Mekong River, Laos

The slow boat to Laos

There are several options when it comes to traveling from Thailand into Laos. The most straightforward would be by plane, flying from either Chiang Mai or Bangkok. This is expensive, involves backtracking, and isn’t very much fun. You can also take a bus, which is how many of the locals make the trip. This is probably the cheapest option, but involves a very long drive on roads that may or may not be completely paved, as well as a schedule that isn’t exactly guaranteed. The third option is by boat; either speed boat or slow boat down the Mekong River. The speed boat takes about 6 hours, and is considered an excellent adventure if you have a death wish and a very strong stomach. The vastly better option is the slow boat, which takes two days including an overnight stop. I chose the private slow boat Nagi of Mekong, which costs somewhat more than the public slow boat but is much more comfortable, and includes a tour guide who helps you through customs and takes care of all the arrangements.

The Mekong River

After a good nights rest in Chiang Khong, we got up very early in order to get to the boat. It turns out that a number of other people taking the Nagi boat were staying at my hotel, so several of us boarded the minivan. We drove to the new bridge crossing the Mekong, which is several kilometers from the border towns of both countries. Although no locals will say this out loud, it’s basically assumed that they built the bridge that way in order to force travelers to pay for a tuk-tuk to and from when crossing. That’s a pretty typical attitude I’ve found in Southeast Asia – convenience is far less important than an opportunity to make money. Anyway, you exit Thailand and then get on a bus across the bridge to the Laotian side, where you go through passport control. It’s a civilized process actually, with reasonable and posted costs. That’s not the same as saying it’s organized – nothing happens in order or in a way that makes any kind of sense, but you get through eventually! We boarded another van, this time to the docks where we got on our boat for the next two days.

The morning fog.

The boat is relatively comfortable and spacious, with meals provided, a head (bathroom to you landlubbers) that…works…, and so forth. I talked later with some folks who had done the public slow boat, and they said that while the first day was just okay, the second day was miserable as there were different boats, people crammed in without regard to the actual number of seats, and the bathroom didn’t work. In short, unless you’re really hurting for cash, take a private boat. The private boat also makes occasional stops where you can get out and stretch and see a village or such.

An elephant and mahout, taking a break.

I met some wonderful people on the boat (more to come in another post, about the people I’ve met so far) and talked with them for most of the trip. It’s fun to connect with other travelers. We spent a lot of time hunkering down under blankets, as the temperature was not warm and the breeze made it feel much colder, and just looking at the banks of the river as we went past. Our guide talked some about how the river has changed drastically because of the dams upriver in China. He pointed out a high-water mark from a flood several years ago that was at least 10 meters above the current water level. This, in part, explains why there’s very few signs of humanity close to the water level.

Heading downstream.

We stopped once on the first day, and walked up to a little village, I think of Hmong tribe. It was mostly empty, with only a few people present. I felt very awkward just staring around at these people’s homes, and chose not to take pictures of the people. Much later, I asked our tour guide if the villagers receive any compensation for tourists stopping and wandering through, and he kind of shrugged and smiled. So…yeah. There wasn’t even a donation box or anything where you could leave a gift. That said, we spotted at least one satellite dish and our guide said they had two Chinese TV’s in the village, so they have access to modern life.

The village is partially built on stilts.

Back on the boat for a few more hours to Pakbeng, which is a town that as far as I can tell exists solely as an overnight stop for the boats. No boats travel on the Mekong at night, for safety reasons apparently. The tour company had arranged for our guesthouse overnight, which was great as it saved having to wander around and find one that was acceptable. A quick wander through town and then a number of us from the boat all went out to dinner together, and tried some Laotian food. And Whisky Lao! Which is actually perfectly acceptable as a drink.

It’s a rock. That looks like a dog. What more do you want?

The next morning, we got up very early and had some breakfast before getting back on the boat. More of the same today, with a morning stop at another village with a different tribe. This was even more awkward, as apparently most of these villagers hadn’t even seen ‘farang’ (foreigners) before. So I guess it was fair play; we were staring at them, they were staring at us. They actually called in their kids to come and look at us. Very weird. One of us boat people had some chocolate and gave it to the kids, which some of them tried and liked and others were too afraid of. Of course, their parents aren’t going to appreciate us when the dental bill comes! Anyway, that was weird, and again I wish they got something out of the exchange.

What do you call a group of Buddha’s? …actually, I don’t know.

The rest of the day passed slowly on the water, with another nice on-board lunch and more scenery. We made one final stop at the Pak Ou caves, which is like a storage facility for Buddha’s? It was interesting, but I don’t know if it’s worth a trip in itself. Finally, we arrived at Luang Prabang…sort of. Again, a new dock was built several years ago, and it’s several kilometers from town, so once more with the tuk-tuks! Fortunately, our guide had taken care of everything so we didn’t have to worry about it. Once again, take a private boat :).

And more Buddha’s.

Anyway, I enjoyed the boat trip! It was nice and relaxing after a couple of weeks of hectic times in Thailand, the company was wonderful, and the views weren’t bad. And now for almost a week in Luang Prabang!