Boating down the Mekong to Laos

What an experience!

As we boarded the old wooden boat that would take us for the journey from Chiang Khong on the Thai-Laos border to Luang Prabang in Laos, I felt a chill of excitement - two days aboard a boat, what an interesting way to travel! Our night in Chiang Khong was lovely, with the most comfortable mattresses in all of Thailand, as well as many relaxed restaurants overlooking the Mekong, and Laos on the other side.The first picture in this blog post shows me in a restaurant in Thailand, looking out to the lights across the river - Laos. That night I also happenstanced upon the most amazing of desserts - an Ovaltine Volcano. If you're ever in Chiang Khong, be sure to get one from the cafe that's open late near Boom Guesthouse. It was filled with ice and horrible turkish delight and was ridiculously sweet.

The slow boat route is a tried-and-true banana pancake backpacker's trail, so we could be sure that every western comfort was provided, comfort forged by the decades of pilgramages by previous banana pancakeists. After being told of hard wooden seats and dodgy toilets, we were very pleased to find a western toilet and washbasin - even the seats were padded, although they did look like that had been requisitioned from a bus that happened to be in the wrong place at the right time.


After a day filled with the most amazing sights along the Mekong, fishing boats, nets and large cargo ships overtaking our meandering passage down the river, we stopped off in Pak Beng for the night, a little village that contains only hostels to accomodate slow-boaters. The Indian restaurant we tried was well below standard for the price of the meal, which took 2 hrs to be served. The only resemblence to Chicken Tikka Masala was the chicken in the meal. In Pak Beng I also discover a most delicious lunch, which is the baguette with filling that is everywhere in Laos.

After two days taking in the beauty of the Mekong, lined with rocks and light jungle plants and the occasional small waterfall stream, I couldn't wait to stretch my legs and check out our destination, Luang Prabang.