{"id":26238,"date":"2012-03-23T19:55:00","date_gmt":"2012-03-24T03:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.heynadine.com\/?p=26238"},"modified":"2012-03-23T19:55:00","modified_gmt":"2012-03-24T03:55:00","slug":"i-get-around-cruising-the-mekong-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/heynadine.com\/new\/i-get-around-cruising-the-mekong-river\/","title":{"rendered":"I Get Around- Cruising the Mekong River"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ah Laos, I have a good feeling about you. Considering how fast pace the <a title=\"National Geographic Watch Out!\" href=\"https:\/\/www.heynadine.com\/national-geographic-watch-out\/\">last few days in Thailand were,<\/a> it&#8217;s nice to have a bit of rest and relaxation.<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Vlog #4:<\/span> Contiki Big Indochina Adventure: Mekong River, Luang Prabang, Laos<\/h2>\n<p>httpvh:\/\/youtu.be\/maXGfftQAkM<\/p>\n<p>First order of business: the Laos border crossing, probably the most interesting and disorderly crossing you&#8217;ll ever find and experience. For one, the Mekong River makes up the border between Thailand and Laos so you need to be ferried over to the other side. If you were a smart Southeast Asia traveler here is where having minimal luggage comes in handy, unfortunately I am not.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Laos Border Crossing -  Mekong River, Laos\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/33736956@N08\/6987885491\/\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7056\/6987885491_18ac8581dc_b.jpg\" alt=\"Laos Border Crossing -  Mekong River, Laos\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>After you cross the border you end up in the most chaotic and disorganized queue for Visas I have ever seen. In a square no bigger than the size of a hotel room are three windows on each corner: one to drop off passports, one to pick up, and a money exchange to pay for your Visa. Now this is where the issue come in, all three window&#8217;s lines converge into the center of the square- hence madness.<\/p>\n<p>Stupid queues aside, once all the paperwork was out of the way we hoped onto our canal boat for a super relaxed 2 day cruise along the <strong>Mekong River<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Mekong River Cruise - Laos\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/33736956@N08\/6987886947\/\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7204\/6841764880_8f4a24d027_b.jpg\" alt=\"Mekong River Cruise - Laos\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Mekong River Cruise - Laos\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/33736956@N08\/6841766792\/\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7069\/6841766792_6426d4067d_b.jpg\" alt=\"Mekong River Cruise - Laos\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Mekong River Cruise - Laos\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/33736956@N08\/6841766336\/\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7070\/6841766336_cc0102dee2_b.jpg\" alt=\"Mekong River Cruise - Laos\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Mekong River Cruise - Laos\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/33736956@N08\/6987889899\/\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7037\/6987889899_cfbbb3f5fd_b.jpg\" alt=\"Mekong River Cruise - Laos\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Pakbeng, Laos\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/33736956@N08\/6987890317\/\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7067\/6987890317_1241bd880b_b.jpg\" alt=\"Pakbeng, Laos\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Village in Pakbeng where we spent the night along the river.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a title=\"Cave Temple- Laos\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/33736956@N08\/6841774140\/\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7183\/6841774140_b8a40e4391_b.jpg\" alt=\"Cave Temple- Laos\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>On the second day of cruising we stopped at the <strong>Pak Ou Caves<\/strong> on the side of the river.\u00a0 I cannot believe the amount of Buddha statues in the cave, thousands and thousands. Pretty sure I have seen this place in a <a title=\"National Geographic Watch Out!\" href=\"https:\/\/www.heynadine.com\/national-geographic-watch-out\/\">National Geographic episode <\/a>before as well.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Cave Temple- Laos\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/33736956@N08\/6841776252\/\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7047\/6841776252_704f6ca016_b.jpg\" alt=\"Cave Temple- Laos\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Cave Temple- Laos\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/33736956@N08\/6841778136\/\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7184\/6841778136_1fc5471c2d_b.jpg\" alt=\"Cave Temple- Laos\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Luang Prabang<\/h2>\n<p>Why can&#8217;t every city sightseeing tour be done by bike? I swear it&#8217;s the most fun and relaxed way to figure out your surroundings.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Bike City Tour - Luang Prabeng, Laos\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/33736956@N08\/6841770700\/\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7186\/6841770700_e2233f19ed_b.jpg\" alt=\"Bike City Tour - Luang Prabeng, Laos\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Bike City Tour - Luang Prabeng, Laos\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/33736956@N08\/6841771094\/\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7197\/6841771094_5611f452fd_b.jpg\" alt=\"Bike City Tour - Luang Prabeng, Laos\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Bike City Tour - Luang Prabeng, Laos\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/33736956@N08\/6987894651\/\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7202\/6987894651_d1e70ebea3_b.jpg\" alt=\"Bike City Tour - Luang Prabeng, Laos\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m actually surprised at how simple it was to vlog on a bike, as long as you can ride with one hand you are golden!<\/p>\n<h2>Wat Xieng Thong Temple<\/h2>\n<p>One of the stops on our biking city tour of Luang Prabang was at the Wat Xieng Thong monastery . There we got a chance to look at some Laotian temple architecture and see some beautiful gold statues.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Wat Xieng Thong Temple - Luang Prabang, Laos\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/33736956@N08\/6841779422\/\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7053\/6841779422_13f0b8eef4_b.jpg\" alt=\"Wat Xieng Thong Temple - Luang Prabang, Laos\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Wat Xieng Thong Temple - Luang Prabang, Laos\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/33736956@N08\/6841781610\/\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7178\/6841781610_d016def328_b.jpg\" alt=\"Wat Xieng Thong Temple - Luang Prabang, Laos\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Luang Prabang, Laos\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/33736956@N08\/6987905311\/\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7066\/6987905311_7020fc011b_b.jpg\" alt=\"Luang Prabang, Laos\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Goodnight Luang Prabang.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cruising along the Mekong River as we headed towards <i> Luang Prabang, Laos <\/i> for our city bike tour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[133,379,536,810,1633,1743,1815,2067,2274,2873,3018],"class_list":["post-26238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-southeast-asia-travel","tag-activities","tag-biking-tour","tag-canal-boat-cruise","tag-travel","tag-laos","tag-luang-prabang","tag-mekong-river","tag-pakbeng","tag-risky-snake-whiskey","tag-travel-videos","tag-video-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/heynadine.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/heynadine.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/heynadine.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heynadine.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heynadine.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/heynadine.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heynadine.com\/new\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/heynadine.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heynadine.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heynadine.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}