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I took the bus to Chiang Khong located along the nothern Thai/Laos border. It's a small little town right on the Mekong. My friend Thomas decided at the last minute to come meet me and do the slow boat to Laos. We took a ferry across the river to the Laos side and got our visas on arrival. It's usually $30 but since it was Sunday it was $31, clever ways for the corrupt government to get more money. I made a joke of it to the immigration officer and said it was a special that day! I decided to exchange a little money into Kip, the Laos currency. They take US dollars, Thai baht and kip in Laos as their currency is not very strong. After handing over 2000 bt I received a wad of cash like i've never seen, over 500,000 kip! I felt so rich!
We boarded a long wooden boat with a roof and open sides. The boats are painted bright colors, turquoise, green, blue, red, I think to stand out against the muddy Mekong. There were reasonably comfortable seats, like bus seats, 2 on each side with a small bar at the back and a
toilet. The captain sits up front and the engine is a large open truck engine that sits in the back. In the north of Thai, the river is called Mae Kong, meaning the river (Mae) Kong . It eventually gets shortened and abbreviated into Mekong. Nam means water and usually refers to smaller rivers that feed into the Mekong. This area is home of the worlds' largest catfish that was caught awhile back. The locals have turned in their nets and given up fishing for the large fish due to recent conservation efforts. The Mekong is a swift moving, brown river with small villages dotting the high cliffsides. It is 20 meters deep in parts and suffers from a lot of erosoin.
There were about 60 of us on the boat, mostly tourists but some Laos. Everyone was talking, sharing travel stories, drinking their first Beer Laos together. They are very lovely, quiet people. One tribal woman, about 50, had this beautifual pink, black and blue native outfit on and wore a large silver necklace. She was happy to pose for a photo and happier when I showed it to her. Several Laos women later boarded the boat with
fruit for sale. We passed a cremation ceremony along the river. A tall stack of wood held the casket and burned as family members sat along the banks of the river. This was not a fancy one as I had seen in Bali. We made several stops along the river at small villages and along sandy banks to pick up passaengers and goods.
The wind began to pick up and you could feel rain in the air. As we moved along the river and rounded a bend, a huge bright rainbow extended across the river. The wind picked up more as we approached and the mist moved over the lush green mountains. As we passed under the rainbow the rain began to pour and we had to pull the sides down on the boat. After nearly 6 hours we arrived in Pekbang, a small village that sits high along the Mekong. Laos men awaited on shore to help with our bags. We found a guesthouse and walked the town before it got too dark. There is not enough capacity and the electricity shuts down about 10:30. Walking down the one road in town, we saw 5 Laos police with
Mekong River
Cremation Ceremony along riversemi=automatic machine guns. Not much of a deterant to the locals who were anxious to offer us weed, opium etc. Up the hill behind a small house a huge flame appeared in the woods, apparently there were burning off the land to clear it for a house. That nite about 10 of use gathered and had some of the best Indian food ever. The owner is from India. Not sure how he ended up in this little stopover town. How strange to live in a town where you see tourists only for one nite, then they leave!
On the second day, we boarded a different boat, not nearly as big or comfortable. Thomas, Toby and I got seats in the back as they were more comfortable than the short, wooden benches up front. However, what you gained in comfort, you lost in noise. The engine was so loud, you could hardly hear each other. A young Laos boy, Santi, about 10 maybe, was working the "beverage" bar - a cooler that he sat on. His family owned the boat and they went up and down the river living on the boat. There was a small "kitchen" in the back
Mekong River
Dropoff of folks along river in pouring rain of the boat near all the bags that consisted of a small concrete grill and a hanging pot and cutting board. I offered him some food, not knowing if he would get to eat during his workday. He smiled and accepted. Later I handed him an empty water bottle to put in the recyling bin and he chucked it overboard! We all gasped! They are still of the mentality that if you put something in the river it goes away. The slow boat is the way to go along the Mekong to see the beauty of the northern country. The alternative is to take the speed boat which gets you to LPB in 6 hours as opposed to 2 8 hour days. However, you wear a helmet and sit hugging your knees to avoid getting blasted by the wind and also the harsh rev of the engine. To see these speed boats on the water is really quite scary. I can't imagine traveling that way for 6 hours.
We arrived Luamprabang about 8 hours later and headed for the main strip to find a guest house. Toby, Thomas and I settled on Sakkarhins Guest house. Very friendly staff. Luamprabang
Mekong River
View of moutains and rugged hill country is a lovely French influenced town that sits in the plains between the river and the mountains and is covered in palm trees. I was surprised how hot it was. The buildings in town have old wooden shutters and look much like New Orleans. The town has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and you can see why it's quite beautiful. The main temple, Mt. Phousi, sits atop a hill and you can climb to see an amazing sunset. Sakkarhin, the owner of our guest house took us to the site of his new hotel that is being built, a very fancy and expensive place that will be done in about 2 years. He was born in Luangprabang and returned after Univerisity in Moscow to open the guesthouse. His parents, who are Laos live in Canada. There is a great nite market in LPB, different wares than in Thai. They have beautiful silver, silk wall hangings and wonderful hand crafted textiles. Young Laos children pester you to buy little beads and bracelets. They are very cute. Lots of little lady boys here and they are very animated! There are no ATMs in Laos so I cashed in some
Mekong River
Pregnant Village woman getting off the boat with goods traveler checks, this time getting over 1.5 million kip!! Pretty crazy. I think I'll stick with US dollars. Got some good French bread and pastries! finally a good piece of bread.
Thomas left and went back to Thai and Toby and I took the VIP bus to Vientiene, the capital in the middle of the country. We opted for the day bus as the nite bus leaves at 7:30 PM and dumps you off in town at about 4:30 am and there is no toilet on the bus. After we had set out, I notice a Laos man from the lower deck come up, he was sporting a machine gun, an AK 47 I think. I recently learned from a movie the story behind the name of the gun - Automatic Kalishnokov first built in 1947 for the Soviet Army. Learn something new every day. Anyhow, we were a bit shocked to see this fairly normal, Laos young man sporting a machine gun under his coat. Apparently, Route 13, the road from LPB to Vientiene has had a history of raids on buses killing Westerners, but none since 2003. He was our security. For the first 3 hours, the
road was extremely windy and steep, zigzagging through the rugged mountains. I felt nauseous the entire time. One poor Irish girl kept getting car sick, thank God for the toilet. We stopped at one of the few berms along the road, along a corner no less and all got out. It was unclear why we were stopping, but it felt good to quit moving. I guess the driver needed to take a leak. Our security guard cased the bus. All clear, we boarded and proceeded on to Vang Vien, the 6 hour mark. Its a small town located in the valley of the moutains and popular with backpackers for its natural beauty, tubing, kayaking etc. We stopped and let off about 10 tourists on this old tarmac that was built by the Americans during the Vientam war. Bloody hot there. The last 3 hours were not so bad as the road flattened a bit. The small villages located in the mountains are precariously perched just feet from the narrow road and sti on stilts overhanging the steep mountain. One wrong foothold and your'e down at the bottom of the mountain! The scenery is gorgeous with large limestone rocks towering in
the mist.
We arrived Vientiene and found a guesthouse in the sleepy, dusty capital. Not alot going on here. I am a bit under the weather so it's as good a place as any to rest for a few days. Off to Hanoi tomorrow. Seven more countries in 7 weeks! yikes, where did my time go??
Happy 4th of July!! I sang the National Anthem to myself and thanked my luck stars for our beautiful country we live in!!
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