Part 2 – Valentine’s Day on the Mekong
Alright….so we arrived after quite a first day’s journey in he midpoint city of Pakbeng, Laos. This is the city where we had arranged our lodging with the guy sitting at the desk and we were happy as others with us hadn’t done so. What an entrance!! This town is sustained completely from being the midpoint city on this tourist route. We arrived a good 300 feet below the city and put on our packs and trekked with the others straight up a sand-covered hill. Pakbeng consists of one road, much like Chiang Khong yet the road is 1/8th the size. After getting bombarded by touts (albeit in SE Asia they are very nice) and offers for opium and marijuana we made it to our guesthouse. Ahh….our previously-booked, Lonely Planet-recommended, simple, yet romantic Valentine’s Day getaway……(record scratching) err….wait! Expectations again misguided. The owners were extremely nice and insisted this was “the nicest room in town” (for $5), we appreciate landlords with a sense of humor. Hey….well at least they threw in a few amenties (bug net, and loofah)!!
What can we say at this point the laughing took over and we headed out for some Indian food….we know Indian food in Lao?? Well, it was fabulous. If you ever get the chance to stop over in Pakbeng for the night (let the laughing begin) please take our recommendation and visit Hilur (from Madras) at the best Indian restaurant in town, Salam. Becca headed to bed early (she’s the smart one) and Jeff sat around with Hilur and Andrew, an English travelling companion and closed down the evening with quite a few Beer Lao. UH-OH…..
Woke up in the mornin’ completely rested and extremely ready to experience the 2nd half of our adventure…..or at least Becca did. Jeff proceeded to incur his first Beer Lao hangover which caused him to incur his first head-injury after WHACKING his head on the 5 foot, cement doorframe. UGHHHH!!! Not the way you wanna be feeling when you get on a boat. Well at least today we were going to try the benches instead of the back. It was actually a welcomed change. The scenery was better, the smoking lesser, and we actually got our own seats opposed to being in the back when the locals brought on the dead animals they were going to cook for lunch. The ride felt just as long but good conversations, quite a bit of reading, and all-around better scenery made for what felt like a shorter trip. If only we had those seat cushions.
The entrance into the Luang Prabang area was fantastic. Temples built into riverside caves, breathtaking limestone mountain ranges, and finally, LAND! Yippee! We couldn’t be happier to have arrived in the old, provincial Lao capital at sunset.
Tags: Luang Prabang, Mekong, Travel
Jeff and Becca
Wow, what an adventure. Not sure I would call it the garden spot. Could you see those boats trying to get certified for passenger traffic in the States???
How has the language barrier been? Are there english speaking people? looks like the boat ride had a lot of tourists, true?
It has been cold-cold here, just like Chicago.
The Huskies are back in the fight, beat UCLA, USC, Oregon….Gonzaga still going strong, however having to expend a lot of energy to beat thier league teams. March madness is close…Duke is peaking, UConn, and several others, should be a good tournament.
take care of yourselves’
I can’t get over the complimentary loofah…that is the best! Love the little “real life” touches that you are including in the pictures….the “smoker hell” was a classic. Thanks for the fabulous commentary, you are a very good writer, Jeffrey. Maybe you can come do a “travel journal lesson” during writing workshop in Mrs. Jaross’ class when you return!
Talk to you soon…
Love the loofah, miss you two. Great pictures!!! Sorry about the smokers, and the lack of previous comments. Take care & happy trails!
I laughed out loud at the photo of the loofah. At least they want all of their guests to be clean and exfoliated.
So funny!
Enjoying the blog… safe travels!
You should try and make it back to Hong Kong and tell Hemrajani he owes you dinner (maybe a nice hotel room as well) for all of the tailoring referrals you’ve made. Andrew and I actually bumped into each other at the My Tailor suite when Hemrajani meandered through Chicago a couple days ago. If you see him around Asia, ask him to hurry up with the new duds.
We have loofah like that in the United States…looks like Laos and Texas are pretty much the same.
Looks like you guys are having a blast! Stay strong, stay (or get) healthy.
Rock Steady…..classic comment. You know how we all love any derogatory comments relating to Texas. Are people going crazy about Nate Dogg’s slam dunk win?
The dunk over Spud Webb was insane. Vinsanity said that Nate was going to shock the world, and it appears that he at least shocked an italian american travelling around Laos.
So I was thinking of the two of you the other night while watching the Olympics. Not that you are sitting around watching TV, but I was wondering if there is much interest in the games over in Asia. They have many athletes from China, Korea, and Japan competing. I remember being in France and England for the World Cup and it was a whole different experience…Sounds like you are enjoying life abroad, Jeff we don’t care how many pounds you gain… Eat, drink, and be merry! And Jeff if you are looking for Political discussion consider wearing a sandwich board advertising Ports for Sale….Miss you both