Morgan and I ended up spending some more time in Chiang Mai just to get some rest and revive ourselves. We decided to rent bikes one day and ride around the town. It was a great way to see the city, and we were able to see a lot of temples and markets that we would not have found on foot. We just rode with the traffic, and had a few near death experiences, but we made it. Once we left Chiang Mai, we took a bus to the small border town of Chiang Khong. It is right on the Mekong River facing Laos. We stayed there for two nights, and slept in a neat little river house on the Mekong. The views were great, and the small town atmosphere was nice to experience right before we left Thailand. The process to get into Laos was quite simple, but was somewhat expensive due to the cost of transportation. You have to take a tuk tuk 10 km outside of town to get to border control. There, you get stamped out of Thailand and have to wait for another bus that takes you to the Laos side. There you pay for your visa and get your passport stamped. Then you have to take another tuk tuk to the other side of town to buy your tickets for the slow boat for Luang Prabang. The entire journey to Luang Prabang took us two days, and you have to stay one night in the small town of Pak Beng on the river. The boats were quite comfortable, and they had tables and airliner seats. It was very cool along the river, and we had a packed boat of tourists both days. The payments in Laos consist of using kip, baht, and US dollars, so keeping up with all the exchanges was quite daunting. You could pay for an item in baht, and you would get change back in kip. After two days on the Mekong River, we arrived in Luang Prabang, Laos. We spent three days here. It was a great French colonial town, and we wish we could have spent more time here than we did. There were many cafes selling pastries, coffees, and the like. It was nice to finally have bread and sandwiches, as we have not found many while in SE Asia. We rented bikes one day, and cruised around the town. We also visited the royal palace museum located in the house belonging to the former king and queen. The weather was also quite cooler here, which was awesome. We enjoyed our guest house, and the family who owned it had about 10 people living there too. After leaving Luang Prabang, we made our way to Vang Vieng through the rough and winding roads of Laos. Here, we tubed down the NamSong River for a day. There is a cartel of locals who rent tractor tire tubes out of a small shop, they make tons of money off backpackers floating the river daily. The next day, we took a tour and went caving, trekking, and kayaking in the mountains outside of town. On our last day, we rented a motorbike, and went to the Blue Lagoon and caves outside of town. This town is known for its caving, and we were able to see a few while we were there. We took another minivan to the capital city of Vientiane and spent 4 days sightseeing. We went to the local night markets, the Presidential Palace, Laos National Museum, and many temples. It was so hot here, and one day it went to 106 degrees making it tough to walk around and explore. We found ourselves just hanging out in the cafes with AC drinking Beerlao, probably a little too early in the day…. We enjoyed Laos very much, and liked the change of pace from Thailand. We felt the people were nicer here and not as pushy to sell you things. We are flying to Hanoi, Vietnam, and will spend about 3 weeks in country. Continue to check out our blog, as we will post again soon.
Cheers,
David and Morgan
Vows To Voyage 