day 21 - Chiang Saen to Houay Xay, Laos

Thursday, 14 November 2013

We arrived yesterday into the town of Houay Xay in Laos! Excited to be here and to begin the next leg of our journey!

Our last day of riding in Thailand proved to be one of our toughest days yet. We had a 55km journey and expected it to be a pretty easy ride but the first 30km was on unsealed, pothole riddled roads and the remainder of the journey involved quite a lot of short but steep climbs. We were fortunate that we had a lot of cloud cover and the temperature remained in the 20s. With 3km to go from our destination, we had one last climb and then we were in Chiang Khong, from where we would catch a boat across to Laos. 

(The road was a dirt track for some of the way)

(Dr. Bicycle. Dusty roads and fast cars meant we were grateful we had face masks)

(Mist over the mountains of Thailand)

(A view into the valley with Laos in the distance)

(From a view point overlooking the Mekong. Only another 12km to go from here)

As we had arranged our visas before leaving Australia, we were hoping for a straight forward transition. We had our passports stamped at the Thai border indicating our departure date then made our way down to the water to work out how to catch a boat. A kind man must have noticed the lost look on our faces and pointed us to a woman selling paper tickets by the water's edge. She charged us 160 Baht (about $5) for ourselves and the two bikes and pointed us in the direction of the long boats that were lined up at the shore. One boat driver came towards us and started to lift the bags off our bikes and load them onto the boat. It was a two minute crossing over the Mekong and then we were in Laos. Just like that. Nicky went to immigration while Paul looked after the bikes and with only a brief form to complete, we were good to go within about 10 minutes. 

(Crossing the Mekong in the long boat)

We then had a bit of a comedy of errors trying to locate our hotel. What should have taken five minutes took us nearly an hour and Nicky was a little bit on edge once we got there! We headed out shortly afterwards to make arrangements for the coming few days. After having read a lot of positive reviews, we decided to book a three day excursion with the Gibbon Experience. The excursion will involve trekking, zip-lining through the jungle canopy and a two night stay in tree houses in the Bokeo Nature Reserve. It should be great fun! 

We had our first taste of Laos food when we went out for dinner. It was very tasty. The local dish 'laap' is a spicy salad with meat or fish and we'll be looking out for that on the menu next time. After dinner, we chatted with a French lady, Nicole, who was sitting nearby in the same restaurant. Nicole had just come back from 18 days in Myanmar where she travelled by herself. She has seen much of Asia, including China, Vietnam and Cambodia and, like us, has found the people to be so friendly. It was great to hear about Nicole's positive experiences and we have now added the French Alps (Nicole's home) to our list of places to visit. 

(Our first Laotian meal)

We check in for the Gibbon Experience at 8.30am this morning and will return on Sunday afternoon. We hope to have some great stories and photos to share then. 

(Looking over the Mekong and back into Thailand from Laos)