Cruising down the Mekong
I arrived in Chiang Khong, Thailand by bus from Chiang Rai on Thursday (28 December) afternoon. While I was eating a late lunch Ivo found me (we had planned to met up at a guesthouse in Chiang Khong). So Helen, Ivo, and I were reunited again and had another fun night, along with a Kiwi guy, Glenn, who Helen and Ivo met on their bus ride to Chiang Khong. We all went out to eat that evening and discovered that Chiang Khong is definitely not your typical border town. It is actually a nice, quaint little village. And the locals there are really friendly too.
The next morning (Friday, 29 December) after breakfast we walked up the street from our guesthouse to the Thai exit port. Went through Thai immigration, crossed the Mekong by taxi boat to the Laos side (to the Lao town of Huay Xai), got our Lao visa there (very easy but $35), and went through Lao immigration. Then we took a taxi to the slow boat ferry pier a short ways up river, bought our tickets for the boat journey to Luang Prabang ($20 for 2 days boat journey), and boarded the wooden, long and narrow, open-air boat. Around 11:30 am we were chugging down the mighty Mekong river towards Luang Prabang, Laos.
The boat was packed, and almost every single person was a foreigner. It seemed almost everyone was drinking and the ride took on a very party-like atmosphere with lots of mingling and drinking. The scenery was also fantastic but the Mekong is a depressingly filthy river. Early that evening we arrived at the half way point, the village of Pak Beng, Laos. It really wasn't a very nice village; I think due mainly to the fact that it caters almost exclusively to people spending just a few hours there to eat and sleep. The whole village was overpriced, but we didn't have much choice. After dinner we (Ivo, Helen, Glenn, and myself) met up with some people we had met on the boat ride for a drink (Bat-Shahar and Michal from Israel, and Nicole from Australia).
The next morning (Saturday, 30 December) we went down to the boats to find they had split the passengers into two boats. This was nice because we had much more room to move around, but it was also a much more subdued ride with virtually no drinking or partying. Everyone was reading and sleeping on this leg of the boat journey. The scenery continued to be fantastic, and the Mekong, filthy. Eventually we arrived in Luang Prabang, Laos early in the evening. I was ready to be off the boat by now.
My first impression of Luang Prabang was that I was really going to like this place. Although its the second largest city in Laos (with only 26,000 people), and the second most popular tourist destination in Laos, it feels like a small town and you can easily walk everywhere. Unfortunately I think everyone else feels the same affection for Luang Prabang as the city was packed with tourists waiting to bring in the New Year. There was almost no accomodation left in town. We checked several places before finding, perhaps, the last room in town. The Merry guesthouse had one large, spotless room left with 4 single beds, a balcony, a spotless bathroom, and two more spotless common bathrooms just outside the door. They were asking an exorbitant price (by Lao standards) for it but as it was the last room in town, we had to take it. 1000 baht, about $25-$30, split 6 ways. Somewhere along the way we lost Glenn, but Ivo, Helen, Bat-Shahar, Michal, Nicole, and I piled into the large room. We had a really fun evening starting with drinks on the balcony, then into town to eat at the night market. We met several people in town from the boat ride that had a much more difficult time finding a room so we considered ourselves very lucky. We are all going to stay together in the room for another couple of nights and we have big plans for New Years Eve this evening.... Its a good, fun group.
The next morning (Friday, 29 December) after breakfast we walked up the street from our guesthouse to the Thai exit port. Went through Thai immigration, crossed the Mekong by taxi boat to the Laos side (to the Lao town of Huay Xai), got our Lao visa there (very easy but $35), and went through Lao immigration. Then we took a taxi to the slow boat ferry pier a short ways up river, bought our tickets for the boat journey to Luang Prabang ($20 for 2 days boat journey), and boarded the wooden, long and narrow, open-air boat. Around 11:30 am we were chugging down the mighty Mekong river towards Luang Prabang, Laos.
The boat was packed, and almost every single person was a foreigner. It seemed almost everyone was drinking and the ride took on a very party-like atmosphere with lots of mingling and drinking. The scenery was also fantastic but the Mekong is a depressingly filthy river. Early that evening we arrived at the half way point, the village of Pak Beng, Laos. It really wasn't a very nice village; I think due mainly to the fact that it caters almost exclusively to people spending just a few hours there to eat and sleep. The whole village was overpriced, but we didn't have much choice. After dinner we (Ivo, Helen, Glenn, and myself) met up with some people we had met on the boat ride for a drink (Bat-Shahar and Michal from Israel, and Nicole from Australia).
The next morning (Saturday, 30 December) we went down to the boats to find they had split the passengers into two boats. This was nice because we had much more room to move around, but it was also a much more subdued ride with virtually no drinking or partying. Everyone was reading and sleeping on this leg of the boat journey. The scenery continued to be fantastic, and the Mekong, filthy. Eventually we arrived in Luang Prabang, Laos early in the evening. I was ready to be off the boat by now.
My first impression of Luang Prabang was that I was really going to like this place. Although its the second largest city in Laos (with only 26,000 people), and the second most popular tourist destination in Laos, it feels like a small town and you can easily walk everywhere. Unfortunately I think everyone else feels the same affection for Luang Prabang as the city was packed with tourists waiting to bring in the New Year. There was almost no accomodation left in town. We checked several places before finding, perhaps, the last room in town. The Merry guesthouse had one large, spotless room left with 4 single beds, a balcony, a spotless bathroom, and two more spotless common bathrooms just outside the door. They were asking an exorbitant price (by Lao standards) for it but as it was the last room in town, we had to take it. 1000 baht, about $25-$30, split 6 ways. Somewhere along the way we lost Glenn, but Ivo, Helen, Bat-Shahar, Michal, Nicole, and I piled into the large room. We had a really fun evening starting with drinks on the balcony, then into town to eat at the night market. We met several people in town from the boat ride that had a much more difficult time finding a room so we considered ourselves very lucky. We are all going to stay together in the room for another couple of nights and we have big plans for New Years Eve this evening.... Its a good, fun group.
posted by Dustin at 8:56 PM
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