Day 1:

OK so here we go, day 1, taxi ( ie Toyota Commuter minibus) booked for 3.30pm, arrives at 2.30pm way before I have my final shower before departure. So we set off earlier than expected to pick up 3 others then off to Bangkok railway station accompanied by a torrential downpour. Thailand is facing the worst floods in years and we take another deluge on route to the station, but fortunately as we approach Bangkok the weather brightens and we arrive in glorious sunshine. We arrive at 1800h for the 2000h train to Nong Khai on the Thai/Laos border. The rest of the gang arrive by other taxi's and eventually there's 16 of us ready for the off. We all take a nose bag and a beer at a street cafe, then head for the train.

By 1900h we are all aboard waiting for the departure, but due to problems with flooded track on some legs of the route the train does not leave until 2130h. So off we trundle in a 1950's train with the usual hole in the floor urinal and a sing in Thai which obviously says:
"When the train is in the station, please refrain from urination
Miscreants will pay a five pound fine" or something like that. Thank you ET!

The design of the double stacked sleeper beds was obviously pinched from those in Europe as they were very functional and comfortable. So we started moving and it must have taken at least an hour to clear Bangkok, next thing we know we're heading past the airport going due east rather than north east obviously the North East line was flooded so we trundled slowly on. Once all the beds were down we all tried to sleep. I managed from 2300h to 0130 and then tossed and turned for the rest of the night, way to noisy to sleep. At the end of what seemed to go on for ever, plastic breakfast came.

Looks like SRT had discovered cling film so everything served was plastered in it to avoid spillage. 3 cups of reasonable "3 in one coffee" 2 rubbery eggs and 2 fan-tailed sausages plus 2 small slices of anaemic toast with a dollop of butter finished the gourmet breakfast. My dear wife faced up to a bowl of rice porridge (or Chuck in Cantonese) only to abandon it when she found a bug floating in it, but not one of the ones she normally eats!

Day 2:

Train finally arrived at 1130h just in time to get a passport photo and a tuk-tuk to Laos Border. Another wait to get through Thai Immigration then on a bus to Laos Immigration, just in time for closed for lunch, so another wait, 1300THB later Laos visa obtained and another page in the passport gone! Another slow queue and then we hired 2 minibuses to take us to our Hotel.

Thought the Saturday hash started at 1600h, but we arrived at the hotel with BB our Laos/Aussie host to chase us back onto tuk-tuks to go to run meeting place. Then shoved on to a truck-bus to the run site 20km away in a very small rural village.

Fortunately the natives were friendly and we set off at 1600h for a very short run. Back to the A site for some well earned cold beer and French style baguettes with cheese and salad fillings, a feature of French colonialism thank God.

Then followed the most boring circle with a painful session on an ice tray whose edges bit into your legs, not pleasant at all. The things one does for pleasure!??? More beers and then back to the hotel for wine o'clock nightcaps.

Sunday there was a morning hangover hash, but we skipped that to concentrate on the Southern Hemisphere quarter finals at WRC2011, having missed the Northern Hemisphere ones on the Saturday, did I hear a cheer as England were sent home?? We walked for a while to find the Highland Bar, but it had moved to it's third location, nobody knew where it had gone to, until we found one tuk-tuk driver who ceremoniously ripped us off but took us to the said bar. Great Atmosphere especially when the Aussies won, Less interest in the All Black game as it was more one sided. Then we popped outside to see if our tuk tuk driver had returned, which of course he had not, so we had a 4km hike home along the river bank, so that was our exercise for the day! On the way home was a street market mobbed by the locals with all sorts of stalls and games. I was fascinated with the lady who spun potatoe coils onto a stick, washed them with flour and then deep fried, spiral chips!

Monday was spent sight seeing in Vientiane in the morning plus a bit of shopping then off to the hash meeting point for a long truck-bus ride to the outskirts of Vientiane to the hare's house, which seemed as old and decrepit as the hare. Then after a short briefing we set off on what turned out to be a short urban run, the only problem was there was not trail or if there was there were too many alternatives so the hare swept behind the pack and told everyone where to go, not really what hashing is about. After a 40 min amble round rural Vientiane we returned for some scoff and some amber nectar. And so it was!

Day 3:

0930h waiting for the tuk-tuk to take us to the bus station for the VIP bus to Vang Vieng. Toyota Minibus arrives with 12 seats to take 15 of us (Mistake) 30 mins later 2 tuk-tuks take us to the Bus Station and we get squeezed onto a non VIP bus with 20 sweaty back packers, fortunately we sat at the front of the bus so could see all the hazards looming, but had reasonable air con. The other poor souls were squashed in the back seats which were like a sauna with all the heat coming from the engine.

The roads were not good for the majority of the trip with much of the route spent on the wrong side of the road to avoid the ruts and potholes. The scenery was also uninspiring, poor third world farms, shacks and jungle. We finally arrived at 1700h exhausted and battle weary from all the twists and ruts. Not a journey I would recommend to anyone!

This was obviously not the bus we booked as it dropped us in Veng Vieng nowhere near our hotel, which was not what we booked and had to walk 2 km with our luggage. Needless to say Phanthavong Transportation Company will not be getting a good review from us in Trip Advisor for their lousy service! However another group of Hashers got the right bus which did drop them in the right place.

Veng Vieng is famous for being a backpacker’s paradise, so we spent the evening perusing local restaurants and bars.

Day 4:

The motley crew of 27 hashers assembled at 1200h to partake in a mini-triathlon consisting of a run, a mountain bike trek, followed by a kayaking stage down the river. After BB's sing song warm up exercises, the 27 set off on stage one in tuk-tuks to the run start. They took about 35 mins on deeply rutted tracks to get to the start of about a 2km run to find the bikes. Unfortunately due to a glorious cock up only 9 of the 27 bikes ended up in the right place the other 2 tuk-tuks got lost. So 9 fit hashers jumped on the bikes to the dismay of all the others, who set off walking back to the A site. At this stage the main Hare BB panicked as the kayaks we booked at 1500h and it was now 1445h, so all the walkers were picked up on the remaining tuk-tuk to return to the A site.

Arriving back at the A site, to everyone’s relief, the Kayaks were actually sitting waiting for everyone, so onto the tuk-tuks and another 20 min white knuckle ride to the banks of the river. This next stage after careful safety instructions and donning safety vests was the highlight of the day with a drink stop half way down where a group of backpackers entertained everyone with their enthusiasm to show off their spray painted bodies as they slid down the water slide. Back in the kayaks for a pleasant paddle back to the A site for some unmemorable food and an entertaining circle with BB as master of ceremonies until the Gold Coast Aussies took over.

BB talents as a raconteur were appreciated by all and he said goodbye to look after his poorly girlfriend back in Vientiane.

Click the image below for a slide show

Day 5:

2 Toyota Commuter VIP minibuses arrived at 0930h and off we set.

The first 35 km were impossible with deep ruts and potholes at every 10m so we could only average about 20km/h after that we started to climb up the mountains and the major hazards were remnants of the road where landslips had happened and bulldozers had cleared the roads.

The scenery however was outstanding with beautiful sugar loaf fingers of limestone pushing towards the sky. The most amazing thing was to see rice growing up near vertical slopes, which we later found out was called upland (dry-foot or mountain) rice. There was also many fields of mung beans, presumable for nitrogen fixation.

We stopped a couple of times en route to catch our breath and take on food etc, but the villages were very dirty and uninviting so we pushed on.

After hours and hours twisting through the mountains getting excited every time we saw a river thinking it was the Mekong but it wasn't, we eventually started to descend to Luang Prabang and arrived totally exhausted at 1830h. We rushed to the hash run centre to register, only to find they had closed out for the day.

After unpacking we headed to a Lonely Planet recommended Indian restaurant only to be disappointed with poor dry Tandoori and bland other dishes.

Click Here to go to Part 2, days 6 - 10

Back to the Top