One of the highlights of our entire Asia trip was a two-day slow boat ride on Mekong River. We started from Thailand, not far from Chiang Rai and ended up in Luang Prabang in Laos, after spending a night at Pak Beng a small town in Laos.
One can take a “public” boat that would do about the same thing at a much lower cost, but we decided to pay more and get some luxury. Surely at our age, we deserve it ;-). The cruise price was $180 per person not including lodging or dinner in Pak Beng.
We were picked up from our hotel in Chiang Rai. After us, the minivan picked up five more people before we headed to the border town of Chiang Khong. We met the other folks upon disembarkation. There were two couples of our age from UK, and one younger single man from Denmark. We would all become good friends during the next two days.
It took a long time to exit from Thailand. There were two long lines, one meant for the holders of Laotian or Vietnamese passports, one for the Chinese. There was one booth for “foreigners” but no one was there. So we had to choose who we wanted to be and we were asked by the immigration officer walking around to be Chinese ;-).
After getting the passport stamped by the Thai officers, we boarded a shuttle bus that carried us across a “Friendship Bridge” to Laos. There we were met by Pang, who was with Smile Cruise, the outfitter. He guided us through the process of entering Laos. First we converted all remaining Baht to Laotian Kips. As one dollar buys some 8000 kips, we had a number of 100,000 Kip bills in our hands.
Next, we had to fill-in two forms and submit them to an unsmiling immigration officer along with a passport photo of each of us. He stapled the photos, pulled out parts of the forms and shoved them to the next window. This is where we had to pay $36 each. I gave him four $20 bills and he rejected all but one. They were slightly bent or worn out and officials of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (the official name of Laos) did not like them. Fortunately, I had a $100 bill and that was accepted.
Finally, we got out and were in Laos. There we met a young couple from Switzerland. They too were going to join us. So, now we were nine of us. We heard that five more would be joining us directly at the boat.
Before going to the dock to board our boat, we stopped at an ATM. That one had run out of money, so we stopped at the next. We withdrew what we thought would be enough for the two weeks of dining and tour expenses in Laos. The hotels were mostly paid for in dollars, but for the rest, we assumed cash would be the only way.
The long boat we boarded was quite nice. Five French people, of our age, were already on board. They exchanged no greetings nor did they acknowledge us. This odd behavior continued for the entire trip. Strange folks, we all thought.
The ride on the river was quite smooth. There was some traffic but not much. Boats like ours were around, and so were small speedboats carrying passengers who were in a bit more of hurry than us. In addition, there were a few fishermen. We noticed that the river was quite polluted. All types of junk, mostly plastic, floated on the surface. Also, the water was all brown and muddy.
We had a nice lunch on-board which was timely because we were quite hungry, having left the hotel without a breakfast. Meera had some vegetarian dishes, so she was OK.
We had a good time talking to all our fellow passengers and guides. All except the strange folks from France. They remained totally aloof and rude. The two British retired couples were from Yorkshire and frequently vacation together. This time, they had done some sailing near Phuket and were on the way back. The Swiss couple was from Luzern. He is a digital consultant, and she doing environmental work. The Danish guy was traveling for five months and had been everywhere. He was also a keen photographer.
Initially, Mekong was flowing on the border between Thailand and Laos. Soon, it entered Laos and we had to stop to exchange some papers. After that, the only stop we made on the first day was at a Hmong village. We were told to ask elders before taking pictures, but otherwise it was fine to photograph whatever we felt like. We made full use of that permission.
We spent may be an hour on-shore. Meera was particularly excited as she had worked with Hong people in the past when she worked for the WIC program at Fitchburg. She spent a few minutes at a clinic where kids were getting vaccinated. Kids were everywhere and some asked for money, but they were not being nuisance. We deposited some money at the donation box outside the village and left.
By evening, we had arrived at Pak Beng, a small town on shore. We could have left our heavy luggage on-board and taken just the light duffle bag, if we were told we could do that. However, we were not prepared and had to carry all the stuff with us, which was a pain. We got some kids to do it for us and paid them $1 each, which was plenty.
For dinner, we had Hassan Restaurant right in front of our hotel. It promised Indian food, Lao food and tasty food. So that was that. The owner was from Chennai. It was the only hopping place in town, the rest of the establishments were looking for customers.
The spirit of entrepreneurship among my fellow Indians has always impressed me. Whether it is running jewelry shops in Juneau, operating motels in some remote part of US, or a hi-tech startup in the Silicon Valley, Indians are always in the forefront. Hassan Restaurant in Pak Beng was another example.
The next morning, we got up, had breakfast and went to the dock to board our boat. We had a different boat today, not as nice as the day before. However, the crew was the same. The morning scene on Mekong was quite pleasant. The shores were a lot more hilly and forested than the day before and there was plenty of fog, which lent an air of mystery.
On this day, we stopped at a village where the residents were paddling two types of goods: Handicraft (woven scarves, purses), and whiskey. This was an unlikely combination, but apparently tourists want both. The local whiskey was pure alcohol. One shot of that and you would be rolling on the floor.
After about an hour, we got on the boat, had lunch, and saw some important sights, like the construction of a bridge that will carry high-speed train in the future. This is a massive project that will link all these South Asian countries to China, which is investing heavily.
The last stop of the day was at Pak Ou caves, which we had heard about. They are natural caves in limestone cliffs and contain hundreds of statues of Buddha. They were OK, but seeing hundreds of Buddhas was losing its novelty.
Then we exchanged contact information with all but the French, took pictures of the group and made our final landing a few miles outside Luang Prabang. We had to get to our mini-van for transport to our hotels. The river bank was very sandy and steep, so we hired a couple of kids to carry our luggage up. Even with just our backpacks, it was a tough climb. We spent some time sorting out luggage, because by mistake the luggage of British folks was loaded in the mini-van meant for the French folks. They did not want to ride with us. Oh, well.
We finally reached our hotel in Luang Prabang, thus ending an interesting experience.
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