Slowboat to Luang Prabang (Part 1)

To get to Laos we booked a 3 day journey that entailed a day in a minivan from Chiang Mai to the Thai border town. Then two days on a slow boat before arriving in Luang Prabang in Laos.

The bus ride was pretty uneventful. Peach and Tess had spent our last night in Chiang Mai getting wasted at the reggae bar while I had an early one. They were in a world of pain for the entire bus ride. Ha Ha!

The Thai border town, Chiang Khong was just what you’d expect from a town that people only stop at because they have to – boring. So it was a fairly early night.

The next morning we caught a pick up a few hundred metres to the Thai Immigration point. After passing through we go a small boat across the river to Laos. At the Laos immigration point we filled out some forms and paid the officers a compulsory “overtime” charge for working on a Saturday. Next we hauled our gear up the street and and around the corner to a cafe where we were given some local currency to buy our boat tickets for the next two days. Next it was on to a pick-up truck and off to the pier where we signed in and bought our tickets before we finally got on the boat. The whole process took about an hour.

At the guesthouse in Chiang Khong they were selling cushions for use on the boat. We’d heard the seats weren’t that comfortable and this didn’t bode well. We got a cushion each – without a doubt once of the best investments of the trip. We should have got two.

The boat was jam packed full of people. There was probably 150-200 people on the boat – very much over capacity. There was no food on board but they sold beer. Everyone shared a single toilet. Hmmm lots of beer for sale, one toilet. I did the maths on that and resolved to stay sober. By the time we got on any chance of getting a seat was long gone. Luckily there was a flat wooden floored section up the front. I managed to get a spot there up against the side of the boat so I had a back rest too. By the time we were on our way there was hardly any room to move – but there was enough to make the odd adjustment and throughout the 8 hour journey it go roomier as people moved around the boat (although I’m not sure how it worked out this way).

Here’s a pic of the people on the boat.

Some people were bitching and moaning about the conditions on the boat but others were making the most of it. Plenty of people got stuck into the beers and a few others had guitars so there was plenty of merriment and singing. After a little while a party atmosphere developed and I ended up meeting loads of people that I’d see over and over during my time in Laos.

The first night in Laos we stopped at a town called Pak Beng. This was another town that didn’t really have anything going for it except that people passed through. There were plenty of locals ready to supply fresh tourists with dope and opium as well – not quiet the same fake designer gear I’d been used to in Thailand. I declined all offers. I noticed that some of those locals selling opium looked very pasty and clammy.

During dinner I had my first Beer Lao in Laos. I’d been looking forward to it since trying it in Cambodia a couple of years earlier. It’s a great beer but I actually have to rate Myanmar Draught higher. Plus Myanmar Draught was on tap whereas most other South-East Asian beers tend to be sold in bottles the vast majority of the time. Still I’m a huge fan of Beer Lao.

To be continued….