Boat from Muang Knoi to Luang Prabang

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As a change from minivans and minibuses, I opted to travel from Muang Knoi by passenger boat to Luang Prabang. I started my journey at 9.30 am and arrived in Luang Prabang at 5.30 pm. About 2 hours of that time was just sitting waiting for more passengers to join at the Muang Knoi and Nong Khiaw docks - the boat drivers do not like to leave without an overfull load.

The boat from Muang Knoi to Nong Khiaw took more than an hour sitting sideways on a 2 by 4 about 5 inches off the bottom of the boat (20,000 kip). Check the pictures for leg room!

Then I switched to the boat for Luang Prabang in Nong Khiaw (100,000 kip). We were told the journey was 5 hours but it was more like 6 hours. I ended up in what is considered one of the worst seats, the front, because of the open area allowing in spray, wind and rain (if its raining, which it was). They strung a tarp to cover the top, but I was still regularly soaked by spray as we passed through rapids. The boat driver picked up and dropped off Loa people along the river banks, who crouched in the space in front of my seat.

The ride is great, despite the rain. Riding the rapids at narrow points allowed some excitement between long periods of glass like calm on the wider stretches of the river. Moutains and limestone cliffs double imaged in their reflections off the water. You watch people fishing, rafting bamboo for building projects, washing clothes or themselves, children swimming and climbing the rocks to dive, cattle submerged in the water at rivers edge to cool themselves, pigs and chickens rooting for food, monks in orange taking their evening bath and swim, all along the river's edge. Crops and rubber and banana trees were planted along the edge. Most people live near the river's edge as their only form of transportation and communication, although new built roads are changing the pattern. Although there may be villages off the rivers on streams, the lush vegetation of the jungle hides any trace of them.

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