Floating The Mekong River (2 Days)

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When I decided to float the Mekong River for two days from the Thai-Lao border to Luang Prabang, I wasn't sure what to expect. I thought I might be hitching a ride with a fishing canoe or maybe a freighter. I had heard people had done it. Then I heard it was a fairly popular method of getting in to Laos. As it turns out, like most things in the region, it was 100 tourists showing up for a boat that holds about 80. So, before we all got on the boat, one of the guys in charge announced to everybody that it was going to take longer than everybody had been told by their various tour sellers. Also, the town we would be stopping in for the night lacked electricity and is dangerous, etc...

Turns out he was trying to scare people in to paying a little more and upgrading to a minivan service that only took one day. It worked. Several people, not enough, decided to take the minivan instead. I had met a few people the night before that were coming from Chiang Mai as well. We all decided to stick with the long boat and it was fine. The guy was certainly exagerating. It was nice but by the 8th hour on the second day of being on the crowded boat, I was ready to be done with the Mekong. All in all it was really a worthwhile experience.

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