Oh look! A nice bridge. Just a taster of things to come....
The boat to Stung Treng
The speed boat. Complete with on-board dinner of flies, mozzies and whatever the huge things were that really stung when they hit you. The motor was so loud I thought my ears were going to explode. Our 70 plus year old friend didn't seem half as scared as I was.
I kind of accepted that we'd lose the luggage at some point.
The obstacle course - dodging plants, tree branches and humans
We've been in Laos about a week now. We crossed the Cambodian border at Voen Kham in southern Laos. The border crossing has to be one of the most memorable ever. It’s described in the lonely Planet as a ‘semi-official’ land border, so we had an idea that things might get interesting.
We’d spent the night in the most fabulous hotel in Kratie overlooking the Mekong. It was spotlessly clean with marble floors, a huge terrace and private bath with hot water - all for the princely sum of $5 between us! Having organised our trip at the hotel we boarded a boat for a four hour trip up the Mekong.
The first boat is supposed to leave at noon. Its said that boats are not allowed to leave earlier because, apparently, that would take away any need to stay overnight at the first stop - Strung Treng. The chap at our hotel warned us and told us to insist that our tickets covered the cost of continuing the 1 1/2 hr trip to the border at Voeung Kam that day. I think the idea is that they get people there so late they have to stay overnight and then pay again for the 2nd part of the trip. We were told we’d just have to cover the 'police' overtime on both the Cambodian and Laos borders.
We arrived at Strung Treng nearly an hour late where we were rushed onto a speedboat ( = tiny wooden fishing boat with a motor on the back). Nobody tried to tell us we couldn’t go any further which makes me wonder whether any of the overnight stuff was true at all. A James Bond style 50 mile an hour race down the Mekong later and we arrived at the border, totally deaf, faces covered in bugs and half terrorized.
Tim pointed out that in NZ we actually paid 80 dollars for a similar experience with the jet boating trip. This was pretty similar only far more scary and, at the much discounted price of five dollars, I suppose was much better value. There are boulders and tree trunks sticking out of the water all over that area of the river. All the boat had to do was hit one and we would have all been thrown overboard.
The border closes at 5pm. We reached it at ten to six – just in time to pay the ‘overtime’ fee.
Immigration was a tiny wooden shack with a zillion mozzies that attacked in clouds the moment you walked into the place. Immigration for Laos was on the opposite side of the river. The Cambodians at least tried to make it look slightly official. On the Lao side teenagers in ragged clothes charged us a dollar for our entry stamp and a dollar overtime. They earned their cash just by sticking out 10 million mozzies flying in faces for an extra 50 mins.
All good so far, but then we started to have the piss taken out of us.
There was only one tuk tuk available. The driver was demanding that six of us pay 5 dollars US each to go three miles down the road. It was dark and totally deserted – we had very little choice. Everyone was really pissed. Bare in mind we’d left a fabulous hotel that day for which we’d paid 2.50 US each! Here was this guy taking 30 for a short tuk tuk ride. Brixton mini cab drivers eat your hearts out.
It got worse. We arrived at the beach to get the boat to take us to Don Det. The Lonely Planet said the price was 50 cents per person. Surprise, surprise there was only one boat driver available who charged six of us two dollars each to go 10 mins to Don Det - one of approx 4000 tiny islands that rise from the Mekong in dry season.
I'm sorry if I sound as if I am labouring a point. The border crossings made me laugh. Basically it’s not even an official border. We wanted to cross it so we had to pay. Fine. The Cambodia/Laos border trip is notorious. The guy at our lovely hotel in Cratie promised us that no matter what he’d get us there – and he did. Some people don’t actually make it that far without having to stay on in Cambodia an extra couple of nights. Our guy had also warned us of all the extras we’d have to pay, so we were totally prepared, and no-one tried to get any more money out of us other than what we’d already been warned about. So on that front we did well – you just have to smile and accept how shockingly corrupt it is.
What really does annoy me though are the ridiculously inflated transport costs. It's only a few dollars you might be thinking. But when it is constant, every day, ten times a day, it starts to get to you. You just feel like a complete mug – paying 4 times more for a 3m tuk tuk ride than you pay for a night in a really lovely hotel. It’s fucking crazy.
I am not complaining about the tourist price. Most of these guys could never afford a passport, never mind a trip out of their country. A lot of backpackers get arsy about the two tier pricing system. I'm not fussed at all. In fact I agree with it. Why should the locals pay the same as us when they can’t even hope to earn the same money in 10 years that we are spending on this trip.
What I don't like is the sudden quadrupling, or more, of the tourist price. Especially when we are seriously worried that we might have to go home early because we are running out of cash. South America is supposed to be the corrupt place. I'm sorry but, so far it's got nothing on Asia. Bus prices and hotel rooms double overnight. Restaurant bills arrive with prices double than those on the menu. Every time we question it we get the same answer. "My boss put the prices up but I haven't had time to change the menu'. It's really starting to piss me off.
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