Up the Mekong

Hi folks

Although this blog title may sound like an innuendo, we did indeed travel up the Mekong, by slow boat from Laos to Thailand. We were unsure at first whether to take this route after hearing and reading some disconcerning stories about it being cramped, hot and taking forever BUT we decided that after taking so many buses in our travels as well as plane, train and ferries we would take this option to tick it off the list. We were also travelling with some friends we met so it was comforting to know we would all be together.
On the contrary, the slow boat was a beautiful journey. Unfortunately the night before, Adam and his bowels were playing up a bit but after stuffing him with immodium and some other stuff he was good to go. The first leg of the trip was from Luang Prabang (Laos) to Pak Beng (Laos), this took one day from around 9am-7pm. It was a long journey but the seats were comfortable and luckily the boat was only half full so we could pull the seats about to lay down and sleep. The scenery we passed was a mixture bewteen jungle, beach and spectacular rocks emerging from the water, which was smooth and calm. We often saw wild water buffalo bathing in the water, beautiful coloured birds and the odd village person coming down to wash their pots and pan or indeed themselves.
We stayed in Pak Beng for one night in a bamboo room over-looking the Mekong, it was originally around 18pounds a night but because we got there so late and the room was free, we got it for 6 pounds. This town was really sleepy and typically laos, there was no ATM and we only had enough cash for bread to eat!
The next morning we left Pak Beng for Xuay Sai, which is still Laos but on the border so that to cross over to Thailand it takes 5 minutes by a small boat. The second day was just as picturesque and we reached our destination in around 10 hours, not bad. We arrived just in time to quickly get our exit stamp from Laos, hop over the river to Chiang Khong and get our arrival stamp for Thailnad, which is where we still our now. Chiang Khong is a small town with not much going on, but we have found a nice room and a swimming pool across the road which is never used so we are staying here to recharge our batteries (and wait for money to come through) before moving on to Chiang Rai.

Amy xx