Typically, travelling to Luang Phrabang, Laos from Thailand by airplane has no longer alien to tourists. On the contrary, I and my fellow-traveller wanted to find something newer with lots of experiences, we decided to cross the Thailand- Laos border to Luang Phrabang in a two day trip by water.
Because my health is not good for travelling by water or land, even I could suffer from motion sickness, I was too confused and worried about choosing this way to our journey. I screw up my courage to get out of fears, accepted the thoughts that my opportunity would be wasted if I skipped this advanture.Thus, taking slow boat down the Me Kong river was finally picked up in our itinerary.
Normally, taking the slow boat at Huay-Xai town, Laos took us 2 short journeys to do that: from Chang Mai to Chiang Khong and from the Thai-Laos border to Huay-Xai town, Laos.
From Chiang Mai to Chiang Khong.
After 5 days of visting Chiang Mai, we started moving to Chiang Rai by night coach. Took an one day rest here, we enjoyed visiting some famous pagodas by hiring a motobike then waited for the next day to get to Chiang Rai.
In the next morning, I and my friend hired a driver to take us to Chiang Khong. After 1.5 hours driving, we got out of the car and took our luggages to the border gate, did procedure for leaving and immigration in less than no time. Finally, Welcome to Laos ^^
From Huay-Xai to take a slow boat.
From Laos border, we continued to move to the Huay-Xai by driver that we have contacted before. After buying 2 tickets, we boarded on boat with more than 25 travellers together. We chose 2 adjacent seats in the middle boat. Our journey on the slow boat took us 2 days with one night sleeping in Pakbeng, a small village in the middle site down the Mekong river.
What is on the slow boat?
The truth is that there are two kinds of travelling on the Mekong river: the slow boat and the fast boat. What is different between both of them?
- The slow boat: Bring to you a strong feeling of safer and security due to its structure: With more than approximately 20 metres long and about 3 metres in width, seats which are made from wood and cushion are attached to the boat. The driver sits in the front of the boat and controls the curtains in the two side of broadside just in case the weather changed in an unusal way. You can find tea, coffee, beers even the food here from the local sellers. All thing will be served to you when you pay enough money.
- The fast boat: On the contrary with slow boat, fast boat is very small and narrow one driving at a tripple speed of slow boat. Without seats or table, it can only drive one or two people, the only protective clothing for travellers is an helmet.
It is very easy to drift away by some huge waves. And no food or drink will be served to you, you need to prepared food or water before taking a ticket on the fast boat.
I recommend you guys should take a slow boat down to Mekong river for your own journey because it is more safer, and brings to you more unforgettable experiences.
Which landscapes I have seen on the slow boat?
From two side of the river, the rolling hills appeared in front of my eyes with the cool breeze. The sky was getting cloudy a little, clear and bright. I did not feel the heat from the weather at all. I also saw several houses staying aside of the fields with some elderly waiting for their children got out of the boat. Further more, from the forests, there were birds and winged creatures soaring into the air, just like they were full of freedom and happy living in the nature.
I walked around the boat, made friend with some pretty men come from France and Italia. We have had some interesting talks about our previous journey, drunk some beers, danced and took pictures together till the afternoon.
In the evening at Pakbeng!
The sun went down at 6 pm as the time we docked in Pakbeng. We quickly jumped out the boat, looked for an affordable homestay for staying at night.
Pekbeng was a really nice and peaceful place at night, this village was like a self-decided activities. We walked around to the center of village to sightseeing and look for a restaurant to fill up our stomach. We decided to go to a pub, had a cocktail for a good sleeper after a long day just around on the boat.
The next morning, after our breakfast at the market, we continued to board the boat at 8 a.m with a freely choosing seat.
The big challenge has come to us when our boat resumed on the Mekong River. The wind started blowing outside, suddenly the skies was darkened and overcast, just like there was a huge monster got angry with us. The driver said out loud “ Be ready, everyone, it is getting raining. Take care of your stuff.” As a truly warning, it was so raining heavily that we could not keep going. The driver tried to hook his drive into the trees to avoid washing away. For us, we tried to pull the curtains made from a big sheet of plastic down. Swear with God, that was so fucking heavy, we had to ask for helping from all people on the boat.
After over 1 hour escaping from the very dangerous, the weather was good again with a lot of sunshines, we breathed a sigh of relief. The driver resumed driving boat, kept moving forward to Luang Phrabang.
30 minutes later, we definitely were in Luang Phrabang, marked a two- day trip ending with a plenty of memories. My fears completely was gone, there was no regret on my face, I felt myself was more mature after this trip.
If you plan to have an advanture for your trip, you can put this slow boat trip on your list to do. I must make sure that you will never deeply regret about it.
To be continued...!
Thanks for your attention to my story. See you all in the next post, I would like to introduce a new destination after reaching Luang Phrabang. Wish all the best to Hivers!