat next to a local lady. The journey took about 8 hours this time & the scenery got better the further we went.
We arrived at 'Luang Prabang'. Biggest rip off ever! They no longer take you into the centre (even though the same river passes through it). Instead you are dropped off 10km away & the only way to get into the centre is by paying 20,000kip (£1.50) each for a tuk tuk! We tried to negotiate with them as by now, there were 9 of us in our group, but they wouldn't budge! What a scam! Anyway we arrived into the centre & met a lovely, friendly guy (who later turns out to be a complete psycho..... but more on that later), who took us to a guesthouse in a tuk tuk not too far away & cheap as chips. The room was clean & spacious, sharing again with Elke & Elisa. We found the night market & enjoyed the food there... a whole plate for 10,000kip (72p). This place was backpacker's heaven! We stopped for a beer in the way back to the guesthouse & headed to bed around midnight. More on Luang Prabang next!
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