Day 10, 30th April, Houay Xai to Pak Beng by slow boat -

With a 6-8 hour boat trip ahead I had a hearty breakfast at the guesthouse and bought a large baguette tuna sandwich without mayonnaise (made to order) and a large bottle of cold water. I also had 6 spring rolls left over from dinner, where I had ordered too much, now no longer hot and crisp, instead rather soggy, but waste not, want not.

A woman walked by carrying heavy loads on a shoulder pole, something I'd not seen since China several years ago.
I asked the tuk-tuk driver taking a group from the guesthouse if he would take me too for 20 baht, he said OK. This led to later complications with duplicate tickets, but was cleared up in time.
Here is the queue of lorries waiting to be ferried one by one across the Mekong to Chiang Khong in Thailand.

Boat number 3 turned out to be "hard-seat", equipped only with wooden benches which gave you 22.7 cm to sit on, which is enough for one and a half buttocks if sitting diagonally and stretching your legs out in the narrow aisle. 

Cold drinks were on sale at the back of the boat but no food.

After about four hours, when I'd eaten my spring rolls and was rationing the tuna baguette, we stopped at a village and a swarm of children came on, each carrying a plastic basket full of drinks, snacks and cigarettes. I was still confused about the currency and horrified at the tens of thousands of Kip demanded for the smallest purchases, so ended up buying a packet of Lays potato crisps, which I spent over an hour slowly munching, staving off hunger.


The kids didn't make a big killing, not for want of trying. They seemed pretty desperate, with only one boat a day in each direction, and about ten of them selling the same stuff. This boy tried extra hard.








Along the way a speed boat came alongside and handed over a parcel for delivery further downstream. Here it is pulling away again.

A river cruise can be interesting for a few hours, then I find it gets monotonous.
The Mekong has some quite dramatic topography, especially now in the dry (hot) season when the river is very low and the jagged rocks poke up very close to the boat, which steers a windy course in the narrow navigable channel.

The occasional village, fisherman or group of cows offers some respite from the brown of the river and the green of the forest.

Most travellers settled down into reading, listening to music or sleeping. There are three women here, the one on the left with her hood over her head, which I've noticed Asian people doing often when they want to sleep or just avoid the sun.

The sanitary provisions were elementary, though due to the abundance of river water not at all smelly, only rather wet, and helped pollute the Mekong just a fraction more.

It took us 7 hours to reach the metropolis of Pak Beng, the obligatory overnight stop on the trip to Luang Prabang. (The alternative to the slow boat is a 12 hour bus trip on bumpy roads ...)  Then the battle of the guesthouses began. I had steered clear of Villa Saliki, which my landlady had wanted to book me in to for 460 baht, she said her stepson ran it. But my otherwise fruitless internet session the night before had led me to some forum comments about bedbugs there, and comments next day confirmed it was nightmarish, the host stoned and wanting to sell drugs, a mixup about missing receipts, travellers dining across the road to keep an eye on their rooms and belongings.  I paid a little boy to carry my bag up the hill, and joined a group headed for another LP recommendation, but changed to a second guesthouse after considering the mosquito net, the screenless windows and cracks in the floorboards wide enough to let in ten mossies abreast.

After a shower and change I wandered into town, was told the Labh was good at one place, went in and asked whether there was any wine, and was invited to join two women who had just ordered and were enjoying some wine.

 I had chicken Labh (minced, steamed with herbs) .Had a pleasant evening chatting, swapping experiences and tips, and drinking altogether two whites and two reds, finishing up with a talk with the host, a 29 year-old Lao, a young father, who came from Vang Vieng, a matter of much discussion.