The Mighty Mekong- welcome to Laos...

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So we decided to take the slow boat from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang in Northern Laos. (A) it was cheap and (B) it was/is supposedly an "experience". I have learned since arriving in Asia that the word 'experience' does not necessarily mean 'enjoyable'...

We departed Chiang Mai in a minivan the morning of the 9th and spent that night in a small town just on the Laos border. It turns out that the border is actually a wide river, so the following morning we took our first boat trip (of three) and exited it minutes later onto Lao soil.

From there, we sorted out our visas and were introduced to the boat we would now be spending the best part of two days aboard... it was slightly less luxurious than we had been expecting...

The slow boats are long, narrow, wooden vessels that house little more than two rows of wooden benches, with an area at the front and back for the people who arrive late to sit (as there is a lack of seats). Fortunately we were early. We had hoped and presumed that there would be a little walking space and a lot more sitting space but, so far, things were not so bad.

We spent about 7hrs the first day sailing SLOWLY down the Mekong and the scenery was spectacular. Of course, after the first few hours you get a little bored of it all but every now and then it would strike us all how amazing the place was. That night we spent in a tiny village on the banks of the river called Pak Beng. It has no electricity but generators power the restaurants until 10pm. It was really cheap, really pretty and a really nice place to spend our first night in Laos.

The next day we were up early for day #2 on the slow boat. This day was considerably less fun than the previous day but, actually, the entire experience was a lot better than i had anticipated. This was partly due to the fact that our boat kept stopping to pick up local 'hitch-hikers', their entire families, bags (and bags) of rice, occasionally animals and lots of coconuts! At one point we had a pig and a bag of puppies on board, which proved to be a welcomed distraction from the now monotonous scenery! It also made for a bit of excitement when we were informed (in very broken english) that we were possibly going to capsize due to excess weight.......

(we didn't)

As you can imagine, arriving into Luang Prabang, after a combined 16hr boat trip, was fantastic and the fact that it is such a gorgeous city was a major bonus. Luang Prabang is a UNESCO listed World Heritage city so it is a very well preserved and thoughtfully developed city and a lovely plave to spend a few nights fresh off the boat. It also has a very French vibe about it and the prevelence of baguettes was much appreciated after so many weeks of nothing but rice!
We visited a really gorgeous waterfall while we were there (despite promising ourselves to give waterfalls a bit of a break for a while) and we were well rewarded. It was actually the nicest waterfall i have ever seen. It is set in a stunning national park with the most amazing flowers and enormous butterflies and dragonflies everywhere. The water falls into a series of crystal clear, turquoise blue pools, that flow over limestone formations and are broken by occasional trees and flowering shrubs growing from the shallower water. There were several immaculate swimming holes and the water was absolutely freezing but also fresh enough to drink.

We had a couple of really good nights out in L.P. (despite there being a city wide curfew of 12 midnight for foreigners!) and made some good friends before heading further south- bus, not boat, thankfully...
... So next stop: Vang Vieng.

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