Verrrrrrry long but at popular request! y)
During my jaunt on the west coast of America in July I had met up with Chris who showed me an article about a cruise along the Mekong River between Luang Prabang and Houeisay further north. We could travel either upriver or downriver over either one or two nights. It looked interesting and we decided to look at including it in our itinerary round SE Asia. This proved more difficult than we thought mainly because the connectivity especially to or from Houeisay. Flights were only three or four days a week and not necessarily to suit the days the cruise was either arriving or departing. The other alternative was to use Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai in Thailand as an arrival/departure point but that meant long bus journeys between either of these places and the river crossing to Houeisay which neither of us particularly wanted and in any case Thailand was not on our itinerary except perhaps as a transit point on our return to Singapore for our flights home.
I should say that at this point all that we had booked were our return flights to Singapore so we had a blank canvas with which to work. We decided to make this the cornerstone of our trip and work everything around it. It was a wise decision and as Chris loves working out the logistics and researching airlines he undertook this task and daily revised itineraries dropped into my Inbox before we agreed on a down river cruise from Houeisay to Luang Prabang towards the end of our holiday. y)
I had agreed to do the booking for the cruise and found the process a little bit convoluted. I filled in a form on the company’s website and they confirmed that there was availability on our date and ask me to confirm that we wanted to go!
This I did and then received instructions for payment which was either bank transfer or via a secure link on the website. Once I recognised that it was secure I chose this method of payment and held my breath until the transaction appeared on my on-line credit card account. I was also asked to provide both names, dates of birth and passport numbers but we had experienced that too with airlines, especially those in SE Asia which were flying internationally. By return I received a voucher which was in .pdf format but for some reason it wouldn’t open. I put it to one side meaning to return to it at some stage but of course, promptly forgot about it! Throughout the months that followed there was sporadic correspondence with the company who always replied promptly and having replied to any queries I might have always included a boilerplate section which advised us to bring a jacket as it can be cool on the Mekong and to be at the Thai immigration point at 8am. Even though we had told them that we would be in Houeisay and had asked and received a list of accommodation places in that town we were still being given that information. ?| Oh and a week before our departure to Singapore at a time when the floods in Thailand were at their height we also received an email from the company to assure us that the Mekong was not affected.
It had been our intention to go to the company’s office in Houeisay once we had arrived there. However, those of you who were kind enough to read the trip report of our flight there will know that we did not arrive at our scheduled time of 2:05pm. Indeed by the time we found our hotel, had had a major altercation with them as they wanted to charge us more for the room we were in as the room they had wanted to put us in originally was “broken”, it was well past 5pm. Nonetheless we sallied forth and walked down the road beside the road which ran down to the river and had our first bit of luck. Less than 100 yards from the hotel was the company’s offices, albeit closed but at least we knew where to go. At last we could relax and enjoy our evening in Houeisay which we did.
We had breakfast early and headed down. While the place was still closed there was some sign of life so feeling much heartened we went back to the hotel and later when we returned there was someone there on the phone. While waiting we looked at the information on the wall which told us to be - yes, you’ve guessed it - at the Thai immigration point etc., etc., etc.! ii) However shortly after that we found out that as we had already completed immigration formalities for Laos we would be picked up from the hotel. Yeah, right! I felt very comfortable about that - not - and neither it seems did Chris as at about 8:30 he strolled down and then came back to say that people were beginning to gather so we too headed down. Since our earlier visit the whole place had opened up and about 3 couples were waiting in a large waiting area. While they checked our passports and bags we were offered tea and coffee and fruit or pastries and I think for the first time we began to relax - and indeed I have to say that really the only complaint I would have to make would be about the lack of information or misinformation about joining the cruise.
During this time groups started to arrive and it was clear that they were being ferried over from the Thai side on the small boats that performed that duty.
It became clear that everyone else but ourselves had come over that morning from Thailand with the exception of another couple who had come from Thailand but had come over the night before and who had stayed in the same place as us. We had seen them at breakfast. The newly arriving people had to fill in the same forms that we had in Pakse to get their visas but soon the formalities were completed and we were ready to depart. We had thought that we would simply have to walk down the few yards to the water’s edge in the same direction that our luggage had been taken, but no. We were taken to taxis and driven to a point further north up river where our boat awaited us. We had to scramble over a boat to reach it via a narrow gangplank and a rail comprising of a bamboo pole held by two crew members!
The boat itself was about 30 foot long. In the centre covered part were rows of conventional seating looking for all the world like any long distance bus or coach with a very small bar at the back and also a flush toilet. Beyond that was a large seating area at the stern of the boat with padded benches on all three sides and an edifice in the middle which was useful as a table or a repository for our belongings. Above the main seating area eight mattresses were laid out for those who were inclined to sunbathe and we later found that in the bow were three pairs of seats which the Germans claimed and held on to with a tenacity worthy of a better cause! While we were waiting for boarding to be completed we watched as the heavy trucks were being loaded on board the ferries plying their way between Laos and Thailand
and also watched our luggage arrive by what was little more than a canoe!
Once boarding was completed we were introduced to Vuelee who was to be our guide. He had two men helping him as well as the captain whom we rarely saw. As we set sail we were also able to examine our fellow guests on board. The general demographic of the passengers was 50+ but incongruously on board were two young English girls in their early 20s (possibly on a gap year) whose dress code could be described as “funky” or “kooky”. They were actually rather sweet but as out of place as a bull in a china shop. Not that they caused any disruption, I hasten to add. There were 18 on board including our good selves, the aforementioned English girls, an American couple, an English couple and another couple of which the male was English and the female Irish (from Dublin), a Dutch couple the husband of which deserved to be arrested by the fashion police, the Swedish couple whom we had seen at breakfast and another Swedish couple and the Germans who never interacted with us.
As we left Vuelee explained that we would be going through various terrains. There would be farming - at some stages it would be rice farming
and at others peanut farming;
we would be going through rocky and inhospitable areas
and also through jungle.
We would be sailing for eight hours that day with a stop at a village and an overnight at a lodge owned by the company. He also explained that for the first part of the trip Thailand would be on the right hand side and Laos on the left but at one point he showed us where the border was and after that the Mekong was totally in Laos during our journey.
As the trip progressed we could see the various terrains.
As Chris described it, the scenery came to us. We became aware of the importance of the Mekong as a means of communication with the outside world. During our trip we were aware of the slowboats making their way along the Mekong river as well as the fastboats which were basically canoes with outboard engines! It was a busy working river and really you have to be on it to realise just how much of a working river it is.
Some travel boards recommend a slowboat as a means of transportation and indeed they have facilities on board for food etc but I was glad of my choice. As to the fast boats! Someone had said to me that six hours on a slow boat was long enough but six minutes on a fast boat was too much! They whizzed by and more often than not the people on board were wearing crash helmets!
Throughout the journey we passed small villages, farms mostly of rice at first then later of peanuts, men fishing,
goods being transported and families using the river to get from A to B.
The captain was very respectful of those fishing in the small canoe-like boats or simply travelling in them, slowing down as we passed them by so that they would not be disturbed by the wake of our boat. Occasionally we passed through narrow rocky passages with accompanying rapids but what never ceased to amaze me was that the banks of the river were sandy. I always think of river banks being of muddy earth not fine, white sand.
During this time we learned more about our fellow travellers. We had sneaked a peek at the visa forms of the American couple and learned that he was a professor and she a consultant. However we soon learned that he was a professor on hotel management and administration in CalTech - not exactly the groves of academia - and her consultancy was organising art exhibitions. The English couple had a son who was married and living in Kuala Lumpur whom they visited twice a year and took time to visit different parts of SE Asia. They were especially nice and she gave me some dressings for my knee for which I was really grateful. The English/Irish couple had flown into Bangkok from the UK the day before, had transited to Chiang Mai after a 5 hour layover and then travelled for 5 hours by bus to the border crossing - they slept their way down the Mekong! The Swedish couple who had been in our hotel at breakfast seemed a bit distant but over time I learned that she was very nervous of speaking English and after that we all got on fine. As I said earlier, the Germans never interacted with us and the Dutch couple didn’t really either but at least smiled and nodded at us!
We were to stop at a village for a tour and as we were drawing near we were aware of a fastboat passing us. Given that the profile of most people using them is that of young men, the middle-aged couple therein seemed incongruous and were paying us an inordinate amount of attention. However when we pulled up to the bank of the river for our tour, they were there waiting for us and we realised that they had missed the boat at Houeisay. A ripple of chuckles went round the boat at this but subsequently we learned that the transport that was meant to pick them up failed to do so and hence their headlong flight down the river. The American couple also reported a similar story, although they had had the good sense to arrange an alternative to get them to the boat on time. This couple was Swiss and immediately teamed up with the Germans, although the husband who was vaguely good looking, liked striking manly poses round the boat at various intervals gazing into the middle distance so as to be noticed. He loved himself!
Once they had been sorted out we went on to visit the village. There are something like 43 ethnic groups in Laos some of them having arrived there in the dim and distant past from places as far away as Mongolia. One of the things that struck us during our time in SE Asia was the fluidity of borders between countries down through the years but on reflecting we realised we had seen it in our times in Europe with the break-up of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and also the re-unification of Germany. This village was extremely isolated and only accessible by the river. The main group were Hmong who still had a belief in animism. Their homes had no windows and only had two doors, the main door which the family used and the other door was a spirit door opened only to allow spirits in and out during various ceremonies.
The first thing we noticed about the village was the number of puppies! The place was almost carpetted with them.
I gave up after counting thirty of them but I only saw about 3 or 4 adult dogs! The village is very reliant on aid to survive. The Red Cross had established a water supply and there were about four pumps throughout the village including one where a young man was washing himself clad only in his kecks which incongruously were Calvin Kleins!! Electricity was provided by pylons and satellite dishes and a mobile phone mast provided links to the outside world. The cruise company also funds different projects as a fee for allowing the cruises to stop there. To be honest, I was glad to get back on the boat interesting as the visit had been and the Swedish lady said she had felt very uncomfortable and intrusive being there. I knew exactly what she meant although Vuelee had said that they were as interested in seeing us.
Once back on board we decided it was beer o’clock and soon we were in possession of a couple of Lao beers with which we enjoyed some Idonesian satay flavoured Pringles.
Lunch was served shortly afterwards consisting of a chicken curry with savoury rice, some beef strips and salad. I think there was also a dessert but I can’t remember what but I rather think it was a gateau. It was delicious. The rest of the afternoon was spent just watching the scenery pass by. Occasionally we would see water buffalo grazing or cooling down in the water or people going about their daily work as well as the boats coming up behind us. Mid-afternoon we were served a lovely fruit plate which was very refreshing.
Generally speaking the river closes down for the night and as the sun began to set we pulled in to a lodge in Pakbeng owned by the company. We were greeted warmly and given a local drink which wasn’t very strong before being shown to our rooms. They were lodges joined together by walkways and complete with mosquito nets.
At dinner the big discussion was whether or not people were going to use the said nets but it was a moot point because when we got back to our rooms after dinner they had been lowered.
They were OK to get out of but trying to get back into them especially after getting up in the middle of the night was a bit of a problem! It was a bit like fighting one’s way into a marshmallow - soft and fluffy and totally impenetrable!
Before all that though we were treated to an Apsara dancing display from the children.
We all had pre-dinner drinks from the bar and were served fresh peanuts which had been harvested that day for us.
They were gorgeous and tasted nothing like the peanuts we generally get which are, I suppose, stale by comparison. Dinner was a buffet and it was here that I realised that I had lost my fear of spicy food as I piled up my plate with Thai green chicken curry, a minced pork salad which is a typical Lao dish and something else spicy which I ate with relish!
The next morning there was a mist over the Mekong river and it was freeeeeeeeezing!
The manageress of the lodge was wrapped in coats and cardigans and was shivering like mad and the rest of the staff were nearly as bad. The temperature was 15C and I reflected on the fact that if we had been at home we would have been delighted to have it as high as that! After breakfast where we all queued up at a hatch and eggs were cooked to order for us we set off once more on the river. Just before we left Chris had gone back to the room to collect our bags and had noticed that the towels had already been removed from the room. They were to be loaded on our boat and taken to Luang Prabang to be laundered. I was shortly to wish they had also taken the bed linen!
Once on the river the crew came round with blankets and we all cuddled underneath them and wrapped ourselves cardies, pashminas and any other thing we could to keep warm.
About an hour into the cruise I went to get my iPhone to check what was the time at home (a ritual I did every morning) only to realise I had left it under my pillow in the room! Oh dear! I had no option but to throw myself on Vuelee’s mercy. At this stage there was no signal on the river but he promised to make contact when we stopped at the next village and work something out to get it back to me.
In the fullness of time the sun broke through the mist and we divested ourselves of our wrappings. Most of the scenery at this stage was jungle and we would be passing an elephant colony. Unfortunately the elephants refused to co-operate. A couple of hours later we arrived at the village we were due to visit where we would be shown weaving and distilling rice into a whiskey. This village was larger than the one we had visited the previous day and had two ethnic groups living amicably side by side. One group was the Hmong whom we had visited the previous day and the other was the Kamu. You could tell the difference between the two groups as the Kamu had windows on their houses.
The minute we arrived in the village three small boys huddled together, there arms across each other’s shoulders ready for the photo-opportunity! They followed us around posing at various intervals for us but we didn’t bite! They also chattered non-stop and Vuelee had to talk to them a couple of times as we couldn’t hear what he was saying. In the village itself the women had their goods laid out for us and we were shown the patterns they used when weaving.
As we progressed there were calls of “Sabaidee, madame. You buy?” They had some really lovely stuff that they themselves had made as well as some things which had been imported. We knew that because some of it had been on sale in Cambodia and Vientiane. Safe to say that I finished my Christmas shopping there having made sure that the goods I bought were those that had been made in the village. Further along we were shown where they distilled Lao Lao which is a rice whiskey and were able to taste some.
At 40% proof we made sure that all we had was a taste otherwise there might have been some interesting sights that afternoon!
This village received no aid unlike the previous day’s one. They had electricity by generators but had no water pumps and water was drawn from wells. One thing we noticed was that for the most part there were only old people and children and many of the able-bodied adults are able to go to work either farming or fishing for themselves or else have some form of employment further down river as this village is less remote.
Once back on the boat, Vuelee came to tell me my phone had been found when they were stripping the beds and they were trying to get a way to return it to me. At that stage they were trying to access a fastboat to get it to me but the other alternative was that it would be put on the following day’s cruise and delivered to the hotel but that he would find out at our next port of call. Lunch was served shortly after that and Chris and I recognised it immediately as the same dish that we had cooked at the cookery class in Penang! We both agreed ours had been much nicer!
Our next stop was that Pak Ou caves where over 1000 Buddhas were found. We had both got it into our heads that one entered the caves in the boat and sailed around but in fact the caves were situated high up on a cliff face with what seemed to be endless steps. The first cave was the highest and was small and dark and we were given torches to use inside. Indeed they were very necessary!
The second lower cave was more open but also had steps leading up to smaller and higher caves. It was very busy and we found that in Luang Prabang there are several groups who do tours out to them and indeed we were hustled at every hand’s turn.
To be honest, I think if I had paid for one of those tours I would have been very disappointed as the caves did not really live up to their publicity. The most interesting part was in fact trying to get back to the boat across a reed mat placed over the water. It was the nearest I had ever come to walking on the water!!
Back on board Vuelee came to me to tell me that they hadn’t been able to get a fastboat for my phone. This was of no surprise to me as we hadn’t seen a fastboat all day - and I suppose that subconsciously I was looking out for one. The phone would therefore be put on the following day’s cruise and brought to the hotel. I stressed the need for it to be brought there straight away as we were leaving at 5:30am the following morning. (Fast forward 26 hours and the phone was in my possession once more which was a great relief)
When we left the caves we were about an hour from Luang Prabang and soon we began to see signs of civilisation once more. Houses were made out of brick rather that woven and cars and lorries were to be seen. Overhead a plane descended to Luang Prabang airport as we drifted into the town and all to soon it was over!
It was a gorgeous trip and very well planned and executed. The beginning was marred by unclear instructions but after that it was plain sailing in every sense of the word. Although the visits to the villages were interesting I felt I was being very intrusive especially in the first one where there were no goods to by and we were just having a good snoop around. We very much liked the lodge where we had overnighted and the following day we kept on bumping into our fellow travellers as we strolled around Luang Prabang and stopped to chat. Would I recommend it? Most certainly.
*OK so this is the bones of the TR. Those of you who are my friends on FB will be able to see the full album of the trip but I was aware of the limitations of the bandwidth in posting this. Thanks to Pete for his help in this y)
During my jaunt on the west coast of America in July I had met up with Chris who showed me an article about a cruise along the Mekong River between Luang Prabang and Houeisay further north. We could travel either upriver or downriver over either one or two nights. It looked interesting and we decided to look at including it in our itinerary round SE Asia. This proved more difficult than we thought mainly because the connectivity especially to or from Houeisay. Flights were only three or four days a week and not necessarily to suit the days the cruise was either arriving or departing. The other alternative was to use Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai in Thailand as an arrival/departure point but that meant long bus journeys between either of these places and the river crossing to Houeisay which neither of us particularly wanted and in any case Thailand was not on our itinerary except perhaps as a transit point on our return to Singapore for our flights home.
I should say that at this point all that we had booked were our return flights to Singapore so we had a blank canvas with which to work. We decided to make this the cornerstone of our trip and work everything around it. It was a wise decision and as Chris loves working out the logistics and researching airlines he undertook this task and daily revised itineraries dropped into my Inbox before we agreed on a down river cruise from Houeisay to Luang Prabang towards the end of our holiday. y)
I had agreed to do the booking for the cruise and found the process a little bit convoluted. I filled in a form on the company’s website and they confirmed that there was availability on our date and ask me to confirm that we wanted to go!
This I did and then received instructions for payment which was either bank transfer or via a secure link on the website. Once I recognised that it was secure I chose this method of payment and held my breath until the transaction appeared on my on-line credit card account. I was also asked to provide both names, dates of birth and passport numbers but we had experienced that too with airlines, especially those in SE Asia which were flying internationally. By return I received a voucher which was in .pdf format but for some reason it wouldn’t open. I put it to one side meaning to return to it at some stage but of course, promptly forgot about it! Throughout the months that followed there was sporadic correspondence with the company who always replied promptly and having replied to any queries I might have always included a boilerplate section which advised us to bring a jacket as it can be cool on the Mekong and to be at the Thai immigration point at 8am. Even though we had told them that we would be in Houeisay and had asked and received a list of accommodation places in that town we were still being given that information. ?| Oh and a week before our departure to Singapore at a time when the floods in Thailand were at their height we also received an email from the company to assure us that the Mekong was not affected.It had been our intention to go to the company’s office in Houeisay once we had arrived there. However, those of you who were kind enough to read the trip report of our flight there will know that we did not arrive at our scheduled time of 2:05pm. Indeed by the time we found our hotel, had had a major altercation with them as they wanted to charge us more for the room we were in as the room they had wanted to put us in originally was “broken”, it was well past 5pm. Nonetheless we sallied forth and walked down the road beside the road which ran down to the river and had our first bit of luck. Less than 100 yards from the hotel was the company’s offices, albeit closed but at least we knew where to go. At last we could relax and enjoy our evening in Houeisay which we did.
We had breakfast early and headed down. While the place was still closed there was some sign of life so feeling much heartened we went back to the hotel and later when we returned there was someone there on the phone. While waiting we looked at the information on the wall which told us to be - yes, you’ve guessed it - at the Thai immigration point etc., etc., etc.! ii) However shortly after that we found out that as we had already completed immigration formalities for Laos we would be picked up from the hotel. Yeah, right! I felt very comfortable about that - not - and neither it seems did Chris as at about 8:30 he strolled down and then came back to say that people were beginning to gather so we too headed down. Since our earlier visit the whole place had opened up and about 3 couples were waiting in a large waiting area. While they checked our passports and bags we were offered tea and coffee and fruit or pastries and I think for the first time we began to relax - and indeed I have to say that really the only complaint I would have to make would be about the lack of information or misinformation about joining the cruise.
During this time groups started to arrive and it was clear that they were being ferried over from the Thai side on the small boats that performed that duty.
It became clear that everyone else but ourselves had come over that morning from Thailand with the exception of another couple who had come from Thailand but had come over the night before and who had stayed in the same place as us. We had seen them at breakfast. The newly arriving people had to fill in the same forms that we had in Pakse to get their visas but soon the formalities were completed and we were ready to depart. We had thought that we would simply have to walk down the few yards to the water’s edge in the same direction that our luggage had been taken, but no. We were taken to taxis and driven to a point further north up river where our boat awaited us. We had to scramble over a boat to reach it via a narrow gangplank and a rail comprising of a bamboo pole held by two crew members!
The boat itself was about 30 foot long. In the centre covered part were rows of conventional seating looking for all the world like any long distance bus or coach with a very small bar at the back and also a flush toilet. Beyond that was a large seating area at the stern of the boat with padded benches on all three sides and an edifice in the middle which was useful as a table or a repository for our belongings. Above the main seating area eight mattresses were laid out for those who were inclined to sunbathe and we later found that in the bow were three pairs of seats which the Germans claimed and held on to with a tenacity worthy of a better cause! While we were waiting for boarding to be completed we watched as the heavy trucks were being loaded on board the ferries plying their way between Laos and Thailand
Once boarding was completed we were introduced to Vuelee who was to be our guide. He had two men helping him as well as the captain whom we rarely saw. As we set sail we were also able to examine our fellow guests on board. The general demographic of the passengers was 50+ but incongruously on board were two young English girls in their early 20s (possibly on a gap year) whose dress code could be described as “funky” or “kooky”. They were actually rather sweet but as out of place as a bull in a china shop. Not that they caused any disruption, I hasten to add. There were 18 on board including our good selves, the aforementioned English girls, an American couple, an English couple and another couple of which the male was English and the female Irish (from Dublin), a Dutch couple the husband of which deserved to be arrested by the fashion police, the Swedish couple whom we had seen at breakfast and another Swedish couple and the Germans who never interacted with us.
As we left Vuelee explained that we would be going through various terrains. There would be farming - at some stages it would be rice farming
and at others peanut farming;
we would be going through rocky and inhospitable areas
We would be sailing for eight hours that day with a stop at a village and an overnight at a lodge owned by the company. He also explained that for the first part of the trip Thailand would be on the right hand side and Laos on the left but at one point he showed us where the border was and after that the Mekong was totally in Laos during our journey.
As the trip progressed we could see the various terrains.
As Chris described it, the scenery came to us. We became aware of the importance of the Mekong as a means of communication with the outside world. During our trip we were aware of the slowboats making their way along the Mekong river as well as the fastboats which were basically canoes with outboard engines! It was a busy working river and really you have to be on it to realise just how much of a working river it is.
Some travel boards recommend a slowboat as a means of transportation and indeed they have facilities on board for food etc but I was glad of my choice. As to the fast boats! Someone had said to me that six hours on a slow boat was long enough but six minutes on a fast boat was too much! They whizzed by and more often than not the people on board were wearing crash helmets!
Throughout the journey we passed small villages, farms mostly of rice at first then later of peanuts, men fishing,
During this time we learned more about our fellow travellers. We had sneaked a peek at the visa forms of the American couple and learned that he was a professor and she a consultant. However we soon learned that he was a professor on hotel management and administration in CalTech - not exactly the groves of academia - and her consultancy was organising art exhibitions. The English couple had a son who was married and living in Kuala Lumpur whom they visited twice a year and took time to visit different parts of SE Asia. They were especially nice and she gave me some dressings for my knee for which I was really grateful. The English/Irish couple had flown into Bangkok from the UK the day before, had transited to Chiang Mai after a 5 hour layover and then travelled for 5 hours by bus to the border crossing - they slept their way down the Mekong! The Swedish couple who had been in our hotel at breakfast seemed a bit distant but over time I learned that she was very nervous of speaking English and after that we all got on fine. As I said earlier, the Germans never interacted with us and the Dutch couple didn’t really either but at least smiled and nodded at us!
We were to stop at a village for a tour and as we were drawing near we were aware of a fastboat passing us. Given that the profile of most people using them is that of young men, the middle-aged couple therein seemed incongruous and were paying us an inordinate amount of attention. However when we pulled up to the bank of the river for our tour, they were there waiting for us and we realised that they had missed the boat at Houeisay. A ripple of chuckles went round the boat at this but subsequently we learned that the transport that was meant to pick them up failed to do so and hence their headlong flight down the river. The American couple also reported a similar story, although they had had the good sense to arrange an alternative to get them to the boat on time. This couple was Swiss and immediately teamed up with the Germans, although the husband who was vaguely good looking, liked striking manly poses round the boat at various intervals gazing into the middle distance so as to be noticed. He loved himself!
Once they had been sorted out we went on to visit the village. There are something like 43 ethnic groups in Laos some of them having arrived there in the dim and distant past from places as far away as Mongolia. One of the things that struck us during our time in SE Asia was the fluidity of borders between countries down through the years but on reflecting we realised we had seen it in our times in Europe with the break-up of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and also the re-unification of Germany. This village was extremely isolated and only accessible by the river. The main group were Hmong who still had a belief in animism. Their homes had no windows and only had two doors, the main door which the family used and the other door was a spirit door opened only to allow spirits in and out during various ceremonies.
The first thing we noticed about the village was the number of puppies! The place was almost carpetted with them.
Once back on board we decided it was beer o’clock and soon we were in possession of a couple of Lao beers with which we enjoyed some Idonesian satay flavoured Pringles.
Generally speaking the river closes down for the night and as the sun began to set we pulled in to a lodge in Pakbeng owned by the company. We were greeted warmly and given a local drink which wasn’t very strong before being shown to our rooms. They were lodges joined together by walkways and complete with mosquito nets.
Before all that though we were treated to an Apsara dancing display from the children.
The next morning there was a mist over the Mekong river and it was freeeeeeeeezing!
Once on the river the crew came round with blankets and we all cuddled underneath them and wrapped ourselves cardies, pashminas and any other thing we could to keep warm.
In the fullness of time the sun broke through the mist and we divested ourselves of our wrappings. Most of the scenery at this stage was jungle and we would be passing an elephant colony. Unfortunately the elephants refused to co-operate. A couple of hours later we arrived at the village we were due to visit where we would be shown weaving and distilling rice into a whiskey. This village was larger than the one we had visited the previous day and had two ethnic groups living amicably side by side. One group was the Hmong whom we had visited the previous day and the other was the Kamu. You could tell the difference between the two groups as the Kamu had windows on their houses.
The minute we arrived in the village three small boys huddled together, there arms across each other’s shoulders ready for the photo-opportunity! They followed us around posing at various intervals for us but we didn’t bite! They also chattered non-stop and Vuelee had to talk to them a couple of times as we couldn’t hear what he was saying. In the village itself the women had their goods laid out for us and we were shown the patterns they used when weaving.
This village received no aid unlike the previous day’s one. They had electricity by generators but had no water pumps and water was drawn from wells. One thing we noticed was that for the most part there were only old people and children and many of the able-bodied adults are able to go to work either farming or fishing for themselves or else have some form of employment further down river as this village is less remote.
Once back on the boat, Vuelee came to tell me my phone had been found when they were stripping the beds and they were trying to get a way to return it to me. At that stage they were trying to access a fastboat to get it to me but the other alternative was that it would be put on the following day’s cruise and delivered to the hotel but that he would find out at our next port of call. Lunch was served shortly after that and Chris and I recognised it immediately as the same dish that we had cooked at the cookery class in Penang! We both agreed ours had been much nicer!
Our next stop was that Pak Ou caves where over 1000 Buddhas were found. We had both got it into our heads that one entered the caves in the boat and sailed around but in fact the caves were situated high up on a cliff face with what seemed to be endless steps. The first cave was the highest and was small and dark and we were given torches to use inside. Indeed they were very necessary!
Back on board Vuelee came to me to tell me that they hadn’t been able to get a fastboat for my phone. This was of no surprise to me as we hadn’t seen a fastboat all day - and I suppose that subconsciously I was looking out for one. The phone would therefore be put on the following day’s cruise and brought to the hotel. I stressed the need for it to be brought there straight away as we were leaving at 5:30am the following morning. (Fast forward 26 hours and the phone was in my possession once more which was a great relief)
When we left the caves we were about an hour from Luang Prabang and soon we began to see signs of civilisation once more. Houses were made out of brick rather that woven and cars and lorries were to be seen. Overhead a plane descended to Luang Prabang airport as we drifted into the town and all to soon it was over!
It was a gorgeous trip and very well planned and executed. The beginning was marred by unclear instructions but after that it was plain sailing in every sense of the word. Although the visits to the villages were interesting I felt I was being very intrusive especially in the first one where there were no goods to by and we were just having a good snoop around. We very much liked the lodge where we had overnighted and the following day we kept on bumping into our fellow travellers as we strolled around Luang Prabang and stopped to chat. Would I recommend it? Most certainly.
*OK so this is the bones of the TR. Those of you who are my friends on FB will be able to see the full album of the trip but I was aware of the limitations of the bandwidth in posting this. Thanks to Pete for his help in this y)
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