Travels on the Mekhong

Hilary and I split up after Luang Prabang because I had to get back for work and she wanted to continue north. In order to get from Luang Prabang to the Thai border at Huay Xai, I had to take a slow boat on the Mekhong River for 2 days. I had heard that it was a horrendous journey....cramped up in wooden benches unable to move for 8 hours with no food on the boat. But it actually turned out to be a great experience. Apparently the direction I was going there were a lot less tourists. The boat was a wooden long-tailed boat with comfortable seats and they would lay out mats on the ground if you wanted to have a rest. There were just as many Laos people traveling as tourists and everyone seemed to share their food and swap stories as the gorgeous scenery passed us by. I saw an elephant bathing in the river and tons and tons of water buffalo, who are my new favorite animals. The weather was cool and the mountains were misty. We went past tons of little villages and could see the people coming down to bathe in the river in the late afternoon. It was pretty smoothe sailing until the girl i was sitting next to decided to open her curtain. There was a HUGE spider the size of my hand inside the curtain and it had an egg sac. We very quickly evacuated our seats whilst making a big fuss. Everyone on the boat was coming over to see and take photos. Ironically, the monk in the seat behind us never moved or even flinched. How do they do that?

So after all the excitement, we had a Beer Laos and awaited the end of our 9-hour boat ride. That night we stayed in a tiny little town called Pak Beng. I mean, they cut the electricity off there at 10 pm and so we had to carry flashlights around. I'd heard about some bandits in the town trying to break into people's rooms and steal their stuff so i was pretty worried since I was on my own. Luckily we found a great cheap guesthouse owned by a lovely family. I was speaking to them in Laos and they ended up asking me to help them. They had just bought a computer (the first one in the entire community!) and were having trouble setting it up because none of them could read english. Everything seemed to be fine until i tried to access the internet. First I discovered that they had not connected the cord to a phone line and then I started to wonder, "Where is the modem?" They were asking me, "What is modem?" Of course, i could only explain by saying, "It's a little black box for the internet." Turns out they didn't have one so they would have to buy it. I felt bad and could tell they were quite disappointed. However, I was successful in helping them set up their CD and DVD players so that was good. It was just amazing to be a part of this interaction...seeing people using their first computer in 2007! I felt good that I could help them a little bit and they really took care of me for the rest of the night and next morning.

The second day was getting a bit grueling. In my sleep the night before I had felt like I was still rocking on the boat. The Mekhong is nothing to mess with! We saw giant whirlpool and undertows and sometimes the current was so strong. It's such an important river that sustains people in so many countries: China, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia. You could just feel its life-force.

The family that owned the second boat was very nice and they had a little boy who I played with quite a bit. I chit-chatted with Ricardo, this crazy Italian lifeguard who travels every winter because he collects unemployment from the Italian government. He told me about traveling in Myanmar (which is next on my wish list) and what it was like to be in Italy during the World Cup. That night we stayed in Huay Xai which is still in Laos but the other side of the river is Thailand. We ate at a restaurant called Nut Pop which played extremely loud Laos folk music and good food. After 2 days on the river it was good to be back on solid ground.
Here are some pics:
Ze boat-

Ze river-

Water Buffalo

Morning Mist-

Pak Beng Village