Laos, day 1

I had my first, “omg… what the hell am I doing here,” moment this morning. So I mentioned it was pouring rain, right? So it’s pouring rain, and it’s a big travel day. We have to get our stuff down to the river bank, get on this sketchy taxi boat to take it across the river to the Lao Boarder. Go through the whole visa/boarder thing. Get in a tuk tuk, (with all our stuff, in the pouring rain) and go to another river bank where we get in a private boat, where we will be for the whole day as we head up the Mekong to Pakbeng.
At the hotel, they pull up a truck to put all our bags in and the back already has like 3 or 4 inches of rain water in the bottom, and I was all, “We’re putting our bags in there?!” “Can’t we put them with us in the van?” So they let us, but it meant that the van had to make 2 trips down to the dock. Whatever. I was already pissed, from the night before and the breakfast (It was supposed to be pancakes and eggs and fruit ect…), so I wasn’t in the mood for taking any crap. So I’m in the first van load. I have on my crocs, long shorts, under my windbreaker I have my backpack (with my lap top in it) and my big adidas purse with a change of clothes and toothbrush and stuff, because where we are staying tonight is just another simple guest house that we have to hike to, and there’s no way I’m lugging my big bag, but I also have my big bag with me a rain cover on it that doesn’t quite cover it all. Oh, and I also brought an umbrella, which I couldn’t use when I was carrying my bag in my arms, but I could use it the rest o the time. My bag has wheels, but it’s pouring rain and the street is like a mini river. My bag also has backpack straps, but I end up carrying like a baby in front of me instead. The van pulls up to the river bank, and there is like a little tarp canopy thing with 2 wooden benches set up in the mud, where they are selling tickets. We put our bags on the benches and try to stand under the tarp, but the rain is going sideways and we are getting soaked. From the knees down I’m covered in mud. At least with my stupid plastic shoes I can just stick my legs out in the rain and wash the mud off. But they are just splattered again in like 30 seconds. So as we are waiting for the rest of our group, I’m watching other people get in these skinny narrow boats with a little tarp over them, and it’s pouring still, and the mud is running down the hill into the river. A guy slips and falls with his big backpack on and is covered in mud. This is when I though, “holy crap, what am I doing here, with all this stuff, at the end of the rainy season?!” It never stopped raining, but it did sort of slow a bit when it was time for us to get on the boat. There was like a 4x4 that you had to walk on to get from the slippery muddy riverbank onto the slippery wooden boat. The boat guys ended up handling our bags for us, which is almost more nerve racking, watching them doing it, than just doing it yourself. But whatever. I made it on the boat and so did my bag. We had basically, little boards to sit on, which were soaking wet, but at that point, so was I so it didn’t really matter. All we had to do was cross the river, basically, so it didn’t take long, thank goodness. When we got to the other side more boat guys grabbed my bag, and I didn’t see where it went, which freaked me out. But they told me to go wait for all of our passports by the door to this office, where two guys were filling out forms. I walked right in and they’re all, “no no, wait right here in the door way,” except they don’t speak English, they’re telling me this in Lao, and I’m just like, WTF? Then they ask me for money, and I have no idea how I even got picked to be the one to be in charge of trying to get all our passports, and everything should have already been paid for, and I’m just looking at them, like “you’re not getting any money from me, better go talk to someone else.” I guess they sorted it out cause they handed me a stack of passports, each with it’s own entry form inside. We had to sign the paper and then go stand in another line to get our passports stamped. There were all the old French people smoking cigarettes and we are all soaking wet and smashed up against each other. And I’m just all, where’s my stuff. And our new Lao guide who has come to meet us, thinks I’m hilarious, and is just like “don’t worry, it’s fine, it’s right over there.” Oh sure, right over there sitting in a mud puddle, I’m thinking. Anyway, I get my passport stamped and my visa and I get away from the French people, and under another tarp with my bag, and then the Lao guy is like, “ok, give me your passport.” And I’m looking at him like there is no way I’m giving you my passport. “Can’t I just hang on to it and put it in my bag?” I ask him. And again he’s laughing at me, and he’s like, “I have to show it to the police. Don’t worry! I’ll give it to you on the next boat.” Fine. Whatever. Take my passport. Wanna carry this big ass bag, too? So we have to walk up a hill to the mail road where all the tuk tuks are. It’s not raining too hard now, and the river in the road is gone, and it’s mostly just mud, so I decide to just use the wheels on my bag and drag it up the road through the mud. As the morning goes on, I’m caring less and less. At the top of the hill, they throw my bag on a tuk tuk, we climb in the back and sit there for a minute. Then they’re like, ok we have to move to another truck. (they call it a truck, but it’s like a super mini truck, or just a longer tuk tuk). So we climb out and the get the bags down and we cram into another tuk tuk. Then we are off again. We make it to the next dock-like place, and it’s across another narrow 4x4 in the rain onto a pretty nice, long boat with a place for our bags and shoes in the front. Some benches, and then some seats, and then a carpet in the back with some cushions, a table and benches, and a bathroom in the back. The “bathroom” which I haven’t visited yet, empties straight into the Mekong, so I’m trying to avoid it as long as possible, hopefully forever. We get our passports back and we finally get going. The rain slows and soon we are almost dry and listening to some information and history on Laos. (When your talking about the country you say Laos, but when you are reffering to the people it’s Lao). So I’m over wishing I wasn’t here, and I’m finally able to enjoy the experience. We have rented out the whole boat so there are just 11 of us on it, plus our new Lao guide. He said that during the busy season, which runs from Oct. – Apr., these boats will take up to 100 people or more. I can’t even imagine. So really, as crazy as the day has been, we are actually living in luxury. Go figure. And the scenery is pretty amazing. We’ve seen hills covered in rice paddies. Water buffalos wading in the river. Kids rolling down the muddy banks and into the water, speed boat taxis making the 6 hour trip from here to Luang Prabang. Our trip will take 2 lazy days. It’s actually stopped raining now and I can see patches of blue sky. Like I said tonight we stay in Pakbeng, which is really just a little village that happens to be at the half way point, so it has some guest houses. But no real electricity in the city, just a generator that gets turned off at 9pm. I don’t care as long as they don’t have bed bugs!