our little area of luxury (before the sunroof opened and the locals sitting on my feet and lap left); villagers from a stop selling Lao-beer and the lady in the center was selling some sort of dead cat (or endangered baby tiger) that no one bought (thankfully)
Made it safe and sound down the Mekong to Luang Prabang yesterday afternoon. The slow-boat was an adventure. We left the safety of Thailand early Saturday morning via longboat to cross the Mekong into Laos and go through customs - let's just say they don't run a very tight ship. What a hassle. The customs agent held up one passport at a time and all 100 people in line had to view the passport to determine if said passport was theirs. We (ingenious Americans) began calling peoples first name and country to expedite the process.
The slow-boat was about what you'd expect coming from one of the poorest nations on Earth. Open air engine room where one can easily fall into the engine? Check. Live chickens in corral on the bow? Check. Overfilled capacity where people are sitting on the floor? Check.
However the slow-boat made up from lack of comfort for an amazing view and ride. We found that hanging out the side with our feet in the water with a cold Lao-beer was the best spot on the boat - and locals from each village stop were happy to accommodate our patronage shouting "caaaooooldddd Lao-beeeee" and running around the boat.
The first night our boat stopped just after dark at a little town I hope none of you ever have to visit called Pak Beng. The only purpose of this town is for an overnight stop on the slow-boats and as soon as the boat stopped the locals were upon us to sell accommodation for the evening (and try to steal unsuspecting peoples bags). The reason I note the darkness is the boat stops at the base of a steep hill were the town sits midway up the hill - I was unfortunate enough to witness an older man fall backwards down the hill and into the water due to the weight of his backpack (thankfully I had my rollers engaged and rolled the hill) - he was alright.
We were ushered into a motel that was recommended in Chiang Kong that was only about $4 per night and hosted NZ Nicks birthday party in their restaurant and provided a stereo to play my iPod for the event. We had a good time.
The next morning awoke to a very misty and cold Mekong and a shockingly even smaller slow-boat to Luang Prabang. We arrived 30 minutes before scheduled departure and the boat was overflowing with people already. Our section ended up being choice as the roof retracted and we had a great open air mini-deck to play Uno, read and relax for the seven hour ride.
Luang Prabang is a great town - very relaxed with a UNESCO designation and heavily French influenced architecture provides a welcome relief from the travel of the past few days. Laos temples and monks dot the town and provide a stark contrast to what the French have left.
Tomorrow we travel via motoscooter to local waterfalls and caves....
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