Laos

Trip Start Oct 01, 2008
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19
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Trip End Dec 30, 2009


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Where I stayed
Pak Beng Lodge Hotel
(Vientiane hotels)

Flag of Lao Peoples Dem Rep  ,
Friday, October 24, 2008

Raining, so no breakfast on the terrace. Minibus ride 1km to departure point for ferries across the Mekong to Laos. We clamber down the mudbank onto a longtail. Fair degree of chaos, longtails hitting each other etc. We zip across the fast flowing muddy water . 35 US dollars for a visa but everyone generally friendly and helpful and the experience is ok. Several more v important stamps then all of us, our luggage, Ant and our new Laotian guide, Noi, pile into a little van for another km through town to the riverboat landing, a different mudbank.


I had been worried that it would all be very basic and we had brought cushions but no: a huge long boat with about 34 seats from minibusesand just the 8 of us. There was a 12 seat dining table and chairs and accommodation for the captain, his wife and 2 little girls at the rear by the engine room. Noi is keen to tell us all about the river. Initially it forms the Thai border but soon turns into Laos. The banks are steep between hillsides and although there are few visible rocks, there are lots of swirls, whirlpools and eddies. The captains eyes never leave the water ahead. After about an hour, we stop at a Mung village. The Mung are a people who live in Laos, Thailand and Southern China. They seem to very much be 2nd class citizens, denied proper nationality and live in v basic villages. Children crowd round trying to sell cheap souvenirs.


Noi describes their courtship habits including what seems to be a trial relationship when they "go to the forest" for a 3 months and only decide to marry if that works out. Many are married aged 12 or 13 therefore teenage pregnancy is the norm. We all feel a bit voyeuristic and uncomfortable.
There was debate when we got back on the boat as to whether we felt inclusion of this kind of visit was really responsible tourism. The company we are with encourages feedback on these kind of issues.

We carry on downriver in a restful way passing water buffalo and gold panners. There is remarkabley little bird life. Crops are planted on mudbanks as the river level won't rise again until the next rainy season.


Sometimes we are passed by speedboats. They make the trip to Luang Prabang in 7hr but are loud and uncomfortable. The "slow boat" takes 2 days, stopping at Pak Beng overnight. That's where we get off our boat and check into the well appointed Pak Beng Lodge Hotel. It is set high up the bank but apparently when the river flooded 2 wk ago, the water came up 30 or 40ft to just below the floor level of the restaurant. We stroll into town. The road from Oudom Xay ends here and as well as being the stopping off point for backpackers and other river travellers, it is where corn from the countryside is loaded onto boats to be taken along the river. There is no mains electricity so at dusk, everything is dark except for a few places with generators.
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