| | Mar 26, 2006 - Luang Prabang, Laos - Getting There is Half the Adventure | (click to enlarge)
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 | | show all 41 | | Leaving Thailand for Laos | | Snake and scorpion alcohol | | Boarding our slow boat for a 2 day journey to Luang Prabang | | |
| Luang Prabang - Getting There is Half the Adventure
The old saying, "Getting there is half the adventure." could not be closer to the truth for our trip to quaint, colonial Luang Prabang. Through our guesthouse in Chiang Mai, we booked a package deal to get us to Chiang Khong including transportation, two meals and one night of accommodation. We left our friendly Guest House and took a full day mini-bus ride packed with other travellers to Chiang Khong. Here we checked into the most spartan room we have stayed in yet. The tiny room reminded me of a prison cell. Not that I have stayed in one, but it certainly could not have been much larger and came complete with plain grey cement walls, floor and two small beds covered in prison orange blankets. With the exception of the blankets, the room was dismal and dreary. There was no colour; no pictures and the windows were even covered with bars. Worst of all, the beds were rock hard, causing Eric to break into a fit of uncontrollable laughter when he first sat down. "You won't believe how hard these beds are!" he choked out between gut busting laughs. I thought he must have been exaggerating. How bad can they be? Then I sat down too and it was like sitting on a granite boulder. As it turns out, they were not mattresses at all, but instead we were sleeping on box springs. Jealously, I thought, I bet our neighbours in the room beside us are snoozing nicely on the cushy mattresses that are manufactured to be on top of these box springs. Oh well we said, 'It is only for one night.' as if this attempt at optimism would magically give us a comfortable sleep, and we crawled under our orange blankets with our hips and shoulders jabbing uncomfortably on the wood below and closed our eyes for our last night of sleep in Thailand.
The next morning we chalked our uncomfortable night up to the old, 'You get what you pay for.' since they were only charging a dollar a night for a room. We moved on to cross the border from Thailand into Laos clearing the Thai customs on one side of the Mekong River and then taking a water taxi across the river to Laos to clear Laos customs. Instantly we knew, we had left Thailand and moved on to a country that was far less developed and had a very different feel. After walking through customs, we strolled up the road to the trucks that were waiting to transfer us to our boat that we would be spending two days cruising down the Mekong River to Luang Prabang. Before reaching the vehicles, we could not help ourselves to stop and gawk at the selection of fine wine for sale. A shelf full of bottles filled with alcohol that contained cobras, scorpions and various other snakes available for purchase. We opted to leave this treat behind and hold off for a bottle of Beer Lao, which is supposed to be one of the best beers in all of Asia.
After several hours of transfers and customs, we finally boarded our slow boat to lazily take us down the Mekong River for two days with an overnight stop in the dusty town of Pakbeng. Through the travellers' circles, horror stories circulate about the long and monotonous journey down the Mekong on the dreadfully uncomfortable slow boats. In no time, we could see where these stories came from. With about 80 adventurous travellers packed on this one long, thin boat, our seats were small, wooden benches with thin flowery cushions that did little more than hide the solid brown wood we were really feeling on our butts. However, the alternative would have been to take the fast boat - a narrow, blaring load speedboat that does our two-day journey in about six hours. At first, it sounds like a better option. Then you hear about how many people die each year as these boats round a bend in the river, hit one of the rocks and explode into thousands of pieces killing all the passengers. Those that do survive the ride are sure to have hearing damage after listening to the insanely loud engine and being shaken and vibrated for so many hours on end. Anytime my rear got too soar or I was desperate to stretch, I just thought of the alternative and was happy to gaze from the boat and take in the scenery on our leisurely cruise.
Our overnight stay in Pakbeng was an added unique experience on this journey to Luang Prabang. After our first day on the river, we stopped in this dusty outpost of a town that is probably the most remote and out of the ordinary place we have visited. Surely, this place exists only for the overnight stop of the boat passengers and the majority of the hotels and guesthouses are worse than our prison room in Chiang Khong. Stories abound about how basic and filthy the rooms are sleeping only on dirty blankets piled in a heap on the floor. Moreover, rumours circulate about rats falling from ceilings and landing on you in the middle of the night and toilets so grimy you are better off choosing bush outside to squat behind and take care of business. However, thanks to Eric's extensive research, we feel that we got the one of the best rooms in town. The Ritz of Pakbeng - even if the management was a bit backwards. There are not many places you stay where all the staff are consistently trying to sell you marijuana but insist you smoke it in your room or their restaurants as the police won't bother you there. And so people did and dinner was like being in café back in Amsterdam.
The next morning we had breakfast as we overlooked the winding Mekong River and hilly countryside of Laos with the sun creeping up over the trees. A different boat on our second day was a little more luxurious, for the lucky half like ourselves that got there early enough to scoop up the prime bus seats the back of the boat had been fitted with. The eight or nine hour journey on day two went by relatively quick as the passengers continued to socialize and get to know each other over a BeerLao or two. Before we knew it, we arrived in Luang Prabang and searched out a guesthouse for our six-night stay.
Laos does not have a lot of tourism but is growing as travellers in South-East Asia happily explore its let's transited routes and cities. Luang Prabang has a history of French Colonialism and although a small town, it is developed just enough to make a comfortable stay for travellers to relax, settle in and soak up the atmosphere. We spent our six days there simply wandering the streets admiring the colonial buildings, foreign aid restoration work that was taking place, meeting some of the locals and having cappuccino on the street side cafes. With April being the hottest month of the year we were immersed in some sweltering heat keeping us from doing anything too active in the middle of the day. We did venture out with our new friends Adam and Daisy we met on our Mekong ride, to take a wonderful dip in one of the most beautiful waterfall series I have ever seen. About an hour into the country, these waterfalls are visually stunning and in the stifling heat of the day, the cool water was a most welcomed relief.
At the end of our six days, we were completely relaxed and thrilled with our time in Luang Prabang. The two-day journey down the Mekong had been a pleasant excursion - the kind of pleasant that you are happy to do once, but probably never a second time. Eric's love for Luang Prabang has hands down made it his favourite city in all of Asia and our only regret is that we did not budget additional time for exploring Laos. The developing country is still very much off the beaten tourist track and was calling to be explored, but alas, we had a plane to catch to get to Hanoi where our time on our 30-day visa was already beginning to tick away.
TRAVEL TIPS FOR LUANG PRABANG
1. The fast boat from between Chiang Khong and Luang Prabang apparently is quite dangerous and not recommended at all. Laos is a very undeveloped country without a lot of regulations to control safety issues such as these which would not be allowed in Western countries. On top of that, in the event of an accident, medical facilities are very poor and hard to find.
2. Access to Luang Prabang does not have to be by boat trip down the Mekong. You can fly directly in to Luang Prabang or come by bus from various other cities throughout Laos. In the end though, we truly enjoyed our boat trip although it is not something we would probably do twice.
3. While in Luang Prabang, make a trip out to the Kouang Si Waterfalls. They are extraordinarily gorgeous and a great place to take a dip and beat the heat.
4. Rainy season in Luang Prabang runs from June - October with November - February being the dry, cool season and best time to visit. March - May is the hot season and the temperatures are uncomfortably warm and humid, as we experienced first hand.
5. Luang Prabang is a quiet destination with very little nightlife or entertainment. Most restaurants close relatively early and the few bars pretty much all close by 11:30 or midnight.
6. There is a large night market that operates daily and sells a lot of handicrafts and tourist souvenirs. The market begins set-up just before dusk and like most things in the town, wraps up early. Many vendors start packing up around 9:00 or 9:30 so arrive early if you would like to shop.
7. Luang Prabang has a wide range of accommodations although there are not any large international hotel chains. There are dozens of small guesthouses ranging in quality and price and a number of nice, small boutique hotels that have opened up for more upscale accommodations.
8. This city is getting busier and more developed all the time. If you would like to see it before it becomes too much of a mainstream tourist destination try to get there in the next few years.
9. Climb Phou Si ('Sacred Hill') that is located in the centre of the town to give panoramic views of the city and surrounding rivers and countryside.
10. Relax, enjoy and take in the atmosphere over a coffee or BeerLao from one of many of the street side patios. The city has a feeling that it is stuck in time back in the colonial era that can't be felt in very many places today.
www.carlhenderson.ca
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