Abby and I set off for Laos the morning after I arrived. After a 7 hour bus ride, we reached Chiang Kong, the border town in Thailand before Laos. A tuk-tuk brought us directly to a travel agent who said she’d set up our border crossing and boat ride from the border to the center of Laos down the Mekong River (we paid $20 and found out later that we could have done the boat ride for $11. So begins getting ripped off).

We found a hotel right on the Mekong and had a room with a sliding glass door onto a deck over looking the river, and had an extremely spicy dinner also overlooking the river. By the way, the Thai food (despite the spice) is absolutely amazing - curries, fried rice, noodle dishes, flavorful soups. Not missing Mexican as quickly as I thought I would be…

We took off the next morning, headed to the border. We gave the border guard our passports, then precariously balancing our bags on our backs, climbed onto a long, thin, motorized boat called a longtail and headed across the river to Laos. After arriving, we went directly to immigration… where they told Abby, “No stamp, you go back Thailand, get stamp”. The Thai border guard didn’t give her a departure stamp. So off Abby goes, back to Thailand, to take care of that. While she’s gone, I decide to check my stamp. It had me arriving on “Oct 11 2006″, with a mandatory departure date of “Oct 9 2006″. Despite their initial reassurances that it was ok, I persisted and they realized the error. They canceled my stamp and reissued me a new one. Fascinating little factoid: It’s $5 for each day you overstay your visa. Hmmm…
Because we went through a travel agent, all our transport was set up (with 30 other “falong” or foreigners), so we were whisked from there to an office to take care of passports, lunches, and other details before boarding the boat. On the way to the pier, Abby and I have to take separate cars and I decide to go first… thinking she’ll be right behind.

Upon arrival at the pier, I manage to walk full speed into the opened hatch back of the car, smacking my head with a tremendous, resounding “crack!,” and crashing instantaneously to the ground. Amazingly, it didn’t hurt too badly, and I was able to jump up and grab my bag out of the van. But I did have the horrified, undivided attention of all the other travelers. Fun moment for Lauren.

Time passes. Abby is nowhere to be found. The boat is boarding. I have her passport. It’s raining. I’m pacing frantically. The transport guys say she’s on her way, but as the last people board I start to come up with a plan B. Just then, Abby comes lumbering down the hill with her bags, just in time. Turns out they wouldn’t take her until there were more people to save gas.

The boat ride: fairly uncomfortable, but AMAZING and totally worth the trip. We could have taken a speed boat that would have zipped through in 7 hours. But those, we found out, were EXTREMELY loud, very fast, didn’t have a cover (and oh, did it rain), and everyone had to wear a helmet. I figured anything that requires a helmet is best left to others. We toodled along, enjoying the incredibly lush country side (85% of Laos is still untouched) that was dotted with occasional thatched houses of the hillside tribes. People who lived there travel by longtail boats, and would occasionally ride out to jump quickly onto ours to hitch a ride.

The Mekong is an absolutely enormous river that looks more like a huge lake in many places. It’s rainy season here, so it rained a lot the first day, but we had a cover over our heads, and flaps that would pull down over the sides so we kept dry.

We spent the night in a small village named Pakbeng. We had Laos food for the first time in a rustic wooden restaurant by candlelight. We vowed then and there to eat Laos food the whole time we’re here - it is incredible, and not spicy! A nice break from Thailand for this wimp. We were in bed by 10pm, and up with the roosters at 5:30 - the loudest roosters I’ve ever heard, stationed at various points away from our window. Quite a medley.

The next day we were surrounded by incredible views once again, rolling green hills, sheer cliffs, small farms carved into the hillsides, little naked kids jumping 4 or 5 stories into the water from enormous trees… The only problem with this ride was that we were stuck behind a horrifyingly awful set of travelers. By the end of the trip, Abby and I had considered jumping overboard and swimming the rest of the way several times. Just to give an example…. one of the white female travelers announced to several of her new friends that she had spent $600 on her dreadlocks. That would be U.S. Dollores.

We arrived last night in Luang Phabang, the 2nd largest city in Laos, with old colonial architecture and brick sidewalks. Abby and I scored an enormous room with a huge bathroom (and HOT WATER!) with a bonus prize of a large private deck overlooking the Mekong. All our good traveler friends we made on the boat went one way, we high tailed it the other, and got the best deal in town. We’ll be hanging out here for a few days before heading to Vientienne to see… BeerLao Brewery!