Chang Khong, on the Mekong River and the border between Thailand and Laos, is a 6 hour bus ride from Chang Mai. A journey which was fairly comfortable and included the always essential, air conditioning. Quickly found a cheap and clean hotel for the night, and booked a 'slow boat' journey from Hui Xiang, on the opposite bank of the Mekong, in Laos. This was a 2 day journey on the Mekong river to Luang Prabang with a one night stopover at Pak Beng, both days involved 7 to 8 hours on the boat. I joined forces with a young Australian couple, and we subsequently travelled together through Laos and Cambodia, it was fun being with younger people again and I took part in some activities I might not otherwise have attempted, for example, swinging over a river on a rope swing and jumping 10 metres into the river, very exhilerating! (See photo, later).The boat journey took us through some unspoilt sub tropical forest, lightly populated, and also with many steep sided rocky hills and small attractive sandy beaches, some of which were used to grow crops of mainly vegetables. The main activity by local people on this stretch of the river was fishing, usually in the early evening, from small hand made boats powered by small engines.
Despite the rather cramped conditions on the boat I met many fellow travellers and gained a lot of information re some of the places I am travelling to over the next year or so. We stayed in Luang Prabang for 3 days, and enjoyed the local sights, including the very fine Wat (which had 'Buddha's 7 ft footprint') set on the hill overlooking the town. Luang is one of the cleanest and prettiest towns I've visited so far and I'd recommend it as being well worth a visit, the people are also friendly and helpful. The Night Market was the best yet and there were many restaurants serving food from many countries and of course Lao food which has strong French influence with a good culinary reputation, particularly in Luang Prabang. We visited the 7 tier waterfall 15 km outside the town, by tuk-tuk, and swam at 2 of the levels and swung from ropes into the second pool (see photo's).
The next town of Vang Vieng was again by a 7 hour minibus journey, a very uncomfortable experience with frequent stops as the driver stopped to buy his groceries at local markets much to mine and many of my fellow passengers irritation. Vang Vieng was a small unattractive town, though surrounded by spectacular limestone cliffs with many accessible caves. The most popular activity there is 'tubing' ie travelling 4km or so back down river to the town in a tractor inner tube and stopping off at bars on the riverbanks (they pull you in by rope) where you can also jump from a 15 or so metre high platform by swing and fall into the river..... great fun if so inclined, I managed 2 jumps in 2 days, Sue and Liam jumped from every swing at every bar on the way down, a not inconsiderable feat. Vang Vieng is also the most hedonistic place I've yet visited, it is full of young people from all over the world, and sports more bars in the high street than anywhere else of its size (population of 30,000), so if you like peace and quiet, avoid it. We also spent a day visiting caves were you could swim in underground lagoons (we did) and climb over rocks and through narrow spaces to see stalactites and stalactmites in cavernous caves that could only be viewed by torchlight, absolutely spectacular, and my photos do not do them justice! We finished this day kayaking 8 km downriver back to Vang Vieng, passing people tubing on the way. Despite an energetic 2 days we hired bikes on the 3rd day and cycled 3km out of town to explore more caves, that were equally spectacular.
After 4 days in Vang Vieng, I then travelled (again by bus, but not minibus) to Ventiane, the capital of Laos, and spent one day sightseeing local Wats and the Laos equivalent of the Arch de Triomph (see photos and ?correct spelling). The hotel was a bit more expensive than elsewhere in Laos, but comfortable and peaceful after Vang Vieng. The food in Ventiane was international and we finished our stay in Lao with Italian food and some decent wine.
I decided to fly to Cambodia, as it was, apparently, easier to go through immigration and sort out a visa at an airport as some people had reported problems at the border crossings undertaken on foot.
List of Photos (unfortunately in reverse order to events!):
Photo 1 One of the many impressive fountains in Ventiane
Photo 2 The only floodlit caves near Vang Vieng
Photo 3 The swing over the river, I had only just swung and jumped.
Photo 4Trekking through jungle to the limestone caves near Vang Vieng
Photo 5 Last dinner in Luang Prabang, with Sue and Liam - the food was very good!.
Photo 6 Part of the 7 tier wwaterfall near Luang Prabang
Photo 7 The Reclining Buddha at the Wat on the hill overlooking Luang Prabang
Photo 8 Breakfast in a cafe overlooking the Mekong at Luang Prabang
Photo 9 A small village on the Mekong
Photo 10 My first view of the Mekong River, taken from Chang Khong, the opposite bank is Laos