Chinese Girls Travel to Laos, Accommodation is Half as Cheap as for Dutch People
Our first stop after Thailand was Luang Prabang, Laos, which was our transit station. We planned to take a boat from Laos's Huay Xai to Luang Prabang. Laos is different from other countries, due to its economic situation, the transportation and convenience are not so good. There are three ways to travel to Laos: by plane, by car, and by slow boat. Taking a plane is not only expensive but also difficult to book. Taking a car, the mountain roads are very complex and dizzying, so people who are prone to motion sickness should not try it. Taking a slow boat takes a longer time,
This is the boat ticket to Luang Prabang, which costs less than 200 yuan in RMB. There are many boats going to Luang Prabang every day. If you are worried about delays, you can book in advance. Many hotels can help you book and pick you up at the pier, but these all require fees,
We booked a boat at 8:30 AM. The pier was even more dilapidated than we imagined, but the scenery was still good. Here, I want to tell all my little friends that slow boats sell small goods, but they don't have lunch, so everyone must prepare food in advance. It is best to bring more snacks and drinks. The things to sell in Laos's Huay Xai are relatively expensive, and it is recommended that budget travelers bring snacks from Thailand's Qingcun, which will save a third of the cost,
Most slow boat passengers are tourists, and backpackers account for the majority. Some cyclists also bring their own bicycles. A man was carrying a car on the boat, and the crew charged him a fee. In fact, cycling in Laos's Huay Xai is also a good thing,
This is the inside of the slow boat, which is more dilapidated than we imagined. We put our luggage in the front part of the boat. At first, we were a little scared, fearing that sitting in such a seat would be very tired. But the experience of sitting down was quite good, because we could enjoy the scenery of the Mekong River. Besides tourists, there are a few local people, but they stop at some villages and not far from Luang Prabang,
You can see people in the picture, most of them are Americans, and there are less than 10 Asians. I've thought about whether this has something to do with the travel habits of every place, plus the different travel guides, the routes taken are different. There are 2 Chinese people, 1 Japanese person, and three Singaporeans on one boat, and the rest are backpackers from Europe.
This is the Mekong River scenery on the Laos side, enjoying a comfortable breeze, you can download several movies in advance to pass the time.
The picture shows the Mekong River scenery on the Thai side, Huay Xai and Qingcun are separated by a river. Before, you could take a boat to go back and forth, but now tourists need to take a bus from customs to go back and forth.
We arrived at around 5:30 PM, and the boat stopped at a small town in Laos. As soon as we got off the boat, the local people came to solicit tourists to stay at their guesthouses. At this time, it is necessary to pay attention to some people holding your luggage and asking for a small tip. We went together with a pickup truck, and the boss started to ask us 85 Lao Kip per person, which was 65 yuan for a Dutch girl. They told us that the price for five of them was 35,000 Lao Kip, which was 27 yuan. It's a little ridiculous. Our boss changed his words.
This small town is the main street area, the most luxurious building is only a few stories high, the houses behind the main street are relatively dilapidated bamboo houses. There are hardly any impressive restaurants on the street. After walking for half an hour, we finally found one, and found that most of the tourists on the boat were eating there.
This is the guesthouse we stayed in, which is considered a relatively good house in the small town. It has network, and you need to pay extra to have breakfast. Personally, Laos's accommodation is not expensive, but the food is expensive because local shortages rely on import, so it's inevitable.
The next morning, we didn't find breakfast, but we saw many barbecue stalls. We bought some grilled meat and shared it on the boat. Our grilled meat and the other passengers gave it a good review. Maybe it was really delicious, or maybe we were all too hungry.
The next day, we took another boat, which felt much better than yesterday. We chatted with a Singaporean uncle on the boat, and his grandfather went to Singapore. Their ancestry is from Chaozhou, written in English, but the pronunciation is Chaozhou. The three oldest elderly people were 74 and 63 years old, respectively, and they were all backpackers like young people. They didn't feel any age at all.
After chatting with the passengers on the boat, we arrived at Luang Prabang.
It feels different in Luang Prabang, a small town with a lot of history and culture, a town forgotten by time, enter Southeast Asia, only to come to Luang Prabang to truly step into the history of this place. In this warm and humid little town, time can flow with the Mekong River, it's really beautiful and quiet.
