Slow Boating To Luang Prabang

Wednesday, March 23rd (Chiang Khong)

After a full nights sleep we were up early to catch our mini bus (10 seater van) to Chiang Khong just on the Thailand side of the Thai/Laos northern border. We were able to get photocopies of our passport so we could cut the picture out and use it for our visa application… sketchy but it ended up working. I guess that’s all the travel agencies here do when they apply on your behalf… which was good to know and it saved us $30 each. I honestly don’t know how we arrived in one piece, our driver was going as fast as he could the entire time and he was passing going into traffic and they’d just move over to make a 2 lane road into a 3 lane road, seat belts were on tight as we white knuckled our way to Chiang Khong. We arrived pretty early in the day, which was nice, and our pre-booked guesthouse turned out to be nice. It was clearly not making any money off of the bookings as you had to pay for everything else and it was expensive. We ended up running into an older gentleman from Nanaimo who just retired so we shared travel horror stories and split a few last Chang before heading to bed. This may sound weak, but we’ve been in bed before 10 almost every night… but up at 7, defiantly using the new time zone to our advantage to make the most of our holiday. 


-Jason

In the land of 7/11's, Lisa gets her first slurpee. 

Thursday, March 22nd (Pak Beng)

So today our exotic trip on the slow boat begins. It wasn’t exactly what we had expected. We were told yesterday that if we gave our hotel our passport and the visa forms that everything would be done for us before we got to Laos, that sure wasn’t the case of course. They took all of our information for really no reason because once we crossed the river into Laos we were given back everything and nothing had been done with it. Oh well. It was pretty hectic at the border. In one window everyone dropped off their passports and forms with one of the guards, and then waited by the other window for it to be finished processed and stuck up against the glass for you to run and go pay a certain amount for your country. You can imagine when you get around 30 people all waiting for their passports to be processed. It gets a little vicious. Another MAJOR problem was the fact that Jason with his UK passport only had to pay $35, while I with my Canadian passport had to pay the most out of every country, $42. I was less then impressed to say the least. After the whole scandal had cooled down, we were on our way to the slow boat dock on another, extremely cramped minivan. Once there we had the luxury of waiting 2 hours for our departure, after watching a group arrive later then us and leaving before us. The thrills of travelling. We were conned into buying cushions for the boat because we had heard that there were no seats, but we were pleasantly surprised when the boat was equipped with 2 rows of minibus seats. The 7 hours on the boat was not how the travel agent had described “ you can relax outside on the top and go fishing off the back”. Not quite. When we were finally off, we were pretty happy that we had motel hotel reservations before we left. We were greeted by every single hotel rep in the area trying to convince us to come stay at their place and the whole thing was pretty exhausting. After a “traditional” Lao dinner completed by an eccentric waiter, it was an early night for us. Part 2 of our slow boat experience tomorrow.

-Lisa

The dirty dirty MeKong River in low season.

Friday, March 25th (Luang Prabang)

We thought day 1 slow boating was brutal, it had nothing on day 2.  After being scorched the day before we assumed (as well as everyone else)  that it was going to be a hot day again floating down the river. Turns out it was windy and grey out, the river had kicked up just enough to be cruising into a mist. We had been told day 2 was going to be another 6 hours so we would get into Luang Prabang at a decent time in the afternoon… not so. It was just getting dark and a slow boat of a 100 people or so cruised up to be greeted by the frantic mob of local tourist hustlers. Without anything booked we were eager to snap up a good deal. We ended up walking about 30 mins to avoid paying for a tuktuk and to get some exercise. We finally arrived at our guest house which ran us 60,000 kip ($7 total!) for the two of us to get a room with a king bed and a private bathroom… by far the best deal so far. Second place was a local meal in Chiang Mai $3.50 US for two dinners and two drinks including a tip at a local café. Finally here and in a room we headed out for some dinner and a stroll through the night market before heading to bed. We ended up bumping into some friends that were on the trek with us (who we are meeting up with tonight for a drink) and shared horror stories, I guess the bus was a worse option, 22 hours through the night. Laos is by far the best value for money of any of our travels so far. Can of beer or pop $.90, bottle of beer that only comes in 700ml bottles $1.10, street crepe which are amazing $1.10, American Breakfast $3.00 (2 eggs, bagette, sausage, bacon and ham, coffee and OJ), Dinner for two with a drink each $6.

-Jason

The little one went Mekong Crazy

Saturday, March 26th (Luang Prabang)

It’s time for us to explore Luang Prabang. After walking out onto the main street, most of the magic that we had felt in the town last night was lost. We walked the street trying to find the best deal on getting to Vang Vieng tomorrow and then continued to walk down to the end of the street. What we saw were a million temples and guesthouses and cafes. Seems like there is huge French influence here. We made our way to the Mekong River where we were quick to find a guy selling a fishing tour. Exactly what Jason wanted. After waiting around for a bit for it to be organized we headed out on the mini slow-boat. We grabbed a fishing rod from another guy across the river and headed upstream to where it seemed to be the hot spot of fishing. Jason had been at it for about 20 minutes when he reeled it in and to his surprised there was a catfish on the other end. A very mini catfish that was about as big as his hand. After trying for something a little bigger for half an hour, our driver decided to take us to another part to do some net fishing. Jason had to get waist deep in the water in order to do it, but he seemed like a natural because he was getting at least 2 of these little silver fish every time he pulled it up. He even caught another catfish this way. After we had been out on the water for 2 hours, we’d figured it was time to head back onto the land. We had made a compromise that if I had to go fishing, then he had to come with me to get a massage. So next up we found a reasonably priced place (they are everywhere, $6/hr) to get a Traditional Thai massage (in Laos). We had both never gotten a massage before and the women that gave us our massages proved to be extremely strong and very successful in giving us Charlie horses.

-Lisa

Chiang Mai

Friday March 18th - Bangkok

 We woke up pretty late today because there wasn’t too much we wanted to see while we were in Bangkok except the Grand Palace and our bus tonight doesn’t leave until 7 pm and we weren’t going to have anywhere to really be in between. When we finally made our way out into the world we decided that we were going to skip the Tuk Tuk and go by foot and our amazing direction instincts. It started off a little rough but after a bit we gathered our footing and were heading in the right direction. After experiencing a few “Where you going? The Grand Palace is closed till 3 today. But you can take a long boat while you wait!” we were finally there. And of course it was open and waiting for our business. It wasn’t as grand as we were expecting it to be, so it was kind of a disappointment to us.  Jason was pretty upset that after all the anticipation and build up and wanted to leave after being there for half an hour. We figured that we had to get our moneys worth, so we stayed and people watched for a bit. Some very interesting people are visiting Bangkok. After growing tired of that we began making our way to the reclining Buddha, a guaranteed hit. We walked for what seemed like a really time in the heat(finally) only to realized that we were actually walking in the complete opposite direction. Not ideal. So we headed in the right direction and it was chaos at the Wat Pho. But still amazing to see, even for the second time for me. When we left the temple we still had some time to kill and noticed that Chinatown was pretty close by. Didn’t seem like a popular tourist destination because when we got there it was a huge market for household items and hardware. Jason wanted to buy a new pair of slip on shoes, but he didn’t come to right country to look for size 13 shoes. It was finally time for us to head back to grab some dinner. When we were walking the market on our hotels road we discovered a table with weapons. Batons and tazors seemed to be their specialty and their selling features were that you could dismantle them so you can bring them back to Canada. I think you’d have a hard time explaining that to customs. Then it was bus time, after we had promised not to do another night bus after Central America.

Lisa

We found it!

Saturday March 19th  Chiang Mai


General rule of thumb, night buses are horrible any way you slice it. After a horribly cold night  thanks to the AC the two grumpy compadres were met by our guide who was holding a sign with our names... he picked us up sorted us out at the tours hotel. Not the nicest place in the world but its the right price. We got a few more hours of sleep before we went out to explore Chiang Mai. We sought out a highly recommended veggie restaurant which didnt disappoint and wandered around the moat that surrounds the town. We ended up running into the Thai Welter Weight Mai Thai Champ who was promoting the  saturday night fight. We ended up chcecking out a night market which was really busy and then heading to the fights. We were both impressed and shocked at the fights. Impressed at how ripped the fighters were, but they were so young, the first 5 fights were between 12-16. The headliner fight was between a local Thai and a Canadian... it lasted all of a minute with the Canadian winning with a knee to the head as the other guy was falling down... apparently it was a bit of a cheap shot. Lisa missed all of the excitement as she went to the washroom at the wrong time. We met up with the champ and had an evening of sign language convo's.  He invited us to go out to the bar with him after but we had to decline because of the trekking early tomorrow and we hadn't had a chance to have dinner. The funniest part of the night is we made a bet, picking either the red or blue team of fighters for the night, I ended up being down two fights before the headliner so I called double or nothing on whether or not the fighters were male or female (the guys name was sasha and the poster had a female fighters picture) but I guess I had one too many Changs because I pointed out about an hour before the guys warming up in another room... Whoops. A quick pad thai with a live english cover band and a short crazy tuk tuk ride and we were back at the guest house, time for bed.


Jason

Yup, those are 12 year old girls, this fight last 10 seconds with a red TKO, she knocked the girl down and then she decided that she didn't want to fight anymore. 

Sunday March 20th Chiang Mai

Early morning for us. It’s trekking time! We were supposed to leave at 8am, but that’s Thai time. We didn’t end up leaving with our super relaxed guide until closer to nine. A stop at another hotel and the tourist police station to make sure they know who is out in the jungle and we were on our way out of Chiang Mai. Our first stop was elephant riding. Pretty cool experience but a little sad at the same time. At least they have an endless supply of bananas. Ours, Dumbo Junior sprayed us a few times, and the both of us got a mouth full of whatever kind of liquid an elephant keeps up its trunk. Next stop was lunch and then another half an hour drive out and our hiking began. We were expecting a little more difficult walk and for the heat to be a major factor but we made it to our first waterfall and our camp in pretty good time, considering our guide Jack Sparrow made it seem like it would be a long grueling day. Our camp was a Thai man and his two daughters house. The two girls were the cutest kids ever. The language barriers was not a major factor with them, because they were right there with us for a lot of the night, just giggling and smiling and having a great time. The hut consisted of ply wood and a little patio chair mattress, something that we were used to after the Tip Guest House. It was a pretty early night for all of us, the sun was pretty draining in the end and Jack was warning of a long full day tomorrow.

Lisa

Monday March 21st Chiang Mai

After a horrible nights sleep in the Thai rain forrest (It was soooo cold and we didn't have many blankets) we were up early, drinking coffee around the fire with a solid breakfast waiting. I was finally feeling normal again and full of energy and ready continue our journey. We hiked all a river for most of the day enjoying many waterfalls and lots of swimming. The family that we stayed with had made us lunch and wrapped it in Bannana leaves which was cool. We ended up arriving at our next village a lot faster then we expected, our group was very young and fast which was good. There was a excellent swimming spot and a natural water slide right beside the village so we spent the afternoon playing in the water and getting 'duped' by local kids. They only knew one phrase, "Hello, 5 Baht" and then they'd tie a bracelet around your wrist.... they were about 7 years old. I ended up buying a ton of bracelets and gifting them to Lisa. They also had a weaving loom with really nice hand woven clothing... so after a few changs a few of us bought poncho's to the delight of the village people. We spent the evening socializing and hanging out in the village but I think we were all pretty tired because the majority of the people were in bed by 8pm. I stayed up and hung out with the guide (Captain Jack Sparrow as he calls himself) and he shared stories and his rice booze with us. Overall an extremely enjoyable day.


Jason

Tuesday, March 22nd Chiang Mai


It was pretty difficult getting the energy to get out of bed today and 
walking down the hill to wash my face in the river I could tell just how sore I was. My thighs are definitely getting a workout. Our first stop was the village that we stayed at last night. It was pretty cool to see that the people lived and slept just as we had been doing these last couple of nights. We were greeted by the “5 baht” gang, who clearly remembered Jason from yesterday, because the little girls were giggling and waving at him and tried to charge him “10 baht” for some more. We walked next to a rice and soy field and got to the waterfall that our guide had boasted that you could jump off the edge. Jason jumped but I took a pass and took some pictures instead. Next the gang of boys headed out behind the waterfall because there was a cave that you could jump out of and through the water. It was all good fun until one of the guys in our group jumped through and didn’t quite clear the rocks and smashed his back against one of the rocks. He was really badly hurt and most of us were in shock of what had happened. Meanwhile another guy jumped and hit his ankle really badly as well. Thankfully we had an amazing group and a couple people who were really skilled at first aid and knew how to handle the situation. It was a pretty sad way to end a great few days. We then headed for lunch and after to the bamboo rafting. It was a pretty relaxing way to end the whole trek, except for the local making it a mission to spray you with water. We even managing to catch some sun and give us a little bit of colour so it won’t be so obvious we just arrived from a Canadian winter. Luckily both boys seemed to be doing a lot better by the end, and hopefully a trip to the doctor and some pain medicine and they’ll be back to drinking Chang soon.


Lisa

YVR - BKK

Monday March 14th & March 15th (Vancouver - Bangkok)

Our journey started a week ago when we decided to stop beating around the bush and book the cheapest/soonest flight possible. We lucked out and were able to find a flight for $860 round trip leaving in 7 days and before we knew it we were taxiing down the runway. I expected the flight to be extremely hellish but Air China exceeded all expectations with the personal star alliance entertainment system. We had a 3 hour lay over in Beijing before taking another 5 hour flight to Bangkok. We crossed the date line and jumped ahead 14 hours, so we finally arrived at 2 am Wednesday morning bagged tired. Amazingly enough still more astute then our taxi driver which pretended to not know where he was going in the airport district and then when we suggested calling the hotel to get directions he forgot how to dial a phone.  Lucky for us Lisa had booked a room and the told them when we were to be expected... the night watchman was happily waiting for us when we finally showed up which was a huge relief. 

- Jason

Wednesday March 16th (Bangkok)

7/11 on every corner selling prepackaged mini instant coffee

We didn’t get much of a full nights sleep last night, arriving at our hostel at around 2am, our minds were still trying to adjust to the major time difference and the little naps we took on our second flight. We got into our taxi pretty early to head into Central Bangkok, not really too sure how far out of the city we were and it wasn’t until we had been in the cab for an hour that we realized it wasn’t exactly close. We battled traffic the entire time and paid a toll just to ride on the express highway. At the end it took us about an hour and a half. When we got the street that lonely planet said our hotel was on, the taxi driver had no idea which way to go and literally dropped us off on an extremely busy and overwhelming street. If it wasn’t for a nice lady how could see the stress in our eyes giving us general directions we would have been searching for hours. Trying to understand a Thai map, not our strong suit. We got to Lamphu House with our fingers crossed that they would still have a room available. When we got there we saw just how popular the guesthouse was. The line up was huge and the receptionists were constantly busy with travelers questions. We were lucky enough that they had a room, because it wasn’t too long after we arrived that a “full” sign was put up on the counter. Our room wasn’t going to be ready for a little while so we went on a little walk around the get used to everything around us and grab some lunch. Our first Thai food experience was a success for me (veggie pad thai) and not so much for Jason who in the end preferred my meal. We went back to our hostel and had a much needed nap. Getting used to the time difference is a little more difficult then Central America. We woke up, found our favourite store 7-11 (no slurpees though, disappointing) and headed to Khao San Road to see what all the fuss was about. What we were faced with was endless market stalls, with everything from knock-off Havaiana’s and casio’s to clothes galore. We ended up buying a few things and realized that we should have come with barely anything from home because all the essentials that you need (tanks and flip flops) never cost more then $5. Lesson learned. The weather isn’t very good here, overcast and rainy (hello Vancouver) so our hoodies and pants that we brought actually came to good use. We headed back to the hotel for an afternoon nap before dinner which ended up being bed time for us at 6pm.

-Lisa

Thursday March 17th (Bangkok)

After waking up from a 14 hour.... much needed slumber we were ready to get at it.  We got dressed and headed down to the street to test out one of the many restaurants in the busy back packer area. Food is cheap but after sleeping for so long and skipping dinner the night before I was literally starving. As you would expect, portion size really doesn't stack up against North American Standards... Lisa and myself both ordered two meals and were still hungry. Feeling fully recharged we set out the day to go and see some of the famous sights... by foot, after turning down a tuk tuk drivers service, we turned back on the recommendation of wearing pants if we planned to go to some temples. We were determined to walk around and get some exercise but we caved when we were offered a 40 Baht ($1.50) temple tour and were getting rained on, we jumped in. Riding a Tuk Tuk was on my list of things to do after missing out on them throughout central america. 

The Tuk Tuk Scam

We knew he was running some sort of angle... He ended up promising a tour to take us to some of the Budda sights, a tourist info center and then drop us off at the Grand Palace which didn't open until 1... our tour started at around ten. He first took us to some close by lesser temples which were neat to see, but in between these temples he'd pull into different places (travel agencies and suit tailors) where he'd pimp us out to get  200 Baht each ($8 gas vouchers from the government). We finally got tired of seeing these sub-par smaller temples and being rented out to pretend like we were interested in whatever they were selling and asked to get dropped off early at the Grand Palace. He ended up driving us some random place that looked almost like it could be the Grand Palace and demanded payment before peeling off. Turns out he drove us around about a 5 block area and didn't drop us off at the Grand Palace. Tired, wet and slightly ticked off at anybody Thai (other then nat) we walked back to our guest house. 

Not the Grand Palace :(

We ended up booking our next weeks adventure at the Thai Government Travel Agency which after asking around turns out to be the best place to book through... however I'm pessimistic about how it'll turn out. We booked all of our transportation, accommodation and meals as well as a 3 day trek in Chiang Mai staying with locals, riding elephants and bamboo rafts. Then heading to Laos and taking a 'slow boat' down the Mekong River to Luang Prabang. It worked out to be slightly less then $35/day