A Wedding on a Wedensday!

Welcome to the Jungle

After a six hour bus ride from Chiang Mai to Chiang Khong we arrived at the banks of the Mehkong River. A quick boat trip across the brown waters with yet another moaning Pom (no offence to our UK readers but most of them seem to be complaining about something when we meet them) put us in our first destination in Laos, Huay Xai. We spent the night there, as the boats that transport travellers (and locals, although they sit in the engine room and probably pay 10% of what we do) leave in the morning.

We started our next day bright and early, with a run in the smoggy morning air. Unfortunately, there is a lot of pollution in these parts, especially at this time of year, and it just leaves a grey haze everywhere you look. After a bit of brekkie we caught our slow boat for Luang Prabang. There was also a fast boat option but apparently fatalities are common when the river is low (which it certainly is at the moment). We did actually see a few operating, although they were mainly a bit further south. The slow boat is a two day journey (six hours the first day and nine the second day), with an overnight stop in a crazy little village. Their boats are rudimentary at best, with tiny wooden benches for seats and engines in dire need of a bit of maintenance. However, as we've come to expect in Laos, they somehow still manage to get the job done. We actually enjoyed the trip though and our boat on the second day even had more comfortable seats.

Along the way there were a few minor mishaps to keep up entertained. The tiny wooden bench seats are nailed into a piece of wood at one end and free standing at the other. Well most of them are. Apparently ours was just free standing because when Kev tried to get up to sit on the side of the boat our seat collapsed. No worries though, by the time we'd picked the seat back up there was a guy there with a hammer and a few nails. I'm guessing that's not the first time it happened. Then when we pulled up at the half way stop for the night, there didn't appear to be a place for our boat to park. We obviously both missed the two foot gap that the driver figured was plenty wide enough. So in we went with the sound of wood cracking and nails being pried loose. It worked in the end though. On the second day, just after we had left a rest stop, the driver suddenly beached the boat on the river bank. A quick look in the engine room revealed a little problem, as there was about four litres of oil sprayed all round the place, including all over some unlucky people's bags. A high pressure oil line had burst at an elbow that had clearly been "fixed" mickey mouse style in the past. So does he get out a welder, maybe a soldering iron, or perhaps a pipe joint of some description? No way, he grabs some super market bags and wraps them around the leak instead! Then he finished it off with some rubber tubing. Welcome to Laos. But yet again, somehow it held all the way to Luang Prabang.

Lauang Prabang

Lauang Prabang is the shizzle. Got in off the slowboat around 6pm and wandered round trying to find a guesthouse. Accomodation is a little more expensive here, and cos we were over walking round in the heat with our packs ended up paying a whopping $14 for a room, was nice to have a warm shower for the first time in weeks. Went out that night a had a romantic dinner for 2 down by the river. They have a row of resturants on the river all lit by candles and lanterns. The phrase "How's the serenity" was made for this place. Pushed on from there and found some bars on the other side of the "mountain". There is this hill in the middle of town that has a wat on top, really quite random but really cool. Went to a bar called Lao Lao that had the best beer garden we had ever seen, it was litterally a garden on multi levels with all these lanterns and a bonfire. Proceeded to get incredibly drunk first on "beer bombs" which is Beer Lao, 7-Up, Vodka and a local red bull type stuff and then on the 700ml bottle of whiskey we brougth for $6.

There is a law here that bars cant be open after midnight so we all got the boot at 12. The thing to do then apparently is go bowling as not officially being a bar they can get away with staying open. Mustered up 12 or so other drinkers, tuk-tuked it to the alley and proceeded to play the worst game of bowling in my life (Marcus was on fire however), think I got abt 42.

Next day after somehow getting home we drifted around LPB trying to fnid a cheaper guesthouse. Signed up at this one place and the owner Kao, came out and asked us if we wanted to go to his sister's wedding that night. So at 2pm we got in this van with some other guests from the place, and bowled drove about an hour out of town. Had a good crew, us, two Sweedish girls Camilla and Karin, Richard a English guy who had been living in Thailand, Clive an English Events Promoter Kao and has younger mate Tak. Got out of the van/truck/ute thing in this dusty wee village and then got on a boat up the Meekong to the village where the wedding was. Such a wicked spot, great view of the river and really peaceful.

That night was the pre-wedding "event" and it was just unreal. Rocked up to the main house and dumped our bags and went and had a "shower" which was a swim in the river. Came back and they had cooked us a massive feed, it even filled Marcus cos as soon as the bowls got low they filled them back up. Ate local style, a few communal bowls in the middle and you grab some sticky rice in your hand and dip it in the other dishes. We also drank local style which consisted of filling a glass with Beer Lao and ice, giving it to someone who is expected to down it in one, return the glass to be refilled (with the same ice) and given to the next person in the circle! If New Zealanders think they have a problem with a drinking culture it is nothing on Laos! The musnt see too many white folk in the village as all the local kids crowded round the windows watching us the whole time.

The "Shower"

So after eating and drinking headed outside to, and I quote "Start drinking"!!! They had this stage and tables set up and a live band which consisted of a dude on a keyboard and a singer who were pretty good. They have this whisky here called LaoLao which tastes like tequila mixed with petrol, but probably stronger than that. There was a bottle on each table and once again the process of drink and return the cup for the next guy started.

People danced to the band which was really interesting. The culture is really conservative here and at first the standard dance "the worm" was were you stood in this line and moved around painfully slowly waving your hands. The locals were stoked as that we all got up and danced. Anyway, this was abt 8pm. In the space of the next 4-6 hours the entire village proceed to get ridiculously drunk on LaoLao, everyone from the kids to the old men. The "worm" dance evolved into what would be best described as a rave or dance party and the music picked up the pace too. Marcus and I decided to finish a bottle of LaoLao which we finally managed, were congratulated and given another! Was one of the craziest nights of my life, taught all the locals the high 5 and the maori handshake.

The next day we were given breakfast which no-one could manage too much of as we had eaten so much the night before. The locals cranked the beer back out around 8am (I think some of them were still going from the night before). There was one guy the town drunk, who was staggering round the place at 9 in the morning, but was still going strong in the afternoon! They had the actual wedding in a house and then a do outside followed by even more eating and drinking. Managed to get away around 4 and back to LPB about 6. Went out for tea with Camilla and Karin but it was a pretty quiet night as we were all exhausted from the wedding.

The bride and groom

The town drunk

It was such a great experience and we were not asked for any money at all, the local people here are all so gueniinly kind and willing to help you out. One more night here then heading south to Vang Vien.