Laos, Huay Xai: Slow Down for Pum Pao

Country #6 on our year-long trip has brought us to one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia - Laos. We thought we would be faced with many difficulties travelling to the Thai border, getting a Laos entry visa, figuring out what we were going to do in the country once we got there and also how we would do it via Laos public transport, or lack thereof. Surprisingly, everything was dead simple and we faced no problems whatsoever. In fact, it was almost a sigh of relief to have left Thailand, a country full of many cutthroats wanting every spare penny you have, for a country where the people are still genuinely happy that you would like to visit their country and learn more about their culture.

Laos is the least changed of all countries in southeast Asia, and it is the country which was the most heavily bombed by the United States during the Vietnam War. The country is still a comparatively undiscovered country with the vast majority of the country covered in steep, rugged mountains and forest. Because of the steep terrain, it has so far escaped the dramatic industrial development that has gripped most of its neighbours. The landlocked country offers real tranquillity with its French colonial character still very much intact along with many Buddhist temples and pagodas. The people of Laos are so extremely friendly and the children are very polite, and we can vouch for this as we are writing this journal entry after having visited several cities in the northern part of the country.

We immediately understood why so many people leaving Laos at the Huay Xai border were covered in dust

To get from Chiang Mai to Chiang Khong, the border town which would provide us with travel across the Mekong River to Laos, we booked ourselves on an air-conditioned VIP bus for 270 Baht each (£4 or $7) and travelled in style. The start of the day was fantastic, as we were driven to the bus station, after having breakfast, by Hnum of Spicythai Backpackers hostel. There were no problems whatsoever when we arrived at the station and we boarded the bus ready for the 6 hour journey. We travelled from Chiang Mai to Chiang Khong with a Welsh guy named David who was also staying at Spicythai. He was trying to make it on his own but we decided since Laos was unfamiliar to all three of us, that we would brave the new experience together.

We arrived at the Thai border in the mid-afternoon and approached the border control immigration window. They took the departure cards from our passports and sent us down a ramp to catch a "ferry" across the Mekong River to the Lao town of Huay Xai. There were no ferries in sight and although things look rather dubious, the 50 metre journey across the river would only take a couple of minutes in a longtail boat. So, we threw our bags into a small boat, hopped in ourselves and were in Laos before we had time to think about anything.

Stepping off the boat was like stepping massively on the brakes. We had all heard that life in Laos was much slower-paced than Thailand, and this was completely evident in the small border town of Huay Xai. We walked up a small ramp to go to the immigration office and purchase our 30-day tourist visas ($35). It was incredibly easy and in a few minutes we were all staring at the visa stamps provided to us.

Now that we had made it into Laos, we decided to get organised. Kyle offered to change everyone's Thai Bahts into Lao Kip, and when he approached the money changer window, the guy running the place said he had to pop over to his main office for five minutes to take care of something. Kyle offered to stay and wait while Dan and David went to look into the bus schedules for the next morning, for travel to Luang Namtha. The guy still hadn't come back after 20 minutes and when Dan and David returned to give Kyle the travel news (which was no news, basically, as they received a lot of conflicting details), Kyle suggested that the two guys locate a guesthouse to stay in for the night. As soon as the guys left, the money changer returned and Kyle was able to change the rest of everyone's Thai Baht into Lao Kip before sitting bored for the next 20 minutes waiting for their return.

The guesthouse we stayed in was called Oudomphone Guesthouse and was very nice. We shared a triple room for 100 Baht each (£1.40 or $2); the room had an ensuite bathroom with a hot water shower. The building was new, located just around the corner from the boat landing and the staff were very friendly (except for one time when Dan asked for three large Beerlaos after they had already shut the restaurant - oops). Once we checked in and dropped off our bags in the room, we left the guesthouse to explore the small town.

The first thing we came upon was a temple atop a small hill. We climbed the steps to the top and were given a nice view of Thailand across the Mekong River. We spoke with a friendly, young monk at the temple who provided us with some information about the bus station (he said it was five minutes away), and the monk was adamant he couldn't speak English very well. We all thought he was being modest and just didn't want us to think highly of him, but we found out the next morning that he did indeed not understand what we needed from him, with regards to distance to the bus station.

Coming down from the temple, we walked south along the Mekong on Huay Xai's main road. We quickly came across a setup of northern Laos' famous game, Pum Pao. There are sometimes things listed in our Lonely Planet guide which sound cool but that we never experience, and so all three of us (David has the same Lonely Planet guide as us and everyone else travelling around the area, "Southeast Asia on a Shoestring") were more than happy to relinquish 1000 Lao Kip (5 pence or 9 cents) per game of Pum Pao. The game was awfully exciting; each of us was given three darts and had to throw them at a large wooden box divided into small square recesses, each containing a small coloured balloon. The aim was to pop the balloons, and popping two or three ballons would win a prize.

Dan and David successfully popped two balloons each on the first round; Kyle only hit one. The two D's were able to experience the first prizes of the evening, and as the prizes always tend to be food or drink items, they were each handed a small bottle of fruit juice. We were all pretty thirsty at this point in late afternoon and the juice was welcoming to the winners. Kyle, being a loser in round one and also being super thirsty, decided to give the game another go. It wasn't until about four rounds later that Kyle finally won, by popping three balloons with his darts. He won the larger prize and was given a large bottle of an electrolyte. Kyle opened the drink very quickly and was ready to down it in order to quench his thirst. As soon as the smell hit his nostrils, however, he had second thoughts. The drink was absolutely disgusting and quite a disappointment after the spectacular win (in the fifth round).

David didn't play anymore after winning in round one, as he didn't want to jinx his chances. Dan played another few rounds and won on the last round he played. He hit two balloons and was given another small drink to enjoy. Enjoy he didn't. This drink was similar to Kyle's prize, and was nasty with a capital N. We left the Pum Pao games and walked a little further south to check out the bus station. After awhile the town started thinning out and we gave up and walked back towards our guesthouse to have dinner somewhere. We settled on a restaurant overlooking the Mekong and had a cheap and cheerful meal before heading back to our room at the guesthouse.

Just before we arrived at Oudomphone, we stopped in a travel agency office to enquire again about bus tickets to Luang Namtha. We ended up booking our tickets with a friendly but half-drunk local who seemed to know what he was doing. At the time, we were very happy to have sorted out a bus ticket for the next morning, but when the next morning arrived, we found out that the guy didn't even work at the place... more on that in a moment.

Back in our room, David offered his laptop to us so we could back up some photos onto a DVD. Travelling with a laptop is actually a good idea, and with the amount of time and money we have invested in internet cafes to write these journals and backup our photos, we should have bought a laptop for the trip. We have earmarked Hong Kong as a potential place to get a laptop to use for the rest of the year and will hopefully get a good deal on one. Whilst we were backing up the DVD, we exchanged travel stories with David and talked a bit about his plans through Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. We also each enjoyed a large Beerlao (1-litre) at the amazing price of 9000 Lao Kip each (60p or $1). Someone told us that Beerlao is not allowed in Thailand as the Thais don't want it to interfere with the sales of their own beers Chang, Singha and Leo. We think that it would provide some good competition, indeed, as we drank every last drop in the big bottles.

In the morning, we checked out of our guesthouse and made our way to the tour operator's office, ready for our tuk-tuk to the bus terminal, to move on to our next destination, Luang Namtha. When we arrived promptly at 8:00am, the guy who sold us tickets was nowhere in sight, and the office was closed. We started to panic a little bit but luckily a friendly man outside the tour operator's office helped us sort out the incident; we soon found out that he was the owner of the tour company. Apparently, he knew exactly who sold us the tickets but couldn't reach him on his telephone. We told the owner that it was likely due to a really bad hangover, judging by the state the guy was in the previous night, but we weren't understood and a lot of nodding and laughter was exchanged.

The owner told us that we would have to buy new tickets because the ones we were given were not valid. Kyle was the main one dealing with the owner at this point and was very strong in his dealings, so the owner had no choice but to give us our transport and tickets for the bus. We were definitely in the right, as the owner should have locked his office the night before if he wasn't planning on any tickets to be sold, by him or someone else!

Finally on a tuk-tuk, we were looking forward to seeing what the bus terminal looked like. It was basically a small open-air concrete slab with a few benches and ticket office, all covered by a large concrete roof. Surrounding the "terminal" was a big dusty open space, and it was there that we caught our first glimpse of a Laos public bus. Check the photo album for our next travel blog, Luang Namtha, to see a photo of one of these beautiful vehicles and to read a descriptive account of our first journey through the mountains. We immediately understood why so many people leaving Laos at the Huay Xai border were covered in dust, and could only imagine how dusty and hot we would be getting on our upcoming 8-hour journey to Luang Namtha. Travelling in Laos with backpack covers is an absolute necessity...