We left Chiang Mai on 11/11/09 to start our three-day journey to Luang Prabang. First up was the minibus ride to Chiang Khong. Our minibus must have been full of the most boring people around. The only person that seemed to fancy chatting to anybody was a New Zealand guy called Cole, so we chatted to him a bit. Arrival at Chiang Khong came as something of a relief. The roads right in the north, between Chiang Mai and Chiang Khong were getting pretty bumpy!
The accommodation in Chiang Khong was pretty nice. Basic in terms of facilities, but clean and well-kept. We made use of the mosquito nets provided that night, as the building was made of wood, there were lots of holes…. Dinner was included, and was ok. No meat was involved though 
. We chatted a bit to two Korean girls that had been on our minibus and watched “The 300″.
The next day involved the ferry over the river, the border crossing and the first day of the slow boat ride. The hotel had offered a service where they dash off to the border when it opens with your passport, sort out your visa and bring it back while you’re having breakfast for 100 baht, so we took advantage of that. The ferry across the river was one of these long, narrow boats, much like the one we took in Inle lake in Burma, which was kind of tough to get into with a big backpack on, while trying to squeeze past everyone else’s backpacks. We made it though and got through the border.
We were then all shipped off by tuk-tuk to a cafe where the slow boat went from, where one of the trip organisers gave us a talk where he basically lied through his face, first by telling us that the mid-point stop was a simple town where they wouldn’t accept baht (lie) so we needed kip (why didn’t he tell us this in town where there was a cashpoint? Oh yes, so he can change us dollars at a horrific exchange rate) and that the guesthouses would want 100,000 kip per night(lie), presumably so he could sell the 60,000/night ones before anyone left.
Not believing the price, but wary of the baht problem, we managed to get some dollars changed to kip at a merely unreasonable (8000/dollar) (rather than horrific (7000/dollar)) exchange rate by teaming up with a Polish chap. The rate at the exchange at the border was about 8500kip/dollar. As it turned out the guesthouses and restaurants in Pak Beng did accept baht.
After an hour or so, we were allowed onto the boat. Most of the seats were gone by this stage, so Andy and I had to split up. I ended up sitting next to Louise – a very nice Canadian woman of 48. We had a really interesting chat, she’d worked jobs in the music (BMG) and film (Sony) industry, and later we got chatting to Anja and some other Germans (never figured out their names – they kept moving around) in the seats in front of us.
The scenery around the Mekong river was really beautiful. The banks of the river are basically covered with jungle and it’s pretty mountainous as well. The river itself seems pretty wild – lots of rocks and eddies and even the odd little whirlpool. We had the option of doing the slow boat ride, which takes 2 days, or the speedboat ride, which takes 6-7 hours or so. However both our guidebooks advise not to take the speedboat as they tend to flip when they hit debris, which there’s plenty of, and lots of people die. As it was we were much better off on the slow boat anyway – it’s a good opportunity to meet people, and most of the speedboats we saw only had 2-4 people in.
The end of the first day on the boat, and getting off in Pak Beng was an experience…. Basically it was dark, and everyone gets off the boat and stands around on rocks. They then gradually unload the bags, which noone can really see because there’s too many people. Much pushing and shoving later, while everyone tries to figure out whose bag is whose, and yet more people shine torches in your eyes, trying to sell you a guesthouse, you somehow end up with a bag that belongs to you and a room to stay in for the night.
Louise joined up with Andy and I, and we took a couple of rooms in the same guesthouse, then headed out for dinner together. After choosing a restaurant, we eventually wandered in to one only to find Anja (AKA Tigerduck) with a group of people eating there, so we joined them. We later got to know Olle, Anneline, Maia and Barb who were on the same table. I ate a beef and mint lab – kind of a minced-meat salad. It was excellent.
The next day it was time to hit the slow boat again. This took about 8 hours to reach Luang Prabang. Luckily we got there with some daylight this time, so getting off the boat, collecting bags and finding a guesthouse was a bit less of a disaster. Andy and I booked in to the Chansavang guesthouse. More on Luang Prabang later!
