So off to Lao or Laos, still not sure, and adventure. Laos is a very poor neighbour to Thailand, was "looked after" by the French for a while but did not leave them with much in the way of useful things apart from a few buildings and the food, a railway would have been nice!
We planned a two-day river trip on the Mekong river, a huge river that runs mostly all the way down Loas on the West side, and serves as a border marker and a lifeline to many Loas people for fishing and water.
We took a bus to the border and slept on the Thai side, with a view over the river to Loas. I was very excited as I had read a lot about this trip and it was suppose to be a big experience.
The next day we crossed the river and exchanged some Thai Baht for Loas Kip, suddenly we were millionaires, fantastic, first time for everything.
The boat ride took 6 hours the first day with hard seats made by some Loas carpenter / chief torturer who's idea of seat ergonomics was that everyone should have a very straight back or even better leaning slightly forward. This situation improved when I discovered that they were stocked with Beer Loas, the numb bum and aching back did not seem to bother me so much after a few of the fantastic local brew.
The change of view as soon as we entered Loas was amazing: very green with huge hills, it was a nice change from the beach life.
The town where we stopped for the night was very forgetable apart from Mr Lie, a ex-10-year monk, who's wife is pregnant (he was very nice and told us some very personal stuff about himself) who's restaurant we went to that night and had fantastic food, "Laap" minced water buffalo with lots of mint fried dry is the Loas special dish and the most fresh orange juice we have ever had. The sign on the entrance "My wife is good cook" dragged us in.
The next day was a 10-hour stint to Luang Prabang, The seats were a bit more comfy this time and the scenery got better and better the nearer we go to the town. Every hour or so we would stop at a village to drop off, pick up and some times people would be buying fish caught that morning. One of the fish was very much alive and kicking and almost knocked the lady who was holding it over! It had vivid orange tail which I have never seen on a river fish before, it looked more like a reef fish.
We finally got there and we were greeted by a smiley Carolin who went on ahead from Thailand, which was nice and I only had one beer Loas right at the end, just for medical reasons you understand.
Luang Prabang is a fantastic world heritage town that is half French and half Loas. I love it already (had French breakfast this morning mmmmm). Anyway must go, a waterfall and a Loas massage awaits.
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