Eight Hours by Boat up the Mekong River to Nong Khiaw. A death or deaf wish kind of trip.

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23 Dec: Luang Prabang to Nong Khiaw (note: given the number of photos a number appear towards the bottom of the page below the video).



Nong Khiaw (also spelled Kiaow) is a small town on the banks of the Nam Ou River and boasts a gorgeous backdrop of imposing limestone mountains, picturesque river views and genuine local colour. The town is 3-4 hours via the road or 7+ hours by boat from Luang Prabang along the Mekong and Ou River. As I had heard that boat travel was by far the more spectacular option (though more costly) I set my mind to ensuring that I got a seat on the infrequent boat runs that make the trip.



I started the day early in Luang Prabang and made my way to the boat launch around 8am. The boat ticket terminal was a scene of clam chaos. The ticket agents amounted to two women sitting under a small open sided lean-to, taking passengers names and money; upon which they would issue a crudely scribbled ticket with a passenger number. They would then mumble something and send you on your way to the waiting area.



The outdoor waiting area consisted of some log benches and coconut trees for shade. On this particular morning it was overflowing with travellers – most with daybags, but a dozen or so with a full complement of luggage. Everyone was looking around anxiously trying to ascertain whether we were in fact in the correct location and that we hadn’t already missed our boat. Eventually, a procession of local men made their way from the small building that was next to the ticketing booth over to the steps going down to the water. There was some discussion amongst themselves and the ticketing ladies in the local language – eventually they seemed to come to an agreement on some issue and those men that were now smiling were given tattered notebooks. The other men made their way back towards town. I learned later that the debate was determining who was going to get to captain the boats for the day and who was going to get sent home without pay.



With the boats/captains sorted out, each of the captains took their turn calling out the ticket numbers for the passengers going on their boat. They eventually called about 60 or so ticket numbers. Those whose numbers were called were the tourists that only had day bags, and were going up river an hour or so to a popular cave and waterfall. All that remained were those of us with luggage. We grew more anxious as our listed departure time had now come and gone some 20 minutes before; leaving us wondering whether any of us would be going north by boat. Finally, we were given the good news that there were enough of us to fill two boats and that we would be leaving shortly.



Once we were given the ok we made our way down the steps to the boats. I was put on the smaller of the two boats that only accommodated four passengers. These river boats were nothing more than long canoes with V6/V8 car engines strapped to the back – the boats were approximately four feet across, 40-50 feet long, a draft of perhaps one foot or so and rode about 1 ½ feet to 2 feet above the water. Most boats on the river were painted a solid teal color with white and or red detailing. Seats on boats differed greatly, some had comfortable car seats (my boat going up the river) others relied on simple wooden benches without backs and others catered to the smaller locals with wooden stools that would only ever be used as a toddler’s chair in the US (my boat going down the river). Most boast included awnings over the full length of the boat, in the case of my boat going up river the awing height wassuch that it was like trying to squeeze into a roadster – I had to lean my seat all the way back and go gangster style up the river just to avoid knocking my head against the roof. That engine I mentioned earlier is never housed within anything of any acoustic substance and as it is only a few feet behind us it was a deafening ride that is only helped slightly by headphones or earplugs. On the boat, the noise (especially when powering up rapids) is like standing within 30 feet of a running helicopter and when standing a hundred yards away it sounds like the old gas powered lawnmowers of the my childhood.



With our luggage stowed we were off to our destination up river – not arriving until nearly 4:30pm that evening (by now it was shortly after 9am).



Brief observations from my time on the river are as follows:



1. There were no facilities on the boat. Your options are to hold it, beg the captain to mercifully stop more than his allotted rest stops (in this case only one planned stop) or use the “pot”, which by the looks of it was an object and option of very last resorts.



2. The first hour or so on the rivers was crowded with a number of boats going up and down the river (some locations the river was so choked with traffic that it was no different than rushhour on a freeway were everyone was slowed to a crawl). There were boats full of tourists, small boats with fishermen, larger boats/barges moving materials and supplies between villages and others with kids just having fun on the water.



3. The lower part of the river was murkey and thick in appearance with a decidedly red/brown hue to it. The further up the river we went the water took on a more familiar green/blue, though it never was clear enough to see more than a few inches below the surface.



4. With the loud engine throbbing right behind me I was glad knowing that I had an MP3 player to fall back on, but within 30 minutes I almost went fucking mad when I discovered the player seemed to have deleted hundreds of songs, but for some reason had left me Michael Jackson, Jimi Hendrix, The Barenaked Ladies, Eminem and Dave Matthews – it was a bizarre mix of artists and a limited range of songs so needless to say I relearned the words to some songs that I’d never bothered memorising before.



5. There was a great deal of seen and unseen activity along the lower part of the river (the first 3 hours or so). The odd village or settlement of huts peeking through the trees above the rainy season high water mark. Mile after mile of vegetable gardens protected by palisades – the construction of the palisades varied greatly and you could tell those built by people with time or greater care and those hastily erected. A variety of animal life along the river – chickens, ducks, water buffalo, cows and pigs. People along the water’s edge gold panning and others bagging up sand and small aggregate for construction; while others were there bathing, washing clothes, fishing or just plain having a good time with friends splashing in the water.



6. Further up the river where the river grew more wild as the river valley narrowed and the hills steeply rose up from the water’s edge we saw locations in the rapids where people had installed small boat propellers in the fast flowing water to generate electricity and strung cables hundreds of feet up into the forest where they powered their homes (very possibly to power their satellite televisions.



7. The ride was exciting and in a few locations very nerve wracking as we struggled up the shallow rapids and the boat visibly twisted and wracked back and forth leaving me to wonder whether I was going to be one of the river statistics tourists hear about. Fortunately we experienced nothing more than some water splashing up over the edge of the boat.



8. Finnally, I was saddened to see that the Laos government has decided it wants to be the “battery of SE Asia” and is allowing China to build 11 damns on the river. They’ve already started one that we went past, where 2 miles of riverbank and mountain had been scarred right down to the water’s edge. The damn construction at this location has only been underway for the last few months and we could see a number of excavators and large dump trucks operating in the area – it appeared that they were tearing up the river banks and depositing excess excavated material directly into the river without any environmental controls, which explained the murky water down river.



I learned in Nong Khiaw that hundreds of villages will be displaced by the construction of the dams, and old ways of life will be lost. Even in Nong Khiaw some of the buildings and accommodations may be flooded during the rainy season and according to the locals I spoke to they won’t be reimbursed. The dams won’t have locks or ladders; which means the wild river will soon be tamed and the river journey will not be possible in the future. I’m glad I got to see the river before it is destroyed for good.



If you want to read more about the dams you can begin by reading the following and then go from there.



http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1076347/us-urges-laos-address-mega-dam-concerns

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Photos

Ferry Terminal
Most everyone was uncertain if this was the right spot to be waiting for our various boat trips as there was no signage or directions.

Our mode of transport for the next 8 hrs
Eventually they decided they had sold enough tickets to justify sending us all by boat up the river.

Low headroom
Our boat accomodated 4 people, as you can see it was a very low ceiling. The seats were from old cars so I was able to lean the seat back and travel gangster style.

The following images are in order, you can watch the river landscape change.
The river valley started out low and wide and gradually got narrow and steep.

Kids fishing.
All along the river we'd see pockets of habitation and activity: fishing, bathing, washing, gold paning, sand and gravel extraction and of course garden after garden of corn, beans and other produce.

Congestion on the river
The first hour the river was full with boats buzzing back and forth - a combination of river trade traffic and boats taking tourists up to a cave and waterfall.

Dangerous river for navigation
The river fluxtuates greatly in the rainy season. Along the full length of the river these jagged rock formations dot the river leaving very narrow and often times unmarket channels. As you can see in this photo the water levels vary greatly.

Famous cave with a Buddah statue.
This was about an hour up river and the last tourist stop. After this we saw fewer and fewer boats on the river; which was great as the V6/V8 engines powering the boats were deafening.

This is about 2 minutes up river from the cave
We take the bend to the right and from here the river gets more wild and rugged.

Pray you don't need to use this pot.
These boats travel without toilets, so your options are the pot or wait until the stop to take a break.

Toilet Break
Men to the right the ladies to the left....