Slow boating it to Luang Prabang ....aka Booze Cruisin the Mekong

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Hey Guys,

Well after some trekking we were looking forward to chilling out on the slow boat for two days to enjoy a leisurely cruise down the Mekong. The boat was pretty well equipped with western toilets and a small bar complete with snacks. We opted to go for the open floor seating rather than the uncomfortable church pews, this turned out to be pretty good since we were soon surrounded with other travelers and began making friends pretty quick and sharing stories. The boat is very slow, hence the name but when you see the speedboats pass with all their passengers wearing helmets and life jackets while we're lounging enjoying a beer in the shade it's pretty obvious who made the right choice, Cheers! We ended spending a lot time talking with a couple from London Jon & Lucy who we would end hanging out with sporadically throughout SE Asia over the next month. They both work as producers in TV, doing a lot of work abroad on documentaries so they've had a lot of good travel experiences to share with us. We enjoyed the day just hanging out taking in the sights and enjoying some ice cold Beer Laos.

Life along the Mekong is pretty quiet, we passed several small villages, and we spent the night in Pak Beng. This town's only reason for existing is to house and feed the tourists on the slow boats. We ended getting a room for $3 and enjoying a meal with our new friends Jon & Lucy. The ride the next day started out pretty funny as they combined the two slow boats from yesterday into one boat for the last leg to Luang Prabang, everyone got settled eventually and we made our way slowly down the Mekong.

Once we arrived in Luang Prabang, we did our standard walk around for way too long looking for a deal until we finally settled on a place after receiving some advice from another traveler that Luang Prabang is expensive. Once we got settled in we headed out, and soon realized why everything was so expensive. The town is full of retired couples and tour groups from Europe and the main street looks more like a street out of a small European resort town than Central Laos! Wine bars, french bistros and fancy dining where the hell are we????? Anyways we didn't complain too much because who doesn't love a good baguette after weeks of noodles.

We ended up meeting up with Jon & Lucy our friends from the slow boat and after having some drinks at a nice open air bar we decided to check out the real Laos nightlife........BOWLING!!!!!!!! Oh yes, the bowling Alley is the only place open past 10:00pm, so we headed out and arrived a little early as the place was still full of locals enjoying some Beer Laos and launching bowling balls down the lane. I literally mean some of them throw the ball, that poor hardwood. After a few games the place was packed with other travelers and turned into the place to be.

The next day we decide to check out the sites, we were going to see the local waterfalls but the weather wasn't cooperating so we opted to just check out the Temple in town as well as climb the small hill in town to check the viewpoints, the huge Buddhas and even Buddha's foot print. Based on the size of the print Buddha was a big Boy! Afterward we ended getting some massages, possibly the best thing about SE Asia is $5 massages for an hour. It's hard not to get one everyday, because it's cheap and you feel so good.

Deciding it was time for a change we headed out the next day to Vang Vieng....

So until the next one


Cheers,

Matt & Tyne

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Photos

This is Matt's reaction to his strike
This guy walked right in front of the camera at the perfect time!