Speed boat mayhem!
Trip Start
Feb 25, 2004
1
22
49
Trip End
Ongoing
Luang Prabang, Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
After changing up my cash which made me an instant millionaire and have a feeling of being a drug dealer (handed a huge wad of notes in a carrier bag), i boarded the long boat which was to take me to Luang Prabang. Our boat was the 3rd to leave, obviously 2 leaving before us - i love stating the obvious. So, as long boat one pulls up and people board, everyone is a little anxious due to us being told that front of the boat must be heavily weighed down. Then we saw the huge engine strapped to the back of the long boat...... It was literally removed from a car and, in true Laos style, bodged onto the back of it! The boat was now ready to leave and everyone watched on with anticipaton. The engine fired into life and i can only compare the sound of which to that of a drag car! Ear drum burstingly loud! But that wasn't the loudest it got.... The boat had to manouvre into the centre of the river before take off! Please don't think that any of this has been exagerated so far! So, the boat was now ready to depart, the driver (dunno what else to call him? Crew maybe or skipper!) revved the engine, placed the enormous rudder into the water and put his foot down (?) I'm no expert when it comes to speed, dimensions etc (ask any ex-girlfriends re the last one!) but i reckon that the boat flew passed usat about 40mph! The sound..... My god the sound of the thing!! Even after 2 or 3 minutes you could still hear it when it was well out of sight! So, as we boarded our boat after watching the second one leave in similar fashion, i made damn sure that i was as far away from the engine as possible and, as described earlier, was able to slightly stretch out! So, wearing my crash helmet and ear plugs i now had to endure the 6 hours cramped loud boat journey from the Laos/Thailand border to Luang Prebang. Not pleasant!
We arrived at around 5pm and made our way up a slight river bank to be met by a small amount of touts for hotels. Here i befriended irish fillies named Paula and Emily. We decided to share a cab to the centre of the sleepy town of Luang Prebang and ended up booking into a guesthouse together - they opted for air conditioning, i choose a fan room having decided long before that air conditioning was an unnecessary luxuary. Emily, Paula and i spent 4 days here and did have good fun. The evening market was very quaint and, if i can use this word to describe it, docile!? It was very small spanning maybe 100 metres along a road with people, mainly women, selling either cloth or cloth made items all of which were illuminated by dull red lighting. A point of interest here is that if you say 'no' to one of them they accept it, rather than in Thailand where sellers seem to think that if they offered you something like a tuk tuk ride 4 or 5 times in a row, you'd give in and go with them! 'Yeah, in the last 2 seconds my entire itinery has changed and i'd love to go on a pointless tuk ruk ride with you mate'! We had a day out to Pak Ou caves and then onto a Kuang Si Falls which was a beautiful waterfalls all of which appeared turquoise and is where i did my tarzan impression (see video). We also went to a palace which, and i don't want to sound dis-respectful here, but reminded me of a mansion at home, rather than a palace for royalty!
We all left Laung Prebang after 4 days which we all agreed was enough time to spend there, having done all the site seeing tours and getting a massage at a rather oddly named massage parlour. We then paid for the VIP bus and were put on a local bus! This is typical of SE Asia and my lesson has now well and truely been learnt! Next stop, Vang Vieng!!!!!!
