We got lucky here, and managed to secure a tour boat for our two day journey down the Mekong to Luang Prabang for not much more than we would have paid with the local transport boat which most travellers take. As this boat was virtually empty, we had a super relaxing few days on the water 🙂
Day 114: The Mekong Smile cruise to Pakbeng – travelling in style day 1!
With no breakfast at the guesthouse, we wandered out of the doors, and were waved into the hostel across the street. Prices were slightly higher than our place of the night before, but they had croissants on the menu, and banana pancakes so we sat down. Unfortunately they were out of croissants, but I’m sure we’ll find some more somewhere – Laos is very French inspired so we may get to have some baguettes too – trying not to hype up the bread too much in case it’s a poor imitation of French bread…
We were picked up in a minivan and taken to the boat to board. We got seriously lucky with this cruise – only three other people on a boat built for 100! There are tables, comfy seats, a great open seating area at the back and flat cushion seats perfect for an afternoon nap! With tea, hot chocolate, bananas and oranges on tap and so much space for the kids to play. They were delighted!
Normally this would not be in the budget, and we had planned to take the ‘slow public boat’, which is effectively a water bus ferrying locals and tourists up and down the river. It’s the same arrangement for both, with a stop overnight in Pakbeng, but there are no tables, no lunch and no side trips. When we enquired about the price for the Mekong Smile Cruise, I turned them down straight away – £330 for the four of us! The other boat would have cost under £100! As the boat was so empty though, they were pretty desperate to have us aboard, so we negotiated to £185. As this includes lunch both days, free fruit, tea and hot chocolate all day, transport at both ends to the hotels and in Pakbeng, the trip to the Pack Ou Caves, and the other various stops it actually worked out pretty cost effective in the end 😊. And it’s so nice!
Our host, Choy, welcomed us on board, told us a little bit about Laos and the area we’d be riding through and the plan for the day.
We passed through beautiful scenery, meandering around the many rocks in the river. These boats do not run at night!
There are speedboats which go up and down, getting you there in less than half the time, but I would not want to be negotiating these boulders at speed in such a tiny boat! (it’s also cramped, loud, bumpy and has no shade…).
This is definitely the way to travel! So peaceful, a great temperature, and with beautiful hills the whole way. I’ll have to admit to feeling pretty smug sat on the boat.
After a couple of hours we stopped for our first spot of sightseeing at a local hill tribe village. The tribe of Hmong people are originally descended from Mongolia and the Tibetan step, and have travelled down to the northern parts of Laos and Vietnam. Whilst they traditionally grow rice on the hillsides, they have started to move to the riversides here in the winter or dry season where they can then grow crops in the rich alluvial soils on the banks whilst the hillsides are too dry to do anything with.
The Mekong level is much higher in the wet season, close to 10m higher, so there’s a fair amount of fertile, rich and ready cleared soil left after it recedes. And with the soil getting replenished each year by the river, there’s no need to worry about over farming. The land does not belong to anyone so it’s pretty much first come first served to pick a spot for the family plot. The cattle also do better down here with the river to drink from and cool off in.
At this time of year, therefore, the riverbank villages are full and the hillside slopes are brown where the rice has been harvested. These rice fields are left for a couple of years to recover and regain nutrients, before being cut, burned and planted again.
On arriving at the village, a swarm of young girls came out to greet us. They have a school break from 11.30 to 1.30 so I guess our boat trip is deliberately timed… The girls all had some embroidered bookmarks in their hands and were keenly showing them to us, presumably not as a free gift! I’d barely gotten off the boat when both hands were filled with small ones and I found I had some self designated guides to lead me up the bank. They were able to ask my name, and I was able to find that they were called Chia and Do, but that was the extent of their understanding. There was also an older girl, Lee, who seemed to be in charge.
In the village Choy explained to us about village life. As they are not from the region originally, their beliefs are different. They believe in spirits, but have a Shaman rather than temples. Their houses are built with no windows, as they let the bad spirits in, but two doors, one for the people and one for the good spirits.
The houses are simple and made from local materials, with woven bamboo walls and palm or grass thatched roofs. As they have plenty of rice, and then vegetables, fish and livestock and get their houses and most of their equipment from nature, they actually have little need for anything else. They do sell things for money for medicines and clothes, and many of the girls were in Disney character T-shirts, but money is not really a big issue for them.
We wondered where the boys were, and found them playing a game with a spinning top. The other team has to try to knock the top and stop it spinning by throwing their own into it with a sort of rope.
Aiden and Chris joined them to try to have a go. It was hard!
They loved Evie’s hair, and kept touching it. One stumbled trying to get to Evie and nearly punched her in the face, which got the others all whispering. I’m sure they were saying ‘oh my what did you just do?’ or something. They were too shy to touch Evie’s hair after that! The oldest girl, Lee, was comparing height with Evie and seemed a bit put out that she was taller than her! Height is power here?
We walked around the village a little before returning to the boat, besieged by girls making one last attempt to sell us their handicrafts. We would have given something, but there were so many of them, and we only had large notes – we were not at all prepared! They looked a little disappointed, but still waved us off.
Back on the boat we were treated to a yummy buffet lunch, before continuing our gentle amble down the river. We could see the cleared rice fields on the hillsides and other riverside villages on the banks. The line where the river floods to on the bank was also clear as it’s where the trees start!
We took advantage of the time for some learning too…
As later afternoon arrived, we pulled into the village of Pakbeng. We were actually sad to get off, the ride had been so pleasant. The thought of another day of this was very welcome 😊.
We were taken to what we thought was our guesthouse where we received a welcome drink, to discover we were actually in their second site, back at the pier. It had a lovely view of the river from the living space, even if the bathroom floor was wet from a leaky pipe.
We met Choy again and walked through the local market with him, learning what all the different vegetables are. Meats depend on what people have been able to catch, or have killed from their livestock. We only saw pork, whole chickens, buffalo skin and a fried rat, but there can be animals like porcupine apparently!
Then we walked further into the town, where there is the local temple, just in time for the evening chant by the monks.
Choy recommended a restaurant and so we had baguettes for dinner before bed.
Day 115: Day 2 on the Mekong and the Pak Ou Caves
We were up for an early start, hoping to see the elephants from the sanctuary bathing in the river and then hunting for breakfast in the form of croissants! It’s not even cheating as there’s a heavy French influence here so pastries and baguettes are a part of the local diet. The elephants were there, but quite far down the bank so not the best view :(.
The river was damp and misty and cold! On the boat we were all wrapping ourselves in blankets and getting hot drinks as the open boat bought a chill wind.
By 9.30 the sun had cleared the mist and we were back to glorious sunny hillsides along the river. My laptop battery is struggling and died after a couple of hours so I had no choice but to sit back and relax! I wasn’t complaining 😊.
We got most the journey out of the way in the morning, watching the hills and small villages slide past. Farmers wandered the banks, presumably in search of their free roaming goats, cows and buffalo. Elephants washed themselves in the water as their mahouts watched.
The tour used to call in at a village which produces Whiskey and handicrafts, but they have recently changed to another village as they felt the first was getting too touristy. We didn’t complain, and enjoyed the questioning looks that the villagers gave us as we wandered through their ‘streets’. The village was fascinating, with some original bamboo woven huts and others being replaced by breezeblock constructions now that they are not allowed to move around. The government has stopped these people, the Khmong, from moving their villages and farms and grouped them together so that they can provide schools, electricity and water to all the people of Laos more easily. This also helps to protect the forests from their slash and burn culture. Now they will have to farm the same land.
Unused to tourists, the people here seemed either totally uninterested or a little confused at our presence. The children followed us around, and waved shyly between gaps in the houses. A far cry from the girls trying to sell us their handicrafts the day before. Pigs and chickens wandered through the dust and the locals continued whatever they were doing. Some were drying rice, sorting the rice from the husks using a sieve, or making grass roof ‘tiles’.
A fairly sizeable school has been built at one end, and is staffed by trainee teachers. These teachers are supported by the village, if it can. If the village does not have enough spare food for the teacher the Government will send more rice. After completing a couple of years here, the teacher can then get a paid post somewhere else.
Back on board the boat we carried on for a few more hours past the site of the future hydroelectric dam and the first of the two bridges for the new railway line which cross the Mekong. The dam will change river travel down the Mekong. Whilst it will include some sort of lock system to allow boats to still pass up and down the river, it’s unclear whether this will still be a viable route to Luang Prabang.
Arriving at the confluence of the Mekong and the Nam Ou rivers, we pulled over to look at the Pak Ou caves. These are one of the main attractions when visiting Luang Prabang so our expectations were fairly high.
The reality was a little disappointing though. On the way up the steps to the start there are locals pedalling their handicrafts and with small baskets containing birds. We’d seen this before – supposedly it’s quite a Buddhist thing to do – free a bird. But when the bird has had to be caught first and stuffed in a basket which is too small for it the act of freeing it doesn’t seem particularly enlightened. We chose not to encourage this even though we wanted to free them all! At least I got to see a couple of species I haven’t seen in the wild because they’re too scared of people. It soured the place a little for me, especially when a child was bashing a basket around with no thought for the bird inside and no adult stopping him.
The caves themselves consist of a small lower cave, stuffed with Buddhas of many sizes and ages. The story goes that these caves were once the site of spiritual rituals by the animist tribes. When the Laos peoples arrived, bringing Buddhism with them, they taught them Buddhism and turned the cave into a temple, stopping the ritualistic animal sacrifices happening here.
A fairly underwhelming cave for us. The second one is up a number of steps, and has a gated front. When the Chinese were invading here, the locals used to whole up in this top cave, using the front end for living, and the back end as a temple. Apparently around 50 people used to hole up in here, which would have left almost no room to move! It shows their reverence that half of their tiny space was a temple.
The final hour on the boat to Luang Prabang passed quickly, and the kids didn’t want to get off when the time came – they were having too much fun!
We were taken to our guesthouse and went straight out to dinner where I had the yellow curry for the first time – it was soo nice. Definitely a recipe I’ll have to replicate at home!
Our shared room was big, and had windows but also had massive holes to either side of the door! Not helpful in terms of mosquitos! Our mosquito nets came in handy when we stuffed them down the side of the door!
After this lovely introduction to Laos, we’re now in the UNESCO city of Luang Prabang for six nights – one of our longest stays anywhere during our travels – I hope we like it there! Follow us there (coming soon). Or head back into Thailand and our favourite temples of the journey so far…