Mekong to Lounag Phabang

We arrived to Chiang Khong which was our gate to Laos late in the evening. Fortunately we have found a very good ( read cheap with hot water ) home stay easily and we still had time for a Thai massage to be ready for 2 days slow boat Mekong ride. It was busy day: breakfast early in the morning, then car to ferry, then ferry to Houayxai in Laos, then immigration to get visa, then tuk-tuk to the slow boat pier, then ticket office and finally we landed at something what they call slow boat . We have been told that it will start at 11.00 so we had a chance to go to the village and get some food and water as the first part of the trip should take about 6h. It was about 60-70 people on board all trying to get best place with room for legs ( small wooden pew, extremely uncomfortable, but we could buy pillows – 2$/piece ) and after many requests and whistles we started around 1 pm. I expected a slow, wide river between rice fields, but I was completely wrong ! It’s a fast river flowing in the stone canyon , in some places not wide enough for more than one slow boat ( they are very narrow ). Beautiful scenery, small villages located on the river banks, fishing people, small canoes crossing river… everything like ages ago. As we started late we arrived to the first stop after dark, our captain couldn’t find a good place to park so we stopped close enough to jump to the river’s bank. Unfortunately the river bank in this place was like a sand hill so can you imagine 70 people jumping with their luggage (if they could find it) in the completely dark and then climbing on all fours? Next day we started almost on time ( I think only 1h late ) so we arrived to Lounang Phabang at 5 pm and could enjoy the old capital before we went sleep completely dead.

Photos/ Zdjęcia