Slowboat to Luang Prabang

Laos was our next stop. To get there we would have to get a 2 day slow boat from the Thai border.

We booked through our hostel so everything was sorted. In the morning we were picked up by a mini bus and from there we set off on the 6 or so hr journey to Chiang Khong. I slept a bit but soon I realised that the Thai countryside, and the fields with the farmers was too beautiful to sleep through. There were traditional house on stilts, bamboo huts. It definitely felt like I was in a foreign country- I guess a strange thing to say considering I had been in Thailand for 10 or so days before then.

The hotel was ok. At check in they took our passports away to make our Laos visas. It was our first experience sleeping with a mosquito net. We took half a room each and sprayed every hole we could see in the floorboards, walls (it was a cabin room) so the mossies had no chance! Cabin rooms also meant outdoor showers. There was at least two mosquitos waiting in each shower cubicle so I passed.

At 8.30am the next day we were driven down to the river to get on a longboat across the river to collect our passports. I thought since we had handed them in the night before it would be quite an easy process... When we got there there was a hoard of about 80 people all trying to get to the front. Some people still had to hand in their passports to make the visas but there was only one window so we were all just waiting together. Word got round that the immigration officer just flashes the photo page of the passport up to the window and if that's you, you have to run up to get it before she puts it down and picks up another one. And yeh, this actually happened. Some guys at the front started calling out the names to speed up the process so that was good because me and Pete would have never been able to see over all the heads! Meanwhile another traveler had been given about 15 passports and was told to hand them back to the owners... It was crazy.

I thought I was never getting my passport back because there was so many people there. Eventually my name was called and I pushed my way to the front. It cost 35 USD (with a British passport). While I was waiting for the others to get theirs back, a local man came up to me and asked me what I sell? I was like, um no, nothing. He was like, I saw your passport, you sell things. What do you sell? (I put sales assistant as my occupation). I had no idea who this guy was and why he got to see my passport. On reflection, I should have checked his ID badge- I don't think any of us did but he soon had a group of us, all with the yellow badges which were given out at the hotel. He popped us in a truck and told the driver to take us to a restaurant next to the boats.

It was like 9.45am by now. We asked what time the boat was. He started to explain to us about Laos time- 'the boat will probably leave at 11am, maybe 11.30. Its supposed to leave at 9.30 but it never does. We're in Laos. Its called Laos time.'

The boat takes two days. On the first day it stops for the night in a small village called Pak Beng. He asked us if we had booked accommodation and if not we should book through him because it was going to be really busy. At our last hostel, the owner, Pong said we just turn up and pay about 150 baht. He was asking for 500. I didn't trust him. He then said that they only accept kip in Pak Beng because its just a little village. I luckily exchanged enough for a nights stay back at the hotel. One of the other travelers was like why didn't you tell us this before where there was an ATM, and bureau de change. He said, its ok, we can change for you- the minimum is 1000 baht. There was a group of like 12 of us and about a 3/4 just handed him money, and his wee pal went off to exchange it. Out of curiousity, I asked him how much he would exchange British sterling for and he said 6,000 kip. Last time I checked it was about 12,500 ! Hahah. Half the value. Expensive commission! He must have been laughing inside- he just got handed all this money and no one asked him for an exchange rate. People started getting their iPhones out and using their exchange apps. He had just made up the exchange rates. People were raging: 'Call your friend and tell her the actual rate!' so he called her- oh moneys already exchanged, sorry...

Hustler.

He then got everyone to give his pal our passports so she could go get the boat tickets. I'm not sure why he needed our passports because there was no reference to our passports, or names on our tickets. Hopefully no one had their identity copied or anything... It was a strange couple of hours.

We walked down to the already packed boat. People had been waiting on the boat since 9.30am so they weren't too pleased when we showed up and made them squash up. Buy a cushion. The seats are just wooden, wobbly benches. Really thin too. Not comfy at all. About 6hrs to Pak Beng. You'll occasionally see people waving a white tshirt to flag down the boat so it pulls over a few times on the way.

Pak Beng is just hotels and restaurants. We paid 400 baht for a twin room which is probably still too much but we just wanted a room after the boat. The bars will all offer free Laos whisky. Its pretty sick, but free.

Next day, we got down to the pier for 8.30 since we were told the boats leave at 9. Ours left at about 9.50 but it was much smaller than the day before, and it was one of the last ones to leave so I wonder where everyone went? From here it was another 7 or so hours to Luang Prabang. There is speed boats as well that only take 1 day but there is a lot of accidents on them. When you are on the slow boat you will see them whizzing past- some passengers wear motorbike helmets.

Get to Luang Prabang, find a hostel.