The last two days of my journey into Laos are via a 'slow boat' down the Mekong river to the city of Luang Prabang. A slow boat is a cross between a Thai longtailed boat and a canal boat. The sides are open and the seats look like they have been ripped out of a minibus.
I get up at 7:30 to buy my slow boat ticket and to get a good seat - apparently the engine is deafeningly loud so it is best to sit as far away from it as possible. At the ticket office I am told that the boat won't leave until 11:00 (the day before the man said ' Come at 8:00, 9:00, maybe 10:00') and I have the first ticket, but by 8:30 there are people saving their seats.
By the time we leave there are about 70 people on the boat, most of them western travellers. A small girl of about 8 years old seems to do most of the work - collecting tickets, handing out plastic bags for people to keep their shoes in and running the small shop which sells beer, coke, pot noodles and crisps.
The scenery along the river is very very green, a nice contrast to the muddy brown river, the banks of which are lined with sandy beaches and limestone rocks. We occasionally stop at small villages to pick up or drop of packages and every now and then I see fishermen and children swimming in the river.
After 6 hours we stop at the town of Pakbeng. Like Huay Xai people never stay here for more than one night, and we are faced with the usal hoard of touts advertising their guest house before anyone has even stepped off the boat - 'Do you have a room for the night? Wifi, very clean, only 80, 000 kip'. I split the price of a room with Kelsie, a Canadian girl I met the day before, and we are taken the short distance to the hotel in the back of a truck - it would probably take less than five minutes to drive the length of the town and back again.
That evening it rains. A lot. The boat leaves at 9:00 so at 8:00 we walk down to the pier and buy sandwhiches on the way. By the time we get there the front half of the boat is full of the people who were stuck in the back by the engine yesterday.
The journey is much the same as the day before, except it is raining, colder and the river is very full. The scenery doesn't change much but there is still a lot to see. At one point we pass a temple built into the cliff face, which my guide book tells me is full of unwanted budha statues and just a couple of hours outside of Luang Prabang.
After just seven hours altogether (two hours fewer than I had been told) we stop at what looks like another village but turns out to be Luang Prabang. The pier is just a grass bank and we cross a gang-plank to get off the boat whilst our bags are tossed over the water and onto the mud. A twenty minute tuk-tuk ride takes me to the city centre, where I find a guest house and head to the night market. Here I can fill a plate with food from a buffet - noodles, potatos, curry, rice, spring rolls, fried vegetables - as high as I can all for 10, 000 kip (75p). The food is then heated up and has seasoning added to it. There are little wooden tables and chairs dotted around with candles and jars of chopsticks. I think I am going to like Luang Prabang.
I get up at 7:30 to buy my slow boat ticket and to get a good seat - apparently the engine is deafeningly loud so it is best to sit as far away from it as possible. At the ticket office I am told that the boat won't leave until 11:00 (the day before the man said ' Come at 8:00, 9:00, maybe 10:00') and I have the first ticket, but by 8:30 there are people saving their seats.
By the time we leave there are about 70 people on the boat, most of them western travellers. A small girl of about 8 years old seems to do most of the work - collecting tickets, handing out plastic bags for people to keep their shoes in and running the small shop which sells beer, coke, pot noodles and crisps.
The scenery along the river is very very green, a nice contrast to the muddy brown river, the banks of which are lined with sandy beaches and limestone rocks. We occasionally stop at small villages to pick up or drop of packages and every now and then I see fishermen and children swimming in the river.
After 6 hours we stop at the town of Pakbeng. Like Huay Xai people never stay here for more than one night, and we are faced with the usal hoard of touts advertising their guest house before anyone has even stepped off the boat - 'Do you have a room for the night? Wifi, very clean, only 80, 000 kip'. I split the price of a room with Kelsie, a Canadian girl I met the day before, and we are taken the short distance to the hotel in the back of a truck - it would probably take less than five minutes to drive the length of the town and back again.
That evening it rains. A lot. The boat leaves at 9:00 so at 8:00 we walk down to the pier and buy sandwhiches on the way. By the time we get there the front half of the boat is full of the people who were stuck in the back by the engine yesterday.
The journey is much the same as the day before, except it is raining, colder and the river is very full. The scenery doesn't change much but there is still a lot to see. At one point we pass a temple built into the cliff face, which my guide book tells me is full of unwanted budha statues and just a couple of hours outside of Luang Prabang.
After just seven hours altogether (two hours fewer than I had been told) we stop at what looks like another village but turns out to be Luang Prabang. The pier is just a grass bank and we cross a gang-plank to get off the boat whilst our bags are tossed over the water and onto the mud. A twenty minute tuk-tuk ride takes me to the city centre, where I find a guest house and head to the night market. Here I can fill a plate with food from a buffet - noodles, potatos, curry, rice, spring rolls, fried vegetables - as high as I can all for 10, 000 kip (75p). The food is then heated up and has seasoning added to it. There are little wooden tables and chairs dotted around with candles and jars of chopsticks. I think I am going to like Luang Prabang.
No comments:
Post a Comment