Buses,boats and waterfalls-Laos style

I forgot to include some interesting things from our last blog entry.
We caved in and had Burger King on the Sunday and it was good, actually settled our stomachs a little bit. Talking about stomachs,lots of conversations with other backpackers have been based on our digestive movements but its common over here,everyone does it. But we have been lucky so far.Actually last night one guy came out of his bedroom while we were sitting on the balcony with others and just said 'Ive got to puke now,Ive got food poisoning'. It seems he wasn't the only one and his friend joined him quite frequently.
Okay so we've been in Laos for 4 days but boy was it a trek to get here, 3 days in total.
We really didnt have a clue, thinking it would be a couple of hours on a bus and 2 full days on a boat. It was 6 hours on the bus the first day to the village of Chiang Khong which is on the border with Laos. We had the name of the guesthouse with us and looked it up in our guidebooks and got all excited when we read the review that it had hot showers and ensuite bathrooms. We were sorely disappointed. It was 4 walls and a bed with shared bathrooms. Though the little village was cool with an English bookshop and bars when we could pick the film you watched so we watched Blades of Glory and Fracture which wasn't bad.The following day we got on a boat to cross the river to the border which some people thought was the boat for 2 days(will include pictures here later!). Went through immigration on the other side and made our way to the little port. There we were sat down and the guy who gave us the tickets engaged in some scaremongering which definitely worked on me. He said that we would be on the boat until the evening time and that we would stop at a village where only his guesthouse had electricity and the rooms would be $20.Unfortunately some girls booked his guesthouse and they were supposed to be met there but nobody showed up and they paid in advance.The guesthouse didnt even exist.Rooms turned out to be quite cheap and we got a lovely ensuite room(albeit with only cold water) for less than $8.On top of that he said everytime the boat stopped that the locals would try to take our bags off the boat.Oh and that the little village(Pakbeng) wouldn't accept anything but Laos kip(the currency). All complete bull. But to be sure we locked our bags in with an English couple who we have been travelling with for the last four days. Yes the village was basic and yes the electricity went out at 10pm but it wasn't all that bad since we fell in love with the Laos coffee- definitely try coffee with condensed milk,yum!
8th-Slow boat to Pakbang - The boat packed in about 100 people with bags in the back and had plastic garden chairs for around half the people which weren't secured to the ground.God was it slow, the first hour took forever but people started to socialise and there was some lovely scenery on the way. The first day they only sold beer(to the delight of the Irish on board) and at some stops locals came onboard with taytoes and soft drinks.
9th-Slow boat to Luang Prabang - In the morning we were up bright and early to get the boat and didnt really know where they were going to be. We started looking for the boat but then we could see loads of people on another boat and asked if it was going to Luang Prabang and jumped on. But we could still see that people were just sitting on the port as if they were waiting for another boat. This is not a place you just want to wait at as there is nothing to do and there would not be another boat for a day. We called out to some friends who finally came on board. They were told that there was going to be another boat but realised this was not going to be the case. We were packed in like sardines and there were little wooden benches instead of plastic chairs. Luckily we bought a cushion before we left Thailand, the fact that there was so many for sale was enough of a hint that they were needed.We reached Louang Prabang at around 6pm and there was some rush off the boat to get rooms. Basically every day the boat arrives in and everyone scrambles to get a room. Most dont have guidebooks but even though we knew where we wanted to go, there are few street signs telling you where you are. Finally we got somewhere cheap, again shared bathrooms but we were glad the panic was over. Due to my fantastic haggling abilities I got our room for 100,000 kip for 3 nights. Expensive eh? Not when you consider that there is 13,500 kip to the euro and our accommodation had only cost us 7.40 euro.
Everything here is cheap but its strange in other ways, breakfast cost us two nights accommodation and the beer is half a night's accommodation, but for 80 cent for 640ml(over a pint)where can you go wrong.
The town is really nice, small but a really laid back atmosphere. There is a French colonial feel here with wooden shutters and cafes on the street. It's been the first place where we can get baguettes(yum) and lovely coffee.Other than that there isn't any French spoken or french signs. The streets are lit up with old style lanterns and lovely night markets selling jewellery, bedclothes and cakes. The town shuts down around 11pm with our guesthouse closing its doors around 10:30 and you need a dancing licence for the late bars of which there are only 2!After 11pm everyone goes onto the bowling alley where there isn't a dancing licence. They all pile onto tuk tuks.Last night I saw about 20 people on a tuk tuk ,weighed down with people hanging off and scrapping the ground. Unfortunately they have a tactic of stopping the tuk tuk half way home and saying they have broken down so that people can mug you. Myself and two other girls were sitting on a street just about to go back to where Bourkie and the others were watching a soccer match when these two guys stopped and asked us if we wanted a 'good time'. We said no and we got up to leave. At this point the bars on the street had closed and there were only some people passing on mopeds. We walked on and they circled around and stopped when we were looking at a Wat and asked did we want see it. Again we said no and carried on. Suddenly,one of them jumped off the moped and snatched Louisa's bag. She turned and ran after him throwin a bottle of beer at him as well as the other girl. Since I was a couple of steps in front I didnt see what happened and thought he had just slapped her arse.It was only when she came back that she said he had gotten her bag. Unfortunately it was a light material one and he could break the strap.Distraught as we were,we realised that there was just a few euros worth in the bag and cards that he would need pins for. Nevertheless she cancelled all her cards but when she went to report it to the police they were closed.Amazingly, police here only have to fight crime from 9-5,Monday to Friday.Criminals dont need day jobs. Turns out as well that our guesthouse isn't the safest as a guy that we were talking to found one of the staff in his room when he came back a couple of minutes after leaving to get his passport. Supposedly a mouse ran into his room.You couldn't fit a piece of paper under the door. From this we have learned that we will now use our own locks for the doors. Other than that Lao people are really nice. Food is lovely just not as spicy as Thailand.There is one ATM in the town which usually has a queue and you are limited to taking out 50 euro at a time!

11th-Kuang Si Waterfall- Today we headed to this waterfall about 40 minutes from Louang Prabang in the back of an old pick up trunk.Apart from being really impressive size wise,its also a great place to swim.There are smaller waterfalls that can be jumped off and a rope to swing from. The guys suddenly turned into 5 year olds and had to be dragged out. There is also rescued bears and a tiger on the same site.

Tomorrow,myself,Bourkie,an English couple(Louisa and Stuart) as well two others James and Tara are heading to Vang Vieng. Further south,this is just a little town but known for loads of different activities such as tubing, zip-lining and rockclimbing. Some Irish girls(one from Knocknagree,Sile from the QuickPick shop!) are meeting us there tomorrow.Off we go on the road around 8am tomorrow morning for a 6 hour bus ride there.
We really hope its just as nice as Louang Prabang.
Still trying to work out our route to Vietnam but more on that later.
Talk to you soon
Richard and Clare