Laos turned out to be one of our favorite countries in S.E. Asia. Mostly due to how friendly the people are there. It was also one of the most third world of all that we visited too.
We tried to take a bus from Chang Mai to the Laos border, but again there were no seats available for a few days. This is one of the challenges of no pre-planned itinerary, but we are ok with it. Bill was in a hurry, so we hired a driver to take us to the border. A bit more expensive, but a much nicer ride.
Once we were at the Thai-Laos Friendship bridge we checked out of Thailand bought a ticket for a bus ride across the bridge, then proceeded to go through the process of trying to check into Laos. Lucky for us, there were some young backpackers there who had a little information about the process. It took a bit of time so by the time we exchanged some money, got some more money out of an ATM, filled out all the paperwork and made it through immigration it was a little dark.
Next we had to get a taxi into town. A taxi here consists of a small pickup with a cage like structure in the back. I think we had eight people in the back. Some who were locals were standing outside the cage and holding on.
We got dropped off in town and followed the backpackers to a hostel. Unfortunately it was full. Or was it luckily, because we found a beautiful old hotel a few doors down with rooms available for the exorbitant price of $150000 kip, or about $7 US.
We were able to arrange for a boat ride the next day and we were all set. Now to find some vegan food to eat.
The next morning we started our two day journey along the Mekong to Luang Prubang. There were other ways to travel, but we thought this would be more exciting. And maybe it was. But it wasn’t that exciting.
There was a group of British backpackers who obviously thought this was a party boat based on the amount of alcohol they brough on board. The second day of the trip they were much quieter, and we eventually made it to Luang Prubang.
The next two nights we spent in the beautiful city of Luang Prubang.
And then off to the capital city of Veintiane.
Although we had planned two, we only stayed one night in Vientiane. It was busy and loud and we had heard this multi-day scooter trip through some outlying areas of Laos, and were excited about doing it.
They say the Thakhek loop takes three to five days. We took five. It was a fantastic side trip. A little scary at times on the little Honda scooter we were driving, but an amazing cultural experience.
Wow! That was an amazing side trip. In every small village we drove through, as soon as the kids could see that we were foreigners, they would smile and start waving and yelling “hello” or “sa-ba-de” Talk about making you feel good about yourself, or lifting your spirits. It was quite effective. And if we off the bikes, they would approach us to say “hello, where are you from?” They could say it so well you thought they must be able to speak English, but it didn’t take long to realize that was all the English they knew. 🙂 But I do believe they enjoyed the exchange almost as much as us.
We spent a couple nights in Pakse, before we headed off to Cambodia