English version:
What day is it? It’s Saturday 🙂 Every day since my last day at the beloved Dynatrace, on the 31st October. Seriously, sometimes I have no idea what day it is… Not I would give a single f… though as it really doesn’t matter.
I am writing this post from Vang Vieng and a lot happened since I have departed to Lao from the Alexa hostel in Chiang Mai. A minibus took us to the border, myself and a bunch of other travellers. I made some new friends: Gary Pracy a retired financial advisor dude from Essex, and Ilyena & Pablo – a cute couple from Switzerland. We reached our destination in 5 hours. After the driver got lost a few times :))) we finally arrived at the Thai border town – Chiang Kong – by the afternoon. The accommodation was much better what I expected: we stayed in a nice little motel – the Green River – by the Mekong. The whole journey cost 2,000 baht from Chiang Mai until Luang Prabang and included accommodation of the first night and all meals throughout the journey.
The next morning we crossed the “Friendship” bridge and went through the border. It only cost 35 usd and a passport size photo to get the visa.. Once the visa stamp got into my passport we continued our journey to the pier in Huay Xai, the lao village the opposite side of the Mekong from Chiang Khong. We had a quick lunch and got on the slow boat and our sluggish, noisy ride had begun. The boat mainly carried tourists and a very few locals. Funny thing was the locals got off at villages or houses by the river at some points and there were no piers (?). So the boat literally stopped by the bank of the river, which was strange and made everyone smile. We had to stop like 10 times for them to get off the boat but it was a great experience to see how they live in these isolated environments, surrounded by the jungle. The only access to the civilisation for most of these folks is the river and the boats. You can’t get to them by car, bike or anything as there are no roads in the jungle. A bearded American guy handed over a box of Pringles to children who came to wave us from one of the tiny villages when we dropped a villager off. The children swarmed around the child who held the Pringles and they were so happy. It was great to see that moment.
So the journey was lush, going eastbound on the river Mekong which is wrapped by jungle covered mountains and hills from left and right. I loved to see how the humid jungle leaves were shining in the sun.
How can there be white sandy beaches on a river? Water buffalo families were really enjoying the sunshine on these beaches. Apart from the water buffalos we did not see other animals, however the Mekong is home of a lot of exotic animals: huge catfishes, cobras and other snakes and lot of birds.
We traveled 6 hours on day 1 and 7 – 8 on day 2. At day 1 we slept in a village called Pak Beng. Tiny village with only 1 street with a lot of restaurants.
We arrived at Luang Prabang by sunset which was as usual: very beautiful. I went to my hostel the: Tony Central Hostel and couldn’t wait for my pick up in the next morning.
Magyar verzio:
Milyen nap van ma? Szombat 🙂 Minden nap azota, hogy otthagytam szeretett Dynatrace-emet oktober utolso napjan. De tenyleg, sokszor fogalmam nincs milyen nap van. Nem mintha barmennyire is mozgatna 🙂
Ezt a post-ot Vang Viengbol irom epp. Egy csomo minden tortent azota, hogy elindultam Laoszba a chiang mai-i ALexa hostelbol. Nehany utitarssal uj baratsagot kotottem. Megismertem Gary Pracy-t a nyugdijas penzugy tanacsadot Essexbol es Ilyenat & Pablot – egy aranyos part – Svajcbol. Miutan soforunk nehanyszor eltevedt :)))), 5 oras ut utan ertuk el a celpontunkat, a kis thai hatarvarost: Chiang Khong-ot.
Szallasunk sokkal jobb volt, mint amire szamitottam. Egy kellemes kis motelban – a Green River-ben – szalltunk meg a Mekong folyo partjan. A teljes ut 2,000 bahtba fajt Chiang Maitol egeszen Luang Prabangig es benne volt az elso ejszakai szallas es az osszes etkezes a teljes ut alatt.
A kovetkezo reggel atbuszoztunk a “Baratsag” hidon es atmentunk a hataron. A vizum process nagyon egyszeru volt, ahogy szamitottam ra. 35 USD es egy utlevelfoto utan szepen bepecseteltek az utlevelbe. A hataratlepes utan folytattuk utunkat a Huay Xai-i molohoz. Huay Xai a Mekong laoszi partjan levo falu, pont szemben Chiang Khong-gal.
Egy gyors ebed utan felpattantunk a “lassu” hajora es megkezdtuk csigalassu es zajos utunkat Kelet fel a Mekongon. A hajon tobbsegeben turistak voltak es egy keves helyi. A vicces az volt, amikor a helyiek miatt megalltunk, akik a Mekong melletti kis falvakba vagy kulonallo hazaikba tartottak. A mokas resz az volt, hogy ezeken a helyeken nem voltak molok, igy a hajo egyeszeruen megallt a folyoparton, a helyi arcok pedig leugralltak a csomagjaikkal es gyerekeikkel es szepen felsetaltak a kecoikba. Kb 10x alltunk meg es ez jo alkalom volt latni, ahogy ezek a civilizaciotol tavol lako nepek elnek. A dzsungel teljesen koruloleli ezeket az elohelyeket, nincsenek oda utak igy a kizarolagos csatornajuk a civilizaciohoz a folyo es a “lassu” hajo. Egy szakallas amerikai srac egy ilyen kikoteskor egy doboz Pringles adott az erkezesunkre sereglett es integeto gyerekeknek. A sok gyerek korulugralta a kislanyt, aki tartotta a csipszet. Jo erzes volt latni az oromot a kis arcukon.
Az egesz ut gyonyoru volt, ahogy kelet fele pofogtunk a Mekongon, amelyet jobb es baloldalrol dzsungel boritotta hegyek olteltek at. Imadtam, ahogy a paras leveleken megcsillan a nap fenye.
Hogy leteznek feherhomokos strandok egy folyon? Vizi bivaly csaladok elveztek a napsutest ezeken a vilagtol elzart mini beacheken. A bivalyokon kivul nem lattunk mas allatot, azonban a Mekong nagyon sok exotikus allat otthona. Vannak itt gigaszi meretu harcsak, kobrak es mas kigyok es rengetegfele madar.
6 orat hajokaztunk elso nap es 7-8 orat a masodikon. Az elso nap vegen egy Pak Beng nevu pici faluban aludtunk, ami mindossze egy utca volt egy csomo etteremmel.
Napnyugtara ertunk Luang Prabangba es rogton a hostelembe siettem: A Tony Centralba, ahol alig vartam, hogy reggel felvegyen a taxim.
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