Well although we had worked on getting a wake-up call, we didn’t get one. I downed my breakfast, and booked it to get some cheap water before leaving on the next part of our journey. We all loaded onto the second bus leaving for the border and we realized how easy it actually would have been to get our exit stamps ourselves… I guess technically this is the first time we were “duped” or “taken advantage of” as dumb tourists on our trip. ‘Oh well’ we say as we move on, at least it is only 180 baht, and we are on our way to Laos…
We ferry across the Mekong is some iffy little wooden boat and then it is into the flurry of people bunching up at the visa window praying to get their passports back. The system is: they take the passport and visa from people and groups, do their little approval process, and then show it to a window. If you are lucky enough to see yours before it disapears back into the pile, or if some english speaking guy is able to read and call out your name and you can pile yourself to the window in time, you get yours back (after you pay of course.)
We realized soon however, many people were paying for “friends” or “girlfriends” or whatever. You could, with 30 USD go to the Laos border, and essentially buy a passport from whatever nationality you want, and the border crew could care less who they hand it over to. Needless to say I had my butt right up at the window and didn’t move until all three of ours were accounted for.
Then it was to annother window for a little more approval, then a gate for more approval, then what looked like a popsicle stand to fill your name out on a list and to have one more chance to buy a rip-off pillow for the slow boat.
We eventually got a tuk-tuk (instead of a mini-bus like most others) and we were brought to where the slow boats depart. We were instantly kept separate from those there already, taken aside, and then given a talk “for our own saftey.” We were told already the river was low, but now were being told it was so low, that boats cannot make it and if we try, we MIGHT need to sleep in the sand, or under a bridge. Not sounding great, and after some “why wasn’t this mentioned at any point before” and some dodging and hiding behind lack of english language skills, we as a group decided we paid for the slow boat and we will stick with it, and not pay the extra 500 baht for a mini bus (which is what the saftey talk was trying to sell us.) A couple german girls were going to settle for the bus, but then after finding out that as the only two, they would need to pay for the whole thing themselves, they decided boat as well.
After a new guy came out and tried to sell us accomidation at Pak Beng (our expected over night village along the way.) We said “why would we” and he explained that it was a 100% that we would make it there. Too many alarm bells for us, we figure we will just get a room when we get there, as was the plan the whole time up to this point. Not everyone had that sense though. After being forced to wait 1.5 hours at this restaurant by the slow boats, they figure we have spent all we plan to there so they finally start loading us on the slow boat. After about 30 of us get on, some guy pops back out and starts telling everyone to not board. There was supposedly no more room, and if we don;t refuse they will just keep cramming more and more of us on until it was unsafe.
This delayed the process for a long time, I went on to check it out and we were able to get seats, so we all boarded and stayed on, but not everyone after us was so lucky. More and more people kept showing up and eventually a second boat was brought on. Ours was no doubt more crowded, but people got to drinking, and it really quickly became more like a fun party than being cramped on a small uncomfortable boat. Four or five hours later we arrive at a beach.
“This is not Pak Beng, this is a sandy beach.”
To be continued… there is an 11:30 curfew here in Luang Prabang (yes, we eventually made it) and I need to be travelling tomorrow… more entries to come 