The Slow Boat

To Luang Prabang, Laos -- December 6-7

Except for an overnight stop in the quiet little riverside village of Pakbeng, we've pretty much spent the last two days (to Dexter’s dismay) on the “slow boat.” Thankfully, the long, narrow river boat was much nicer than I imagined and we somehow lucked out with seats right up at the front, just behind the captain. Ninety feet long by maybe ten feet wide, the boat was not particularly roomy.  On the plus side, however, it had a roof to keep the sun off and was fitted with rows and rows of pickup truck bench seats instead of hard wooden benches.  Three quarters along the length was the diesel engine, fully exposed, and roaring loudly.  The incessant drone, if you were unfortunate enough to be near it, was mind numbing.

 

Yesterday (Tuesday) was a shorter day, so we were only on board from around 10:30 to 5:30, two hours less than today.  Dex and Kylie did pretty well and were super excited, before we left, to see one day old pups at the Huay Xia food shop. There is no SPCA here, so puppies abound.

Our stay in the riverside village of Pakbeng was uneventful, though we were right on the verge of finding a new guesthouse as a group of a dozen, intoxicated, twenty-somethings tromped in enticed by the lodge owner's offer of free whiskey for all!  Thankfully, after we escaped to the nearby Indian/Laotian restaurant for dinner, the sedative had had it's effect and all was quiet for the night.

Arrival at Pakbeng

Main Steet, Pakbeng

Sunset along the Mekong

Along with great views, the best part of the two day journey was meeting a fantastic couple from England, David and Shelly. They were so good to us this morning saving seats for us though we didn't saunter on board until 8:30 for the 9:30 departure -- slackers!  Although we all had ticketed seat numbers, that's apparently meaningless the second day of the trip; a Laotian woman was planted in one of “our” seats and clearly had no intention of moving.  

David, Shelly, Dex and Meg

David and Shelly were just finishing up their three week stay in Laos. Having traveled extensively over the years (India, Africa, Nepal, South America….), they now concentrated on a single country at a time for a more in depth experience.  They were great with Dex and Kylie, especially when they started to grow weary of the ride (and of sitting near one another) -- when Dex declares he’s bored, it’s hard to convince him otherwise.

As a diversion, they lent the kids their tablet to watch a short Alfred Hitchcock murder mystery (child appropriate, I’m sure).  Finally, in the ultimate sacrifice, they good naturedly joined in on an epic, two and a half hour Dot and Boxes marathon, boys against girls.  Seriously, we started at 2:00 and celebrated the completion with large bottles of BeerLao (not the kids) at 4:30.

The Mekong here is a swift moving, muddy brown thoroughfare full of huge jagged rocks and surrounded by lush, jungle covered hillsides.  We definitely owe our thanks to the captains expertise when it came to avoiding the jagged rocks just below the swirling surface. Along the way, we saw only the smallest of villages and not a single bridge between the two endpoints, Huay Xia and Luang Probang.  Other than similar passenger boats, narrow wooden canoes and a couple large cargo boats, the river traffic was surprisingly sparse.

Not so expertly driven ship

We were all quite happy to stretch our legs late upon arrival in Luang Prabang. Taking our lead from the Pfyffer family, who had already come and gone, we searched out the Villa Merry Guesthouse And, for a change of pace, we opted for an Italian restaurant, already decorated for the holidays.