To start the day off we found that our travel agent had not sent the money to the guest who that arranged our visa and slow boat trip into Laos. It was a complete mess and they said that we would have to stay two more days until they got the money transferred from the travel agent in Pai. There was no way we were staying here any longer so after much arguing and aggravation we paid for the trip again hoping to get refunded from the travel agent later on.
Finally got over the Mai Khong River into Laos and were fed a story about how terrible and uncomfortable the slow boat would be. They said the boat was packed with 100 people, the toilet overflows onto your feet, was 8 hours long per day and the place we stopped at had no electricity, was not safe and could be as much as 800 baht a room. We expected a pleasant trip from everyone whom we had talked to that had done this trip prior so this really popped our bubble. Every ones faces dropped as the man told this story. Of course he offered another option which was a mini bus strait to Lang Prabang. About 17 of us decided to do the mini bus option and we all dished out much more money for the bus which was suppose to be 7 hours.
We were 8 deep in the small shuttle bus which took 12 hours instead of 7 because of the unfinished and extremely rough Lao roads. Laos is a beautiful country with very friendly people. This day turned out to be a great bonding experience with a group of Kiwi's who were on the bus with us and we became quick friends singing and laughing almost the whole way.
No comments:
Post a Comment