Slow Boat down the Mekong

Taking a slow boat down the Mekong is one of those archetypal romantic travel experiences that lives up to the hype. There are a number of slow boat trips you can take, I opted for Huay Xai to Luang Prabang; a two day voyage with an overnight stay in the small village of Pakbeng.

I wasn't sad to leave Huay Xai, the border town is quite run down, dusty and busy; after Thailand I really noticed a step down both in infrastructure and the quality of food and lodging. I bought my slowboat ticket and a Lao SIM card from the kind folks at Little Hostel and set off with Bram, Ulrich and Brooke for the boat at around 10am. We stocked up on beer beforehand and I bought a bottle of Jonny Walker to help make friends on the boat.. a winning strategy it turns out.

The boat was no frills but reasonably comfortable, the seats were like bus seats and you could move them around to face your friends. The view of the surrounding river banks and hills was inspiring as was seeing people carry on their lives at the water's edge; panning for silver, fishing and washing the family clothes.

On more than one occasion I became misty eyed with what a wonderful privilege this trip is and how delightful it is to enjoy travelling from A to B in a relaxed way, rather than always being in a hurry.

When we reached Pakbeng there was a lot of hustle from hotel touts to get us to stay at their place. The first guest house we visited we inspected the beds and found them crawling with bed bugs! The second guest house was OK, the bathroom a bit of a leaky mess but we prioritized clean beds and were too tired to keep searching. We ate Indian food and played pool at Hive Bar and turned in early.

Next day we were back on the boat at 8am, it left at 9.30 so we think the locals were trying it on making us get up early. A bit more subdued in general the second day but the very back of the boat was a party zone. The captain threatened to throw one particularly rowdy passenger off, he had jumped onto the beach at one spot to play with and scare some local kids in the water. The kids' mom let loose with a tirade in Lao and it was one of those embarrassed to be a fellow foreigner moments. Some people have no respect for the local sensitivities. The Lao are very gentle conservative people, being a gregarious, loud, tall, drunk and underdressed 'falang' doesn't make for a good cultural exchange.

The rest of the day passed rather slowly and we were glad to arrive at the delightful town of Luang Prabang. It is the original capital of Laos and is rich with spiritual and historical significance.