Whilst in Chiang Mai we had a dig around to see which would be the best way of getting into Laos. The options were plane, boat or bus. Plane was too expensive, bus was too boring and uncomfortable, so that left only boat. We were to get a minibus from Chiang Mai to the border, spend the night there, then cross the border in the morning before embarking on a 2 day cruise down the Mekong river, finally dropping us at Luang Prabang in Laos.
The bus journey was fine, apart from the fact that when we stopped for lunch, our driver ran over the cafe owners cat. She didn't seem to mind too much and began immediately to rewrite the menu. Our guesthouse at the border was plain but comfortable and after dinner we sat in a bar over the road, drinking beer and watching pirated movies (Mr & Mrs Smith - crap ! And Sin City - crapper !). The next morning we took a quick ferry across the Mekong to go through the endless immigration beaurocracy, then took a tuk-tuk (try saying that 5 times) to the boat jetty. After making ourselves as comfortable as possible, which actually meant sitting on the floor at the back of the boat by the engine room, we pulled out our biggest grins, which we reserve for border crossings and black panther stout. Then, at break neck speed, we sat and did nothing. The odd crew member would occassionally walk down the boat, pretend to fiddle with a knot on some mooring line just to get our hopes up, then walk back down the boat again. For a while we continued to go nowhere. It started to get very hot and cramped on the boat, and some of us paying passengers made grumblings to crew members about the wait. The crew, being a considerate bunch, caught on to what troubled us and immediately set about doing even less than before. A whole hour we sat there, fully packed, loaded, fuelled and crewed. Then the waiting really started.
Finally, as if by some rare and mysterious alignment of the planets, some unspoken communication passed amongst the crew and to the man, they leapt to their feet and hurried themselves with readying our vessel. The engine was fired up, the mooring lines released and everybody cheered. The captain took the wheel threw wild hand gestures about the boat to his attentive crew. Then, slowly, as if by magic, they all sat down, the engine was switched off, and we waited some more. Only after our captain was absolutely certain that we had fulfilled our required government quota of pointless stagnation did we finally cast off and head down the mirky Mekong. The Mekong river is wonderful. It supports entire communities all along its length providing them with water, food, transportation and toilet facilities. At what's more, it looks exactly like the chocolate river in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Only much, much bigger. We did stop a few times along the way, if only to get in some supplemental waiting, and the captain was very considerate and only ever moored up next to other boats so we could sit next to their exhaust pipe and suck down some tasty gasses. Nohing like the smell of diesel fumes to settle you stomach.
After a hard days waiting and some brief motoring, we landed up at a lovely little village called Pak Beng, where we would spend the night. After Cara was forced to sit in the middle of the only road for an age waiting while I ran the length of the village 4 times trying to find us decent accommodation, we finally settled on a lovely little bamboo box. This was preferred to the alternatives of small wooden box and small corrugated iron box, if only because the gaps in the bamboo gave the cockroaches plenty of escape routes when I took off my shoes. Better than any insecticide ! Pak Beng is very small. You can walk aound it in a stride, but everybody is very friendly and they will happily sell you lots of things that are probably bad for you.
We had to be back at the boat early the next morning as the captain wanted to get in a good 2 hours of serious waiting before setting off. Unfortunately it hammered down with rain for most of the second day, so we only had the scenery for a few hours. The scenery along this part of the river is spectacular, and the main reason for taking a slow boat rather than a fast bus or, heaven forbid, a speedboat. The title speedboat is somewhat misleading here, as they are more akin to a child's play slide with a jet engine strapped to the back. We would hear them coming from miles away, sounding like concord on take-off, speeding past us with their petrified passengers packed in like supersonic sardines. The slow boat was definately the favourable option and I'm glad we took it. We finally fetched up in Luang Prabang in the late afternoon and Cara sorted us with a decent guesthouse before I'd even managed to get the packs off the boat
Laos is a communist country, which essentially means only politicians and government officials are allowed to get rich. Most of the rest of its inhabitants a very, very poor indeed. The country is also very empty. With a population less than that of London, and a country the size of, say, the moon, there is a lot of empty, untouched, beautiful countryside inbetween. With the exception of those working in the tourist trade, most Laotians just seem bemused as to why so many foreigners now visit their country, but visit they do and it seems to be the rising star of Southeast Asia. It definately has a good feel to it and everyhing has been just grand so far.
Cara will le you know what we've been up to since arriving in Luang Prabang
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