As we jumped into the back of a ute with 4 other people and our huge backpacks, we waved goodbye to Wiwat and Milton and were on to our next adventure….. The Slow Boat to Luang Prabang.
While you can fly into Luang Prabang airport, there was no way we would miss the quintessential part of this portion of the trip – the boat to Luang Prabang.
On much inspection, we determined that there were 2 boats – the Slow Boat and the Fast Boat. Which one to go with? Well, the Fast Boat did sound tempting, but it only took a couple of urban myths passed through the backpacker network to talk us out of that one. Tiny little boats hauling up the Mekong and a requirement for all passengers to wear helmets and lifevests as the boats were known to flip wasn’t all that appealing. (We heard from one group that one of the fast boats did flip during our journey and the passengers lost all their luggage. Yikes.)
So, with our decision made, we prepared ourselves mentally for the 16 hour journey (8 hours/day x 2). This really just consisted of having a good book ready, making a couple friends in the midst of the sheer chaos at Customs and buying as many Beerlao as we could possibly keep cool. Done.
I know that a beer at 0900 seems like a bad idea, but who knows if we’ll survive this trip?!
We nearly missed our transfer to the boat launch as Kyle hiked to the nearest ATM. While it was a pretty close call with me trying to slyly stall the driver. As was well in the end when Kyle came jogging down the street as a Laotian millionaire. 1.4 million kip richer! (Only about $280 AUD, but still.)
As we finally were loaded onto the boat, we were greeted with our next fun surprise. Your ticket buys entry onto the boat, but not a seat. Ha. Haha. Of course it doesn’t. Glad we drank that beer.
The beginning of a very long day of sitting on the galley floor
There was only so much lovely serenity we could take before we started mucking around.
Me likey.
Did they seriously give us access to weapons on a 16 hour boat trip?
Overnight in Pak Beng
town of Pak Beng
Upon landing at around 5:30 in Pak Beng, there was an absolute free-for-all as backpackers clamored for the most decent and cheapest accommodation. We had our plan in place— our new friend Hannah and I would mind the luggage while the Kyle and Will ran around town scouting out the inns. We found a place quite easily and had a much deserved shower before heading out to find a happy hour drink and some proper food.
After such a long day, we didn’t last very long at all before we stumbled back to our room and crawled under the Mickey Mouse comforters.
Slow Boat – Day 2
Day 2 was much the same as day one except that we were smart enough to get to the boat early enough to get seats. We thought we were super early, but lots of others had the same idea. Well, at least we got seats at all. And as none of the benches or seats are actually fixed to the boat, we set up our own card table and played many, many hands of Shithead over Beerlao.
Local boys having a swim
The scenery got more and more spectacular
The views not long before pulling to Luang Prabang
