Pak Beng

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Started the slow boat trip down the Mekong towards Luang Prabang, the trip takes 2 days in total with a stop off in Pak Beng. The boat was like a viking boat and had around 80-100 people on board with 1 toilet and a basic bar. Neal and I were one of the last on so didn't manage to claim a seat, but this was a blessing in disguise instead we were near the front on the floor (the engine was the back and was very noisy). During the trip we got chatting the people around us and we formed a bit of a group. After 7 hours along the Mekong (that included several stop offs at various points along the Mekong to dump off supplies to villages) we arrived at Pak Beng. Now we'd heard on the boat that Pak Beng was a bit of a cowboy town, where the locals carried AK47's so we thought it would be a wise move to stick in a big group just to be on the safe side. So with an army of 11 we set up the muddy bank, (where we were offered weed and opium within seconds), to find a suitable guesthouse. It took 3 attempts but eventually found a convenient clean family run guesthouse.

The newly formed group went out for dinner and a few drinks but we had to be back at the guest house for 10.30 as all the electricity switches off at 11pm. We ended up sitting out on the hotel balcony with some beers and torches till about midnight. Glad we had a few of us there otherwise it could've of been quite spooky!!

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