Laos - Time to Slow Down
We’d read updates on the Laos border entry and had been warned to watch out for unexpected ‘charges’. The immigration area was ramshackle and a bit of a mess. We had to hand in our passports to get our visas on arrival. The guy who took them asked for $2 each for a ‘processing fee’. I pointed out that we were paying $40 each for the visas so we shouldn’t be paying an extra admin fee. He shook his head and persisted that we should. In the end I said we’d only pay it if we could have an official receipt. His look was priceless and suddenly the request went away.
We filled in an arrivals form which was another thing we’d read they get tourists on - we had to ask Mr Slippery passport man for one as they’d conveniently not left any blank forms out.
We got our passports back after paying the $40 each and finally got stamped in. We then had a battle to keep the arrivals form we’d completed that we’d been told they would ask for when we exited Laos and would fine us for not having.
Next step was to get the vehicle TIP (Temporary Import Permit). This had to be completed on a computer screen - thankfully there were 2 young guys helping us and the motorcyclists. The tricky bit now was how to pay for the permit. We were directed to a payment machine that took cash (no it didn’t), credit cards (but not foreign ones) or a payment App that we couldn’t download. Several of the motorcyclists and us stood scratching our heads. Eventually one of the English motorcyclists said he’d downloaded the app while in China and he kindly managed to pay for several of us.
We were now issued with a sticker to go on our windscreen (which will almost certainly fall off in wet and humid conditions) and a payment receipt which meant we were free to go - no vehicle checks by Laos customs at all !
We purchased vehicle insurance from a booth after the border and a SIM card and we were ready to go. We found a coffee shop and Chinese supermarket for a few bits, but Boten isn’t somewhere you’d want to hang around.
We have been to Laos previously. We did a cycling holiday in 2009 (17 Years ago!) from Hanoi in North Vietnam through Laos to the capital Vientiane. We remember it as being a very rural scenic undeveloped country with friendly people.
Some facts about Laos:
Laos was once called 'the Land of a Million Elephants' - a reminder of the time when they were used for warfare, transport, logging and royal ceremonies. Sadly today there is only a tiny fraction of this number remaining.
Laos is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia, although it does have an extensive river network, including the mighty Mekong River that is practically a national highway
Sticky rice is eaten with everything
Beerlao is one of the country's biggest brands and a big source of national pride - in fact we should have bought shares in it the amount we’ve consumed.
Laos had a shocking connection to the Vietnam war. Between 1964 and 1973 the country was subjected to more than half a million bombing missions making it the most bombed country in the world per capita. There are still huge amounts of unexploded bombs in the country today still causing death or maiming of the Laos people.
We had thought of parking up by a lake near the border, but it looked like the whole area was under development as a free trade zone so we kept going. We knew the roads were going to be rough in Laos, but after the slick China roads they were shocking. There must have been some bad flooding in this area recently as we could see piles of dirt at the sides of the roads and collapsed riverbanks with houses washed away.
It was slow going and we found an iOverlander spot that we’d been aiming for was inaccessible after landslides. The light was fading so we ended up in the empty car park of a modern looking railway station. The Chinese have built a new railway line through Laos, presumably for their benefit to transport Chinese goods. It wasn’t the quietest night - lorrys passing by, dogs barking and live music nearby.
We only had about 130km to drive to Nong Khiaw but based on the previous days progress we were expecting at least 6 hours tough driving. A few of the Bike China guys passed us. Then Sophie and Martin passed us and pulled over for a quick catch up. They had endured another puncture today (after having one on the way to the border the previous day). They were heading straight to Luang Prabang where they were renting a place for a few weeks to do some online work from.
We kept trying to convince ourselves the road was improving - more wishful thinking I’d say.
The road took us up and over some very green tropical mountains and the colours of the paddy fields were stunning.
We peeled off route 13 (the M1 equivalent in Laos) for the last 30kms to Nong Khiaw. Nong Khiaw read as being a beautiful riverside village surrounded by dramatic limestone mountains on the Nam Ou River. We’d seen a lovely riverside place not far from the village recommended by other overlanders called Papaya Resort. We had booked 4 nights here to have a much needed rest after 2 crazy intense months driving through Mongolia and China covering around 12,500 kms.
As we pulled up we thought we’d died and gone to heaven. We were staying in an A-frame chalet with a balcony looking onto the river and mountains - with aircon and en-suite for £12.50 a night. Something told me we may be here more than 4 nights.
After a large Beerlao, fresh spring rolls and Laos curries, which are very much like Thai curries (red, green and yellow) but less coconutty, we had the best nights sleep for a long time.
The first day we didn't plan to do anything. We did some internet jobs and started to look at our onward route through Laos and beyond. The lodge ran tours in the area, some being multi day treks, but we decided to do a one day guided tour that had a bit of everything - a boat trip up the river, visiting some villages, caves and a waterfall, then kayaking back the last stretch.
It was a beautiful day as we set off - the mist was burning off and the cruise up the river was wonderful watching life going on around us. Our kayak was left on a sandbank to collect later.
We called in at a village. There were around 40 families living here (300 people). Our guide said many of them originally lived in the hills growing opium, but the government had forced them to settle in the villages to try to curb this enterprise. There was a small school here and we stuck our head into the 2 classrooms. There are no medical facilities in the village - they prefer natural remedies (& opium….).
We carried on cruising along the river to the village of Muang Ngoi which can only be reached by the river. We had a walk through the village which seemed to be largely bars and restaurant hangouts for backpackers. It was quiet when we were there, but we imagine these will get busy in the next month as the season kicks in.
We visited the Buddhist temple at the end of the village then headed on a trail to visit a cave where up to 1,000 people lived during the war.
After visiting the caves we carried on up to a lovely viewpoint of the river and the village.
Back down at river level we had a tasty lunch of rice and vegetables wrapped in banana leaves.
The boat took us back partway down the river where we disembarked to walk to the Tadmok limestone waterfall. This took us through another village and scenic paddy fields.
We enjoyed a much needed refreshing dip in the cool waters when we reached the waterfall. We were joined by some happy young monks enjoying a swim.
We returned to the boat and cruised back to where we’d left our kayak - just before the bridge in Nong Khiaw. It took us about an hour to kayak back to our place. We were both shattered, but it had been a great day.
We ended up having 6 nights at the lodge. It was perfect chill time that we needed. We passed our days cycling the 2 kms into the village on our Bromptons for coffees, sundowners and meals. We met some overlander motorcyclists who’d come through China as well (including an English guy - a rarity on our trip) and met some nice travellers stopping at the lodge.
We did some jobs on Lolly, but the crazy heat and humidity made this hard. We also cooed over the 3 adorable little puppies and enjoyed the beautiful views from our accommodation - usually with a Beerlao in hand 🍻
We'd loved our time in Nong Khiaw, but we were ready to move on. Our next destination was Luang Prabang, where we had visited on our cycling holiday.
It had bucketed down with rain all night so it felt slightly cooler as we set off for the days drive. We called into the village to pick up some fresh food provisions before setting off.
We knew today’s journey would be slow on badly potholed roads, but it took nearly 7 hours to cover 120km. There are way too many oversized trucks on the road and getting past them was tricky. One thing we always question is how do the locals manage to stay so clean on the either very dusty or muddy conditions?
It was a relief when we turned off the main road onto a dirt track for the last few kms to Pak Ou, which is about 25km north of Luang Prabang. There are caves here that are famous for housing thousands of Buddha statues of all shapes and sizes.
We made the mistake of trying to park Lolly in the village near the boat station. Low hanging cables meant we had to turn around (with some difficulty). We took a boat across the Mekong river to see the caves. We remembered visiting here 17 years ago.
Back at Lolly we had more fun trying to manoeuvre her out of the village with the locals watching on with some amusement.
We parked for the night in the good sized car park at the entrance to the village (where we should have parked on our way in). It was a hot, sticky, humid night and even the rain didn’t cool it down.
We were looking forward to an air-conditioned hotel for the next few days in Luang Prabang.
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