Cruising on the Mekong

I looked up some description about the slow boat, but all posts that I found with a quick search were really outdated. Many things changed throughout the years: foreigners are not allowed to cross the border with the ferry anymore, we need to go through the recently built bridge. The old system was comfortable, the ferry port was in a walking distance from the center of Chiang Khong, on the lao side you arrived next the pier of the slow boat. It was all convenient. Now the immigration office and the border crossing point is 10 km south from the town, so it is easy to make the tourists pay for extra services, it takes more time and the chances to miss the morning slow boat are higher if crossing the border is planned for the morning.

The Thai Immigration Office opens at 8.00 in the morning, and you’d better arrive early, as there tend to be more people than in the afternoon. Obviously same on the Lao side, plus you have to fill in 2 extra large official sheets to request the visa (have an extra passport photo with you!), pay the visa fee between 30 and 42 USD, depends on the country of origin. Canadians pay the most, 42 dollars. What did they do against Laos?  There must be politics behind, for sure not an economical reason, as people from Bangladesh are paying 35 dollars… From here it takes a 30-40 minutes tuk-tuk drive to the pier, from where the slow boat leaves mostly at 11:30. But not always. This schedule is doable for the first look, still there were people running to catch the boat at 11:40, when we started the maneuver to leave the pier. Only the goodwill of the captain made it possible for these guys to travel with us.

The posts I’ve read suggested to prepare with extra cushions, arrive early and take  seat in the front at the side and avoid the area of the engine. So, this is not valid anymore either. We can’t choose neither the boat, nor the seat. The tickets are numbered, the seats are old rear seats from cars, or some were maybe taken out from trains. Not much room for exchanging seats as the boat is full, locals are travelling as well, getting on and off along the way. I got seat 49, somewhere in the middle, next to the aisle. I cruise on the Mekong. I have to say it out loud to actually believe it. The Mekong. Huh.

In the first couple of hours everyone is excited seeing the cows and water buffalos, or little kids at the shore.When the excitement fades away everyone eats lunch from food boxes, and half of the people fall asleep, the other half starts to read. This is just another journey.

The water is speedy, but as we cruise downstream, it is supporting us. The journey is eventless. We sometimes stop at tiny villages, usually at the opposite river bank, and small boats come to bring the people to the other side. The scenery is beautiful and wild, the Mekong is chocolate brown, it’s warm, but not too warm and the sun is shining. Just perfect. We arrive to our overnight stop around 5:30. We were told on the boat, that finding accommodation is hard here, and it is expensive. But luckily one of the crew members has a guesthouse, and luckily there are still rooms available… Some people actually book a room instantly after hearing this news, but the majority just doesn’t care.

I met Rahel from Switzerland on the boat. We had a short discussion, and both of us being solo travelers we figured it’s better to team up and share a room, that we ended up paying 60.000 kip for. We were already okay with the price told at the pier (80 thousand), but on the 3 minutes walk to the guesthouse they forgot what they told us, most probably that is how we ended up with the more realistic price. We had dinner here with Joe and a couple of more guys from the boat, enjoying the view of the river.

I woke up on the sound of elephants trumpeting. Well, first at 5 I heard the roosters, then the cat running up and down on the roof, then the dogs fighting. The elephants started the show only at 6. First I thought I am wrong. But when I heard it for the second time, Rahel and I were jumping out of bed in unisono to have a look at the Mekong, and we saw them on the other side bathing in the river. They belong to the hotel next door, and they are kept for providing a morning show for their guests, we’re just lucky to see them.

We board on another boat in the morning and leave at 9:00. But we are on lao time, so a bit later. New boat, new rules. Everyone takes a seat as we arrive, based on preferences, and the latecomers take what is left. Luckily Joe arrived a bit earlier, and took a seat in the front, and had two seats free next to him. This part of the river is not that wild anymore, there are more villages, more signs of human activity and there are more stops as well. But some of the locals just flagged the boat down to board.

We arrive to the pier of Luang Prabang around 5 in the afternoon. With a 15 minutes tuk-tuk ride we got into the center. My hostel is right next to the night food market – good decision, instant love with this place. I simply love to eat all along Asia. But let’s have this story for another time.