Laos border crossing - journey to Luang Prabang

We made the 6 hour minibus journey to Chiang Khong in North Eastern Thailand to cross the border into Laos. This was the most pleasant journey to date with a smaller number of bends and the comfort of a luxury minibus, with a stop for lunch at a cashew nut factory and a temple visit thrown in along the way!! - this added at least an hour on to the journey but here everything is done at such a slow pace.

Upon arrival we decided to cross the border straight into Laos as we had a lot of travelling ahead over the next few days and knew we had to be on the bus early the next morning for our next stop.

It was already about 4pm and I envisaged queues of tourists waiting anxiously to cross the border before the gate closed at 6pm (we had seen so many buses on route). When we arrived at the crossing there was just a small hut and two people in the queue - you could barely tell it was a border at all and I doubt anyone would have noticed if i'd just wandered through! There was no signage or explanation of where to go next so we wandered down the track and spotted a tiny boat ready and waiting to get us across to the other side of the river - after hours of being on a hot bus you can enjoy a nice cold shower on the boat as it soaks all the passengers and gives the impression that it could sink any minute as it is weighed down by so much luggage!! (not mine!)


After disembarking at the border- ie: jumping off the end of the boat onto the sand and going to another hut with an equally short queue, paying for the visa - you are into Laos!! We immediately became millionaires as we exchanged our Thai Baht into Kip - it's about 10,000 kip to 1 dollar!!

Having read some terrible reviews we were very pleasantly surprised by the border town of Huay Xia, Laos. Although only made up of a couple of streets, it has beautiful steps up to a temple and some pretty descent guesthouses along the river front. We climbed the steps to the temple at 5ish and got to see the most beautiful sunset, this, coupled with the lovely border staff, made us feel really positive already about our time in Laos. We were also delighted to find that the food was just as yummy here!!



We got up bright and early the next day to begin the two day journey to Luang Prabang. We had two options here: a) take the slow boat with all the other backpackers along the Mekong river which has an overnight stop in a not so pleasant sounding town or b) take the public bus to Omdomxai,stay overnight there and then take a second bus the next day to Luang Prabang. We opted for the supposedly shorter bus route rather than following all the other back packers like sheep, although Omdomxai is a complete dump!!

Whether this was the right decision we will never know but I would warn anyone going to Laos that overland road travel in Laos is hard going so be prepared for some painstakingly slow journeys - especially on public buses! I am not exaggerating when i say that the first bus reached a top speed of 30 miles an hours and a 33okm journey took 7 hours!! Up hill this dropped to 10 miles a hour (which is most of the way). Also be warned that every bus is packed full and I don't just mean with other passengers - they use the rickety old buses for transporting deliveries so we were surrounded by bags of grain, boxes of toiletries, you name it. We had our bags on top of us and a guy picking his feet and peeling oranges all the way!! Infront a girl was being sick into a bag for 5 hours and then tossing them out the window!! This is not a one-off as I have read that chickens are usually brought on the bus too. If a time is quoted then add at least two hours for toilet stops, lunch breaks where they tucked into some delicious looking grub, random breaks when everyone piles off the bus buys a bag of potatoes and then gets back on again then eats the lot raw. There is never a dull moment I can assure you but be patient. Fortunately the first journey was on a road with tarmac (for most of the way) however the second day was on very steep mountain dirt track roads with no barriers and some steep drops. That said the drivers do go very slowly and the scenery is stunning!!

Inside the bus is not so comfortable:

Roadkill for lunch anyone?

Anyway, although a little frustrated at times by the speed, we were glad we took this route as travelling through the mountains you see the highlands with all the hillside tribes - something I expect you miss out on on the boat. It is by doing this route that you realise why Laos is one of the poorest countries in the world - which arriving in Luang Prabang you would never believe!!