Our journey so far continued...Laos.

December 2010

30th – Arrival in Huay Xai, Laos. Able to see Thailand from balcony of hotel and almost hit it with a stone’s throw. Unspectacular place produced pretty spectacular sunset over Mekong.

31st – Start of epic 2-day slow-boat journey down the mighty Mekong splitting 2 countries. A pretty unexciting stopover in Pak Beng on New Years Eve showed little promise until we found a group of locals setting off lanterns and were able to join in (see previous blog).

January 2011

1st – Second day of slow boat journey down Mekong Delta to Luang Prabang. ‘Laos to the left of me, Thailand to my right, here I am, stuck in the middle with you’, sang Helen, bored with her companion. Plenty of things to see and so many different scenes from children playing in the river and adults washing clothes, to rock formations and beautiful scenery. A rather dull-sounding experience for two long days was anything but. The “pearl of the orient” and a UNESCO protected peninsula, we arrived in the beautiful riverside town of Luang Prabang. We hired bikes and toured the place, did as the locals do and had a DIY BBQ as we watched a stunning sunset, and generally soaked up the atmosphere for a few days.

4^th – Bus to Vang Vieng for no other reason than to partake in ‘tubing’, where it is supposedly fun to hire tractor  tyre inner tubes and float down the Vang Vieng river. Having got there so late in the day and wanting to leave the next morning, we had a few hours to do the course before we received a fine for the late return of our tubes at 6pm. The river was cold late in the day as the sun went down but nevertheless a fun experience and one that would have been even more awesome if we’d had more time.

5^th – Bus to Vientiane, capital of Laos, where we spent Helen’s birthday. Did the usual sights that capitals have to offer like monuments, temples and an unfinished mock Arc de Triomphe that was described something like a stone eye-sore. We also splashed out on a nice room, meal and cake for Helen’s birthday.

8^th – Flight to Pakse and bus to Si Phan Don. Island time river style. This was a place to just lay back and soak up the atmosphere. Hired bikes and explored the islands, avoiding chickens, Buffalo and cows, and went on boat trip to see the rare Irrawaddy dolphins, of which we saw several, although the photographic evidence is unlikely to make the cut for the next series of Planet Earth.

11^th – Bus back to Pakse and border crossing back into Thailand for overnight stopover in Ubon Ratchathani before flying back to Bangkok for another flight, bus and boat journey to the islands in the south. Traditional dancers personally greeted us on arrival at Ubon airport to send us off. At least that’s what we convinced ourselves. Highly unlikely that they were actually there for the arrival of very important Chinese businessmen. No, of course not.