ARRIVING IN LAOS

GETTING THE LAOS VISA

Checking out of the hostel in Chiang Khong, we packed up our things and headed to the Portside Hotel, to get our transfer to the Laos border.

Before leaving though we needed to get the things needed for our visas, which were:

• $35 USD
• A passport photo

Having neither of these, I was fortunate that I was able to get both of these from the Portside hotel before leaving. I got a fairly good exchange rate and changed up my remaining Thai Bhat for US Dollars and Laos Kip. I felt like a millionaire with an exchange rate of 10,000 Kip to the pound!

Note – you can pay for the visa in Thai Bhat, but it will cost you a little more.

Once I had the necessary visa requirements in place I and my dice travel buddies hopped onto a minibus to take us to the Laos border control.

We queued for a while and then soon we were through, with new stamps in our passport and a 30 day visa to do with whatever I felt like.

THE BOAT TRIP – DAY 1

We hopped on one more minibus, which took us to bank of the Mekong river and the departure point of the slow boat we’d spend the next two days on.

Ready for the off

I grabbed a quick smoothie from this lady, and we got on the boat:

This was where I got my first taste of the disorder of Laos. The boat was massively oversubscribed and some people had to sit on the floor for the duration of the trip.

There was also this massive pile of shoes, taking up valuable space:

This was going to be very cosy for 7 hours cruising down the Mekong. I’m sure we’d all be good friends by the end.

Randomly I bumped into a guy I’d met previously travelling in Sukhothai, who sat opposite me on the boat. It’s definitely a small world when travelling in Asia and you often cross paths with people more than once.

Tip – if you’re getting this slow boat, try to make sure you turn up early to bag yourself a decent seat. It will make the ride much more pleasurable. Also, the facilities on board aren’t too extensive, with just a small selection of snacks and drinks, so I’d recommend stocking up first.

The cruise down the Mekong was quite a sight. Beautiful scenery with rocky outcrops jutting out of the surface of the river, fishermen in small boats sitting and waiting for the catch of the day and rolling hills lining the banks of the river.

We arrived in the small town of Pak Beng at around 5.30 pm and checked into our hotel.

There wasn’t much to this town really – a few hotels and guesthouses and a few restaurants along one main street.

We headed out for a bit to eat and a few drinks and literally hours waiting for our food. I’d been warned that the service in Laos was more lackadaisical than Thailand.

After dinner I went back to the hotel, caught up on some photos and got a good night’s sleep before heading back to the boat for day 2.

THE BOAT TRIP – DAY 2

We aimed to get to the boat early to get a decent seat, but we took a while stocking up on snacks and by the time we got there the boat was rammed!

This time there was no pile of shoes, as everyone kept them on, but there was still very little space.

There was a woman – who looked like a female Willem Dafoe – sitting on one of the seats at the side of the boat and had her bag next to her taking up valuable space. 2 of the 4 of us had seats, but I and one other were having to find somewhere to squeeze in.

I asked the woman if she would move her bag and shift along so that my friend and I could sit next to each other, but she was totally unwilling to budge and said we could sit either side of her. I lost my rag with her and insisted I’d rather sit on the floor.

Fortunately, the boat company ended up bringing extra seating on the boat to cater for the occupancy issues and prevent people having to sit on the floor this time.

We set off from Pak Beng heading to Luang Prabang on a 7 hour slow meander further down the Mekong river.

Sunset on the Mekong river

We arrived at Luang Prabang early evening after another 7 hour journey down the Mekong river.

Arrived in Luang Prabang

All in all it was a great way to journey through Laos and get acquainted with the country and it was certainly good value, albeit a little uncomfortable at times. I wouldn’t have journeyed another way.

Stay tuned for the Luang Prabang post….