Luang Prabang – Day 28
Got up at 7:00 this morning, it was actually quite easy since I’ve been getting up with the sun for the past few days. Went downstairs for breakfast and found everyone else from the Gibbon Experience there. Ordered breakfast and then rushed off to try and buy some tampons. It was to no avail, turns out tampons are hard to come by in Laos, but this is also a very small border town and I’m sure that I can get them in Luang Prabang. I was really worried about what I’d do without any for the day but the Belgium girls gave me a couple of hers which was a lifesaver.
Eating breakfast I met a gorgeous Greek couple who I was to spend that day with on the speed boat, they were great and did make for a fun trip. The car that was supposed to pick us up at 8:30 finally arrived at 9:30 and then left at 10:00, I’m getting used to Laos time, everything just runs an hour or so behind schedule. The speed boat station was literally a floating shack at the bottom of an incredibly steep dusty hill. There were about a dozen young Laos guys walking up and down the stairs with huge rocks on their shoulders to lay next to the path at the bottom. To what purpose, I have no idea, but the stairs were bad enough to walk down with a backpack let alone a boulder on either shoulder. I bought a packet of Pringles and a bottle of water to get me through the 6 hour ride.
When the lonely planet author had said that “life jackets and crash helmets should be provided” I assumed it was a joke alluding to the possibly hair-raising journey. Much to my surprise I was immediately issued with a life jacket and helmet which did not invoke a lot of confidence in the ride ahead. The boat was a slim, long tailed boat like those in Thailand and was no more than 80cm wide with four seats. Of course in Southeast Asia, this means that you can fit at least 8 people in, along with all their crap. They can pack any form of transport with absolute precision to within an inch of its life. We all squished in, each in a very tight crouched position against the wonderful wooden backrests that stop at the perfect height on the spine to leave you in agony from the first moment.
I’ll admit that the speed boats are correctly named, the engine roars constantly and we picked up to a very serious speed, very quickly. The wind on my face as we shot down the Mekong was almost unbearable and I could barely keep my book open. The river was beautiful, the scenery is amazing here, it is still rather weird to think that Laos was on my left and Thailand on my right. The further down the Mekong we sped the more the scenery changed. Initially the river banks were low and there were sandy shores on either side with low, flat paddocks beyond, however, this gradually changes to views of the mountain ranges and cliff faces hidden behind dense jungle. There were also small rocky islands all through the water and our driver had clearly motored down the river before, because he knew exactly where to swerve just in time to miss the rocks. I really enjoyed the view; Laos is without a doubt one of the most beautiful countries I’ve ever seen in my life.
The river banks and any sandy shores were the host to numerous locals who use the river to bathe, wash their clothes, rinse the rice and pan for gold. The latter came as a bit of a surprise, but it reminded me of something the American geologist had said in the jungle about gold in the Mekong. There were also young children playing soccer on the sand banks and messing around in the water. Any shores not occupied by Laos people, were so by any number of water buffalo herds laying in the water and on the banks of the river.
The river itself was full of whirlpools and even at the speeds we were moving you could feel them pull the boat as we crossed them. There was also an extremely strong current, thankfully we were heading downstream, I think it would have taken about twice as long to make the same trip upstream. We pulled into the occasional boat stations [floating bamboo shacks] at regular intervals along the river to let people in and out. Later on, many of the stops were made at secluded beaches beyond which you could just make out a remote village. After 3 hours, I was pretty certain that I was paralysed into my crouched position and pleasantly surprised to find that I could still move.
After lunch we managed to motor along for about 40 mins before the motor died. Our driver did everything he could to get it working again, he continually pulled on the started cord for about 10 mins and when that didn’t work he tried giving it numerous good whacks. Shockingly, this didn’t have the desired effect, nor did the following shaking of the engine. After this he seemed to be of the opinion he’d done all he could and so he took a seat and we floated down the Mekong for the next hour and a half until we came across a river side hut. Here the driver chatted to a Laos man who lived there, and had a good laugh before the man disappeared and returned with some oil which they poured into the engine. It was obviously what the problem required because the engine started first time after that and we were finally on our way again.
Having now wasted a good chunk of time the sun was beginning to disappear behind the mountains which meant that things got incredibly cold. I was wearing a hoodie but with the sun gone, it was no longer warm enough and the wind chill was indescribable. Thankfully we dropped another person off and I could move a bit further to the back of the boat so that the people in front could act as a windbreak. The bright-side of the situation was that we had a completely unimpeded view of the sun setting over the Mekong which was stunning.
Finally arrived in Luang Prabang [also known as louangpabang or luang pabang since for sometime the letter ‘r’ was banned in Laos due to the King’s dislike of it] at about 6:00 and was greeted by a whopping great set of stairs, which to my great pleasure I had the opportunity to hike up with my pack. A young boy offered to carry my bag for US$1 but honestly my bag was the same size as him and I need the exercise anyway. At the top I shared a tuk tuk with the Greek couple into tow. The first thing I did in town was check my email and find out where Dee and Brendan were staying and then I took a tuk tuk to meet them. At the guesthouse I walked into the room to find a strange guywho gave me a “um hi, who the hell are you” look. I thought I’d walked into the wrong room until I recogised Brendan. Turns out the strange guy is Joel and he’s from Canberra [I told him how sorry I was about that]. Brendan and Dee had adopted Joel the night before when they had overheard him begging the guesthouse owner to let him sleep on the floor since there was a serious shortage of rooms in the town. Dee had gone running out and told him they had a spare bed because I wasn’t arriving for a few days. He’ll stay again tonight, I felt bad kicking him out, so Dee and I will share a bed.
Everyone seemed to be in the mood to go out, I wasn’t feeling great, but decided to make the effort. I’d heard about a riverside restaurant where you have a stove in the middle of the table and a private BBQ and you cook your own veggies and meat. It was really a lot of fun.
I still wasn’t feeling well but we went out looking for a bar, a tuk tuk driver offered to take us to a laos disco which we opted to check out. It was great, a bit like a cheap bar in Sydney with a live band, we were the only westerners in the room. The dance floor was packed but in the 40 sec break between each song every single person would clear the dance floor and return to their seats, only to head back to the dance floor again 10 seconds later for the next song, it happened without fail. It was the most bizzarre thing I’ve seen. They also had a feew co-ordinated dances [similar to the nutbush] which Dee and I joined in on while a couple of Laos girls tried to teach us the steps. The disco ended at 11:30 and the others went looking for a new bar but I felt so ill I had to go home. Back at the guesthouse I promptly threw up, and then spent the next few hours in the bathroom.
Tags: Laos
Nic
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