The big relax

So, in Laos at last.

Lauren and I have spent the past three days on a hardcore traveling extravaganza starting from a frantic dash around our guest house in Chang Mai three (or maybe even four) days ago.

Come with me now back through time, back, back, past yesterday, past the day before, past maybe even the day before that, I’m in Chang Mai again, sitting on my bed, feeling terrible (its the day after the had to happen eventually post.) Our minibus to the Laos border wil be here in an hour and Lauren has popped out to get some breakfast. I feel absolutely awful, I’ve already been sick more than once. Last night was a blast, we met up with Mark Teris, a former college of mine who we had no idea was going to be in Chang Mai but thanks to facebook he discovered our whereabouts, and his friend Milla.

A knock on the door startles me and I get up to answer, its our guest house owner telling me that the bus to the border is here waiting. I curse and get mine and Lauren’s bags together,holding in the sick. The driver is incredibly inpatient, in a most un-Thai way, and he starts bollocking me. Lauren is still getting breakfast so I explain to the driver, through bouts of excruciating pain in my abdomen, that he has to wait, he agrees to come back in 20 mins to pick us up.

Five hours later and we arrive at the border, I’ve nearly been sick countless times, and my agony is now even more real. As soon as I find out what room we are in I crash out in a jumbled heap while Lauren, bless her, mops my brow. I fall asleep.

In the meantime Lauren has managed to meet someone who seems quite cool, Syliva (dutch) who has been travelling for the past 5 months. When I wake I go to the bar to find her and Lauren having a good time together, so I leave them to it and head back to bed.

In the morning I wake and feel considerably better. Now comes the hardest part of travelling so far, the slow boat to Laung Prabang. (spelling!) After much faffing about at the border in which our passports were out of our possession at least three times, we get our visa’s certified and we are able to leave. This still means plenty of sitting around waiting for the boat to move. We arrive late and the proper seats are all taken so Lauren, me and a few other stragglers sit down at the front where there aren’t any seats and use the sides of the boat to rest our back against. It would turn out that for the second leg tomorrow, our seats would be amongst the most envied on the boat.

We were sitting in a group with Sylvia, the dutch girl from the previous night, Adam and Andrew, two geordi lads who had been traveling all around Europe and were now in SE Asia until their money dries up and Giddeon and his friend two all-American frat boys. So, all set, we began our travel down the worlds 12th largest river, the Mekhong. The trip was alright, I was feeling much better and the group was getting on well. We were all relaxed in some of the most beautiful (if slightly same-same) scenery I’ve ever seen. On either side of the river, hills and jungle exploded in glorious colour. The first leg took 6-7 hours.

We then arrived at our first stop, a small town on the Mekhong river. Within seconds of the boat stopping, some gangster types had made themselves known, offering ‘weed, coke, opium,’ while they were persistent, they didn’t seem to be too over aggressive and largely left Lauren and I alone. there’s something about being a clear two feet taller than any locals within 100 miles that helps one radiate authority, so we were largely unhassled. Some of the groups consisting of just 2 girls were hassled quite significantly by some over boisterous locals, but the girls just honed in on some westerners and it seemed to make the problem go away.

Then came the night. At eleven it was just Lauren, the two Geordie lads and me left awake, playing some cards when the power in the town was cut off. We knew it was coming and my hand darted immediately for the torch that the guesthouse keeper had supplied us with. In that moment before I touched the tourch though, I could not belive how dark it can be. There was not a single light anywhere. And overlooking us was the jungle. It left me feeling almost hollow when I couldn’t even see Lauren sitting next to meet at the table. We departed for bed almost immediately, after all what else was there to do when the curfew dictates lights-out at eleven? Of course, no electricity, thanks to the curfew ,meant no fan or AC. Meaning that I woke up in a puddle of my own sweat. Luckily Lauren was in the same boat, so she’s not allowed to not fancy me any more. Unfortunately, minutes before getting to sleep Lauren spotted a cockroach in our bathroom and this kept her up all night.

The second day brought another 8-9 hours on the boat, we found our spaces again in a different and slightly less comfortable boat. It was exceptionally hot. Upon arrival in Luang Prabang (and believe me I’m heavily editing hours upon hours of half-dozing, playing cards, and flicking through my ipod over and over,) Lauren was feeling pretty terrible (although I’m really glad to say that although she’s not 100% now she has perked up loads.) I think it might just be the change in weather/eating conditions/ easyness of life that has put Lauren and I so precariously balanced on the knife-edge of health and hopefully it should all settle down within the next week. So we happened to be shambling along, Lauren and I, the geordie boys and the American frat-boys,looking for a guesthouse. Lauren and I said form the start that we were willing to get a decent one in Luang Prabange because the boat journey would be so horrific. The others agreed. We ended up working out a pretty good deal for a really really good place to stay.Between us all we have taken up 3 rooms so we bartered the price down as much as we could. Lauren and I are paying $5 each for the room, or about five quid for luxury. We went for dinner tonight with Andrew and Adam and will no doubt hang out with them again. No idea where Syliva got to though, but the main area of Luang Prabang is only 1 street long, it’s a bit like Fobbing in that respect, (hopefully only that respect) so with any luck we will bump into her again. The town itself looks absolutely lovely and so laid back it’s horizontal, but I’ve waffled for more than long enough now and I’ll save that for another post.

Hope all are well.