Dec 18th - Pak Beng - Day off - Kim and Glory - Cycling beyond

December 18, 2023

Dec 18th - Pak Beng - Day off

First of all, my picture problem is solved for the days of Dec 8th and yesterday. It had something to do with me copying and pasting text from Facebook. Guess I won't be doing that anymore! Took me hours to solve the problem. What was really weird was that on my end in edit mode, everything looks perfect. In view mode, the pictures disappeared.

The hotel I am staying at (Sanctuary Pak Beng Lodge) is affiliated with an elephant sanctuary across the river. I was still feeling pretty frazzled and the elephant program left at 9:00. I had already experienced elephants, so I just decided to use the day to relax. All the reviews said people regretted not being able to stay more than one day. Made good use of the swimming pool and walked into town later to meet up with a guy who also spent an extra day in Pak Beng. I also went in and got a Laos Sim card for my phone.

I get that this town relies on the tourists from the boat to make their living, but it really irks me when I am getting blatantly ripped off. I'm too new to Laos to know the "actual" prices so I just paid what they asked until I realized it fluctuated between shops and the price was negotiable. I don't mind paying a little extra, but I don't like being overcharged a lot just because I am a tourist.

Not much else to report today. Back on the river tomorrow for another 7-8 hours to Luang Prabang. Not looking forward to it quite as much anymore. :(