The journey into Laos
We set off to Chiang Mai bus station to get the 6 hour AirCon bus direct to the border of Laos, only to be informed we had missed it. We ended up instead getting two local (boneshaker) buses and a 'Tuk Tuk', and eventually got to the border 15 minutes before it closed. The border patrol officer on the Thai side looked at his watch and laughed at us, at which point we realised it was infact the last day of our 30 day Visa and if we didn't leave the county in the next 5 minutes we would be fined 500 Baht per day each. We quickly hopped on a small wooden boat to take us accross the river to the Laos side of the Mekhon. This was the first of 3 days travelling to Luang Prabang and things didn't improve.
Once safely in Laos we stayed one night at the border town before setting off to get the bus to the second stopover of our journey Lam Namtha. The bus station was a shed with a mud floor and the bus was made of mud. Two hours in to the journey the bus got a puncture and we all piled out to wait for it to be changed, an equally flat tyre was put onto the jacked up bus and we finally arrived. We tried to explore the town but with none of the local taxi drivers speaking English and none of us speaking any Laos we gave up, had dinner and went to bed.
The next day was the worst with the boneshaker of a bus throwing us about with each bump in the road. After 3 hours driving we reached the infamous route 13 where apparantly highjackings have occurred, we were inclined to believe this when our driver stopped the bus to hop off and buy a huge knife which he kept close at hand for the rest of the journey. 7 hours on and Becky was starting to feel a bit sick, not helped by the girl infront of her being sick out of the window and the bits blowing back into Becky's face. After 9 hours the bus finally pulled in to Luang Prabang, it took 3 days but we had made it andalthough the beautiful scenery on the way had made the trip worth while, next time we think we will fly.
Once safely in Laos we stayed one night at the border town before setting off to get the bus to the second stopover of our journey Lam Namtha. The bus station was a shed with a mud floor and the bus was made of mud. Two hours in to the journey the bus got a puncture and we all piled out to wait for it to be changed, an equally flat tyre was put onto the jacked up bus and we finally arrived. We tried to explore the town but with none of the local taxi drivers speaking English and none of us speaking any Laos we gave up, had dinner and went to bed.
The next day was the worst with the boneshaker of a bus throwing us about with each bump in the road. After 3 hours driving we reached the infamous route 13 where apparantly highjackings have occurred, we were inclined to believe this when our driver stopped the bus to hop off and buy a huge knife which he kept close at hand for the rest of the journey. 7 hours on and Becky was starting to feel a bit sick, not helped by the girl infront of her being sick out of the window and the bits blowing back into Becky's face. After 9 hours the bus finally pulled in to Luang Prabang, it took 3 days but we had made it andalthough the beautiful scenery on the way had made the trip worth while, next time we think we will fly.
posted by Web Design, Corporate Video Bristol | Mentor Digital at
7:17 AM
1 Comments:
Ahhhh.... there's nothing like a bit of blowback vommit to make the day go faster.... Sounds like we didn't do too badly on the slowboat after all!!!
Hope you guys got home safely, give's a shout when you get a chance
Elaine x
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Unknown, at 2:24 AM
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