Been travelling
Haven't updated the blog for a while because we have been on the move. Day 1 was from Pai to Chaing Kong, a 9 hour bus journey - 'nough said. Stayed in Chaing Kong - pretty uneventfull, but were woken up by buddism drumming at 5 in the morning (much like staying at Harrys for a night). Caught the ferry over to Laos in the morning 9crossed the border) Then had to make the hard decision of Slow Boat to Luang Prabang (2 days trip) or Speed Boat (6 hours). Ummmmmmm - went for Spped Boat, we had hear some horror stories about the speed boat but were game for a laugh.
At 11 o'clock we got into our speed boat. I haven't laughed so much for weeks, these things are about 1 metre wide and 7 meters long, extremely pointed at the front and have a 200bhp Toyota engine on the back (with no case), 6 of you sit on the floor of the boat with your knees bent up to your chin, you strap on your Crash helmet and hold on for dear life. Then they start the engine....... Bloody hell these engines are loud - they sell you ear plugs before you get on, but Green Day at full power through my ipod did me fine (although you could still hear the engine). Then you get started!!!! They are the fastest things I have ever seen on water, no joke or exageration they must hit about 100kmph, the Smiles on our faces went from ear to ear until we hit the first bit of chop....your spine shatters with each 2cm wave on the river!
The drivers (or pilots, as they call themselves) are amazing...the Mekong river is wide, and dangerous there is just Limestone cliffs and jungle on each side, with rocks, whirlpools, waves and giant catfish (3m in length), and the 'pilots' cane it down the river so that you think you are within 1 inche of losing your life at any second.
I haven't had so much fun in ages. You peg it past the people on the slow boat and you can see them laughing at you, but we are all just so amped everyone just waves thier fist and shouts back. If anyone ever reading this has to make the decision about slow boat (and most people take the slow boat) and the speed boat - take the speed boat!!!
To make things even better on the last leg of the journey - the boat that we were racing against had engine problems, so every 20 minutes we had to stop to fix their engine, so we ended up doing the last 1 hour in the dark ! The river turned so flat like a mirror, and the 'pilot' cranked up the speed, but knows the river so well that we did it without a light.
AMAZING!!
P.S Sam will write the next post about Laos and Luang Prabang - but I have to give a big thanks to Harry fro recommending Laos as it is the COOLEST place i have ever been on earth, Luang Prabang is amzing - kind of a French/Swiss architecture town placed between 2 major rivers. The people here are wicked, and Sam and i have spent all day walking round winding up the kids, picking them up off the floor and mending their bikes when they fall off. AWESOME, everyone has to come here.
Out,
Chris
At 11 o'clock we got into our speed boat. I haven't laughed so much for weeks, these things are about 1 metre wide and 7 meters long, extremely pointed at the front and have a 200bhp Toyota engine on the back (with no case), 6 of you sit on the floor of the boat with your knees bent up to your chin, you strap on your Crash helmet and hold on for dear life. Then they start the engine....... Bloody hell these engines are loud - they sell you ear plugs before you get on, but Green Day at full power through my ipod did me fine (although you could still hear the engine). Then you get started!!!! They are the fastest things I have ever seen on water, no joke or exageration they must hit about 100kmph, the Smiles on our faces went from ear to ear until we hit the first bit of chop....your spine shatters with each 2cm wave on the river!
The drivers (or pilots, as they call themselves) are amazing...the Mekong river is wide, and dangerous there is just Limestone cliffs and jungle on each side, with rocks, whirlpools, waves and giant catfish (3m in length), and the 'pilots' cane it down the river so that you think you are within 1 inche of losing your life at any second.
I haven't had so much fun in ages. You peg it past the people on the slow boat and you can see them laughing at you, but we are all just so amped everyone just waves thier fist and shouts back. If anyone ever reading this has to make the decision about slow boat (and most people take the slow boat) and the speed boat - take the speed boat!!!
To make things even better on the last leg of the journey - the boat that we were racing against had engine problems, so every 20 minutes we had to stop to fix their engine, so we ended up doing the last 1 hour in the dark ! The river turned so flat like a mirror, and the 'pilot' cranked up the speed, but knows the river so well that we did it without a light.
AMAZING!!
P.S Sam will write the next post about Laos and Luang Prabang - but I have to give a big thanks to Harry fro recommending Laos as it is the COOLEST place i have ever been on earth, Luang Prabang is amzing - kind of a French/Swiss architecture town placed between 2 major rivers. The people here are wicked, and Sam and i have spent all day walking round winding up the kids, picking them up off the floor and mending their bikes when they fall off. AWESOME, everyone has to come here.
Out,
Chris
posted by Chris at 9:56 AM
2 Comments:
Its not difficult to see which person in the boat enjoyed that the most
MEE !!!!!
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