A Two Day Trip Down the Mekong in a Slowboat

It rained all night, hard and heavy. We went to bed early, and then got up early to by boat tickets. It was still raining, but we figured they must travel in the rain all the time so no sweat!

We were a couple hours early, so we stowed our bags on the boat and walked around, buying a snack here and there, trying to use up our Thai Baht and outfit ourselves for an eight hour trip. We got some fruit from a lady a little ways from the pier, but never got around to washing it. We got a snickers, some crackers and waters. We still had some time – and baht – to kill, so we stopped at this little restaurant where mom had coffee and I had a delicious banana pancake. So, so good.

We finally boarded the boat, and took off. It set up like a bus, and it was full up but not crowded.

So we cruised down the Mekong for six or seven hours in a slow boat. It was rainy in the morning, but there were tarps to pull down on the side if the rain started blowing in. But it cleared off and got nice – not too hot, beautiful green mountains rising up from the water. The river is a bit muddy, (okay it’s actually chocolate milk muddy) but the clouds rolled by and there was a breeze the whole time.

We stopped for the evening in Pakbeng, and it was mayhem! There were hawkers trying to herd everybody to their hotels and restaurants. We got in the back of a pickup with some little old Chinese ladies and Lao teenage boys, but when we got to the hotel we had chosen, it was crappy. “Oh, we have one with air con,” they tried to keep us there and lead us to another room (I smell commission somewhere!). It looked alright, but did the air conditioning work? Well they had to go get the remote. While they were gone, Mom sat on the mattress. Something wasn’t right so she peeled back the sheet – it was a couple mismatched mattresses and pillows stuffed together under a king sized fitted sheet. It was a mess. They were yelling we have a nicer room! as we walked out. We went across the street, and a little old lady showed us around and we signed on the spot. It was way nicer, quiet and clean. We were glad to have made the switch.

We walked around this tiny town (even smaller than the previous night) and finally settle at a Laos/Hallal/Indian food restaurant. A small boy sat us, and a small girl brought us menus – no adults in sight. “Is this a Lord of the Flies type situation?” I wondered just before an adult showed up to take our order. The kids were so cute, though! They brought us our food and drinks, and the little girl even hung out while I tried to pull up the Lao word for “dessert” on the Internet – which was really slow, so she finally had to go wait on somebody else. I never did get any dessert.

The next morning we got up and dropped our bags on a different boat than yesterday, and then went for breakfast & supplies.

(How did we know which boat to get on? Why, some Australians just standing around told us. We later saw them get on a different boat.)

We went back to the restaurant from the night before so Mom could get a pineapple shake, and the owner chatted with us while it was being made. All these children working for him are either orphans or from very poor, very large families so he helps them out by giving them a job. He is from India – we forgot to ask him what brought him to Laos.

We bought some more snacks, and got ready to hit the road (river?). First we had to wait for extra seats to be lowered in through with the roof to placate some people who would have had to sit on the floor otherwise.

At about noon, we stopped and two guys with strings of fish hopped on from another boat. It was random and amusing.

It was sunnier today, and hotter. Some people seemed a little … testy, but mostly ever one is still upbeat (or at least acting like it!).

We got to the “pier,” and more madness ensued! The pier was actually two 2x4s precariously perched on the boat and a rut in the mud. We had to get off the boat and then stand on a the side of a hill, waiting for our bags. Then we had to haul them up a steep concrete stair way to the top of the mountain.

We paid a fare, hopped on a songthaew with a group of French hipster bros and got dropped off in the center of Luang Prabang. We asked around for free wifi, and were directed to Joma Bakery Cafe, which quickly charmed us with their air-conditioning, free water and great drinks. The pastries didn’t look to bad, either. We settled in at our lodgings, and then bopped around the night market on the way to our riverside hotel.