Published: February 25th 2006Asia » Laos » West » PakbengJanuary 22nd 2006
After spending a night in boring Huay Xai, we travelled to Luang Prabang by SLOW boat on the Mekong river. It was a 2-day journey, so we had to spend 1 night in another boring little town Pakbeng which has nothing to offer except for the scenery and the starry sky. The boat ride is on top of the list for worst ride of the trip. It was a narrow boat about 15m long (??) and accommodated at least 50 pple!! It was insane. There were not enough seats for everyone, there were pple everywhere...sitting on plastic chairs along the aisle, sleeping in the baggage area, lying next to the toilet and etc. The seats were not very comfortable either. It was so upright it could fix the Dowager's hump of an osteoporosis patient.
Complaints aside. I really enjoyed the view along the Mekong. The mountains were amazing. We met many pple as well on the boat. There was this cute guy, and I swear he's Tom Cruises' long lost twin. It was impossible to nap during the ride due to tight spaces....you might wake up and think dat you've lost an arm or a leg....then realise dat your whole
body is numb. We spent most of the time chatting, eating bananas, playing cards and reading. Have to point out dat my outlandish couz was reading a people-skills book entitled "How to win friends and influence people"...as opposed to novels (normal) pple normally read when travelling. Such a L**** (with a capital L) !! Like who reads people-skills books when they go on trips? Oprah Winfrey maybe... but the last thing you wanna worry about when travelling is whether strangers like/dislike you....you're out there to see places and well yeah meet pple....but you most probably wont hear from your new fren ever again...even if you give a good first impression. Oh...I hope he doesnt read this, he's not gonna be happy :p Heard stories that this 7-year-old (??) boy working on the boat was pushing ganja and opium to passengers. He didnt ask me tho.
There are more photos below
Photos: 5
Displayed: 5