After spending 10 days in the Yunnan province, China, the next country on our list was Laos.
We were planning to cross over at the Mengla/Boten border and to get there we took a late evening flight from Lijiang to Jinghong (or Xishuangbanna) - the most southern city in Yunnan.
Spending the night here, we were suppose to board the Laos-bound bus the next morning. We read on the internet that there was only one bus going into Laos everyday at 10:40 am and that the tickets were usually sold fast, so it was best to buy them a day in advance.
Since we had no opportunity to do so, we decided to get up very early in the morning, at 6 am and try to get some tickets after all. Oleg and I were assigned for the mission, while the rest were sleeping comfy in there beds :-)
Getting a taxi at 6 am wasn't a problem, but explaining to the taxi guy which station we wanted to go to proved to be a tricky task, as there is more than one bus station in Jinghong, but we succeeded.
The station was just opening when we got there, and a sleepy woman behind the ticket window sold us 4 tickets without any problems. Either we were lucky or in the off-season the tickets are less scares, we don't know.
After getting the tickets we went back to the hotel to catch on whatever sleep we had left and at 10 am sharp we were back at the bus station.
If buying the tickets turned out to be an easy thing to do, finding the right bus was another challenge ahead. They all had Chinese signs on them, but then one of the Chinese women at the station saw us struggling, and after inspecting the tickets, commanded us in the right direction, while pointing at some numbers on the ticket. It turned out that the ticket had the license plate number of the bus we were suppose to board. Easy, right? :-)
Of course our bus was oldest and the dirtiest one at the station!
Up until now we haven't actually seen Jinghong, arriving late at night, so once the bus started to drive we could catch a glimpse of the city. Can't say it was very special, just another Chinese town, but with lot's of palm trees.
The weather was grey that day, not great for taking photos, but excellent for the bus rides, because of the clouds the temperature inside the bus was OK. With no AC on the bus, clouds were very welcome.
The scenery all the way to Mengla, last Chinese town before the Laos border, was pretty much the same - green hills covered in clouds.
After spending 4 hours on the road, in Mengla, the bus stopped and the driver kicked everyone out of the bus. He said something in Chinese and left. One of the other passengers explained that the bus will be staying here for 40 minutes before continuing to the border.
We decided to stretch our legs and look around. There was absolutely nothing outside the station, some residential houses and an empty square.
The Israeli guy we met in Jinghong was also going to Laos and he kind of stuck with us until the border. Seeing nothing of interest outside, we turned back to the bus station. At least here they had a couple of small shops where we bought some ice coffee and water.
The local crowd was looking at us with visible interest, and we were looking right back at them, trying to understand what was it that they were smoking. Some kind of weird pipe, hand made out of tin cans... A strangely looking piece, but judging by the "high" on the guy's faces, it did what it was suppose to do, it made them happy! :-)
Anyway, 40 minutes passed quite fast and we boarded our bus yet again.
About 2 hours later we finally arrived to the border. The bus dropped everyone in small courtyard first, where we were immediately surrounded by the crowed of locals offering us to exchange whatever money we had left. We read in advance that it was actually best to change your money here, because there will be no opportunity to do so on the other side. Besides, the rates were more than fair.
We had a lot left and negotiated a better exchange rate, the Israeli guy only had about a 100 left so we exchanged his money with ours, helping him to a better rate as well.
At this point we thought that we were at the border already, and started to look for the customs, but we were wrong.
Turned out we still needed to drive a little bit further, and stopping at this courtyard was just the driver's way to earn some extra cash.
Anyway, we finally got to the border 15 minutes later.
On the Chinese side, everything went smoothly and we were done with the customs check in no time. Outside of the building, the bus was waiting to take us 1.5 km further to the Laos customs building. Here, after getting our stuff of the bus we said good bye to the Israeli guy and went inside.
The plan was as follows, since out of 4 people, 3 had Russian passports next to the Dutch ones, and Russian citizens don't need a visa to go to Laos, we decided to use the Russian passports crossing the border, hence paying only for 1 visa for Dima and saving about a 100$ in the process.
Unfortunately for us our genius plan failed, as Lao customs officers refused to let us through with Russian passports, motivating their decision based on the fact that we had a Chinese border stamp in our Dutch passport and therefore, we are obliged to use our Dutch passport when entering Laos as well. All our arguments about our right to choose which passport to use were ignored, and after spending 45 minutes trying to get out of obtaining 3 unnecessary visas, we gave up and paid.
105$ lighter we were finally free to enter Laos with the Dutch passport.
On the other side of the customs building we were awaited by a car that we arranged prior to our arrival in Laos.
Lao buses are well know for their slow speed and irregular schedule, so we wanted to save some time getting around by hiring a car. We prearranged for it to meet us in Boten with the company driver, who will then take us to Luang Prabang and from there we could use the car ourselves.
We were a little concerned about the car actually being at the border, because when we arranged it via email, the guy on other end refused to take a deposit, which was strange.
Luckily, the car was there waiting and we could continue our way.
The car we hired was a pick-up truck, and the guy from the rental agency was insistingly advising us on getting a pick-up and not a sedan.
At first we didn't understand why, but after reading some more about driving in Laos and after doing it ourselves, we realized that it was actually a very good advice. As it turned out the roads in Laos, especially in Northern Laos, almost all the way to Vientiane can pretty much only be driven in a pick-up because of the condition they are in and the mountain like landscape all the way to the capital.
It was one of the bumpiest drives we had in our lives. I was lucky sitting in front, but the rest were pushed in the back with the three of them and comfortable was it definitely not.
The views out of the window, however, were fantastic and gave some kind of reward for the bumpy suffering we had to endure. Too bad the ride was so bumpy we couldn't take any photos from the car. The spinning road didn't help either.
Lena managed to take a couple of photos of the really tiny huts that people live in this part of Northern Laos.
And this one wasn't the smallest one we saw on the way... Built from bamboo sticks, they barely had have space to lay down on the floor... Altogether, I think that this was the poorest place I've ever been to in my life so far.
The road we were driving on goes southwards all the way to Vientiane, and the further we drove, the better houses we saw. Although, in this particular case, "better" should be interpreted very loosely.
Because Luang Prabang was too far away for us to get there before dark, and nobody in there right mind wants to drive in Laos at night, we decided to stop a small town called Muang Xay, half way between Chinese border and Luang Prabang.
When we drove into town it was just getting dark. We had no hotel booked, and the driver first brought us to the fanciest hotel on offer, but we explained that a simpler accommodation will do just fine. He decided not to think too much about were to drop us off for the night and took us to the motel where he himself was planning to stay. We were more than happy with his choice.
As everyone was seriously hungry, we dropped off the bags in the room and went to look for food. The place we found was FANTASTIC!
In Yunnan, the food wasn't great and we half hungry all the first 10 days we were in China, but here, in Muang Xay, we unexpectedly hit a FOOD JACKPOT - one of the best food we had so far!
This of course explains the number of dishes ordered on the next picture.
It was so tasty and we eat so much, that we were bursting of food at the end. That day we went to bed filling very very happy.
The next morning we continued our driver was waiting outside with the car.
The weather was much sunnier than the day before and we were anticipating spending a sunny afternoon in Luang Prabang. The roads here have almost no traffic and we were expected to reach our destination in 4 hours.
This was the first of many ropes we saw that day. Usually followed by a destroyed road for the next couple of 100 meters or couple of kilometers.
Although the roads here are empty most of the times, still there are quite a few people walking or working alongside of them. Like this school kids on the way home. Funny, we saw many of them, and they all have this standard issued umbrellas like on the photo. Only the colors are different.
It was taking us much longer to get to Luang Prabang than anticipated, so we stopped on the way for supplies. Everyone was getting hungry. Dima and I went to buy some fruit, because the meals our driver was getting were looking uneatable.
I think we were the fruit-lady's first foreign customers, because when we asked how much the bananas were, she told us the most ridiculously high price we heard. I told her that we will pay 1/10 of what she said, and, surprisingly, she agreed (from 25K to 2,5K in 1 sec). I am very proud of my bargaining skills :-)))
By the time we got to Luang Prabang it was almost 4:40 pm, instead of 13:00 planned. Once again Asia proved to be unpredictable in terms of planning time. Luckily it wasn't a more than 8 hours delay we had in Varanasi, India.
The driver brought us all the way to the car rental agency where we filled all the necessary forms, photographed all the visible scratches and damages on the car, and where finally free to drive ourselves.
We decided that we had enough driving done for a day, so we found a guest house close to the Luang Prabang town center, parked the car in front of it and went to explore the place on foot.
Luang Prabang is a charming colonial town, built with mainly two-storey buildings, with stores and cafes on the ground floor.
The whole town center counts 2-3 main streets, one of which only functions as a street for traffic in the day time, and in the evening becomes a night market.
Instead, we went to see a monastery.
Inside they have some kind of emerald Buddha, I am guessing a very special one, as it had huge number of offerings laying in front.
There were plenty of Buddha's outside as well, all of them different.
By the time we got to the river it started to get dark. There were plenty of restaurants alongside, but didn't want to risk being bitten by a malaria-infected mosquito, so we went to look for a different place further away from the water. Although the atmosphere here was very nice.
After dinner we just walked around a little. The night market was fully operational by then.
On the way back to the guesthouse we treated ourselves to some sweets. Have to admit, they look better than they taste, although a couple we bought, were OK.
The next morning we were planning to go to the waterfalls and then, depending on how much time we had left, go to one of the caves, we read about on "must do in Luang Prabang" list.
The waterfalls were close by, just 20 minutes by car. When we got to the main entrance, it looked deserted and we even thought that it was closed.
Before you actually see the waterfalls, you walk through the bear sanctuary. They are Asian black bears that have been rescued by the Lao authorities from the illegal wildlife trade.
The waterfalls were a bit further away, and looked very inviting with clear blue water and the greens around them. But the water was very cold, so the guys went swimming alone.
The waterfalls are called the Blue Lagoon, probably after the movie.
There are huge trees surrounding the lagoon which make you feel that you are lost in the jungle.
I liked the cascades the most.
This place is very beautiful, so we made lot's of pictures, pretty much at every possible corner :-)
Those who want to see the waterfalls from above, there is a short climb to the top.
To me personally, the top wasn't worth the climb, but it's a matter of taste, I suppose.
When we got back to the entrance, everyone was very hungry.
After some deliberation, we decided to try the local grill specialties.
Both very, very tasty.
We still had time left and decided to try the caves. They were about an hour away, on the opposite side of Lunag Prabang.
Once we got off road, the driving fun began. It was one very bumpy ride :-)
When we got to the village where we thought the caves were, it turned out that the caves are much further away. In the village we would be only getting a boat to go to the caves... It was already getting dark, so we decided to pass and turn around.
The caves are supposed to be on the other side.
Back in Luang Namtha we went to the restaurant along the river this time. Somehow, the mosquitoes didn't seem to bother us anymore.
The next morning, before leaving for Vang Vieng, we wanted to see the Alms Giving Ceremony, that luang Prabang was apparently famous for. It means that the monks get up very early in the morning and walk around town to gather their daily meal. Yes meal, not meals, as apparently the are only allowed to have one a day.
This monks started at 5 am and it was still dark.
Usually people give them rice and sweets.
The ceremony starts on the main square and then spreads out to the other streets. An hour after it started we still saw lines of monks gathering the food.
To be honest we were a little bit disappointed because we expected to see more of the monks, but may it was an off-day for some of them :-)
Next: Vang Vieng, Vientiane and crossing the border to Thailand
The next morning, before leaving for Vang Vieng, we wanted to see the Alms Giving Ceremony, that luang Prabang was apparently famous for. It means that the monks get up very early in the morning and walk around town to gather their daily meal. Yes meal, not meals, as apparently the are only allowed to have one a day.
Next: Vang Vieng, Vientiane and crossing the border to Thailand
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