Many paths lead to ... :D (Day 68 of the world trip)

11.11.2019

Actually, we went to bed early yesterday, but that didn't mean we looked at breakfast before 8:30 am :D We each treated ourselves to a banana and then went to 7-Eleven to "strengthen" ourselves :p

That was necessary because today was a real planning day, where we changed our planned route for the second time^^

The original plan was to travel from Chiang Rai to Laos and then move from north to south to get to know Laos as a whole. From there, we would go to Cambodia and then to Vietnam. From Vietnam (Hanoi), we would fly to Malaysia and so on. That was the plan :D

However, after we realized in Chiang Mai that the part that interests us the most here in the north (hiking or simply seeing nature) is very touristy. Sure, we are tourists ourselves, but as with our hike to the Huay Kaew Waterfall, there was something missing ;-) So we wondered if we could satisfy this desire in Laos instead.

Laos has also become a popular destination for backpackers, but from what it looks like in the blogs, the typical route is the one we would have chosen too. From the Thailand-Laos border, you take a two-day boat trip down the Mekong River to Luang Prabang. Although it is not the capital (that is Vientiane), it is THE place to be in Laos. Here, there is not only a national park with a waterfall, but also a large backpacker scene that has given the city a reputation as a party place. How true that really is, we will see for ourselves ;-) But we did some research and found out that northern Laos has a lot to offer - outside of Luang Prabang^^

For about a week, our plan was to travel from Thailand to Laos as planned and then to Luang Prabang. But instead of going to the south, we would only travel to the north and then go to Vietnam. We would travel through Vietnam from north to south (instead of south to north) and then cross over to Cambodia from Ho Chi Minh City and from Cambodia to Malaysia, and so on... ;-)

So today we sat down to book our accommodation in Luang Prabang for the day after tomorrow. While Jonas dealt with the booking/reservation, I researched from which place it is best to enter Vietnam overland, and then I stumbled across a blog entry that offers an alternative to the slow boat down the Mekong River. Because that's what most others do, and if we have the opportunity to do something more "exclusive", we are happy to do it :p :D

Instead of taking the boat from the border, you can also take a bus from the border town of Huay Xai on the Laotian side to Luang Namtha. This is a larger city in northern Laos, which is mainly known for its trekking tours <3 Bullseye! Jonas and I more or less agreed that this is a good alternative. So he cancelled the accommodation booking in Luang Prabang and we changed our route in our heads once again.

Tomorrow morning we will get up at 5:00 am to take the first bus from Chiang Rai to Chiang Khong at 6:00 am. That is the border town on the Thai side and the journey is expected to take about 2-3 hours (the information here is never completely reliable^^). After crossing the border, in Huay Xai, we will take the bus to Luang Namtha.

We read about this bus on several blogs. However, the most recent one is already 4 years old, so it will be exciting to see if and at what times the bus operates :D We hope that we are at the bus station on time tomorrow to catch the bus and have already booked accommodation in Luang Namtha for tomorrow evening just in case^^

Quite a few Luangs and Chiangs, right? :D :D We are both looking forward to tomorrow, hoping that everything goes well but not TOO easy, to keep a little bit of adventure ;-)

It is likely that we will not have good internet in the next few days, and we still don't know if we will buy a Laotian SIM. Anyway, the topic of "buying" is still uncertain. Laotian Kip or US dollars are both used in Laos, but ATMs are often less successful... We'll see what exactly awaits us :D We are excited ;-)

We actually sat at the laptop or phone until 4:00 pm, researching things, and we have had a lot of fun doing that :) Jonas has already found a trekking tour that I was afraid of and we discussed it a bit, but yaaa, more about that another time :D :D

First, we have to arrive in Laos - hopefully tomorrow evening in Luang Namtha! ;-)