GT RIDERZ & The Mekong
From Chiang Rai we rode motorcycles about 70km up to the Golden Triangle. GT is where Thailand, Burma (Myanmar), and Laos all meet. We were gonna take the highway, but at breakfast the lady there told us another way to go and we ended up riding regular roads through some really cool areas. People just looked at us and waved, we saw some really cool stuff. Pockets of houses and stands then farms then mountains. So we come around a corner and we are making a right onto a road called 1018 (i think), and all of a sudden in the sky there is this monstrous Buddha statue. It was f’ing huge, right out in the middle of nowhere. It was set on top of a staircase that must have been 2 to 3 hundred feet up, then the Buddha on top must have been about 50 feet tall. I have no idea what the place was called, but it was full of monks all dressed up in orange. We rode in and were the only people besides monks there. They just looked at us pretty much and didnt say anything. We took a few pictures and left. I keep saying ‘we’. I’m travelling with a girl I met on the plane from Tokyo to Bangkok. She left Bangkok about 5 days sooner than me , but we met up again in the North and have been traveling together. Definitly just friends, which is cool. Its good having a travelling companion especially since I have zero sense of direction. Oh and its real cheap up here. About $1 a beer and $1-4 for a room.
After Chiang Rai I headed across the Laos border. $30 Us to get into Laos for 15 days. I totally forgot that Laos is a communist counry until I saw the Hammer and Sickle flags flyin. Crazy shit.
So from the Laos border town we got on a slowboat and headed down the Mekong river. 6 hr ride the one day, then a stopover in a small village, then another 6 hours the next day. The slow boat isn’t all that bad. You do get tired of sitting on the wooden seats, but luckily we had a pad for day 2. Got some reading done ( George Orwell, 1984) and the ipod was definitly clutch. Rocking some Led Zep floating down the Mekong. Felt like I was in Full Metal Jacket or something. The Mekong is pretty sweet, but I definitly would not want to be driving a Swift Boat down that river into hostile territory. Fuck that. Anyway the slow boat is better than the fast boat , which rockets down the whole way in about 6 hours , but you are clutching your helmet to your head and hoping you dont die as you whiz by debris in the river..
So, now I am in Luang Prabang, Laos. Travelling with Becky from Canada, John from New Zealand, and Christie from New Zealand. Going to take it easy here for a couple of days , then head to the capital of Laos, Vientiane. After that, its finally onto the beaches of Southern Thailand. Tical.
Pace.
Ooh and btw, I am officially a MILLIONAIRE. but only because Lao money is ridiculous and you get heaps of notes when you exchange cash.
J
December 6th, 2005 at 5:00 am
thank goodness you have people with you who have a sense of direction…. we all know how well you navigate your own home town.