boat ticket. The book suggested procuring tickets a day in advance,
but Robert, who has embraced the local slow-paced, come-what-may
attitude, was unconcerned. I did, however, get him up early to
increase our chances of success. We had a quick breakfast,
muesli/yogurt/fruit for him and a waffle topped with mango and yogurt
for me. Mine was a strange combination, but I liked it a lot. We also
got two baguette sandwiches for the boat ride, wrapped in banana
leaves - yum.
Getting a ticket and on a boat
Next we labored through the fairly considerable walk to the ferry
pier, where we read you can get tickets directly. Upon surveying the
scene, we were at a loss. Who should we ask? There didn't appear to be
a central office or anyone in charge, just a million boats and workers
milling about. Then we turned around and found we were, in fact,
standing directly in front of the ticket office. We got our tickets
for 200,000 Kip apiece, 30,000 cheaper than we had been quoted at our
guesthouse. It pays to do your own legwork. Now we just had to make
sure our boat was in acceptable shape and the captain didn't try to
cram too many people on board, both of which our book cautioned
against - suggesting a mass protest if the boat became too crowded. I
hoped it wouldn't come to that.
We found seats at a riverside cafe and had a coffee and a coke; we
were still two hours early for the boat. We were happily waiting when
a crowd of foreigners appeared heading for the dock. They would take
up all the seats! For some reason, I just couldn't chill out about
this slow boat ride, every step was a new worry. I was sent on a recon
mission, probably because Robert wanted a break from my fretting. I
found our boat - it wasn't full, but there were people on it already.
Not to be outdone by the Jones', we would go sit on the boat as well.
I don't know if this was the best plan, but it allayed my worries for
now. We got two benches together and the boat was in fine enough shape
and not too full as of yet. As time dragged on, the boat did get more
and more full. Then a French-Thai woman got on and made an
announcement, in French, to the passengers. Eventually someone
translated to English and she was explaining that if you were willing
to pay a bit more, there was a more comfortable, luxury boat leaving
soon - that cleared our boat out again.
Departure?
We waited and waited, on our less than comfortable boat, would we ever
leave? We struck up a conversation with a British couple, enjoying
their stories from their trek up to Everest Base Camp, but their
accent, slang and sentence structure sometimes miffed me. Quid? What's
that? Your back is "knackered"? Hurt? Robert had no trouble at all,
but I kept having to ask for clarification. It passed the time though
and eventually our boat pushed off, right on time, 45 min late. The
captain tried to explain that the benches were meant for two people
each, but no one moved and we secured our individual seating. Lots of
locals crammed up front, sitting on the floor though and I felt guilty
in my seat. The trip was supposed to be about 6 or 7 hours and there
is no way Robert and I would last on one bench, especially since there
was inadequate space between benches to sit normally. We only fit by
sitting cockeyed. In addition to the floor sitting area and the bench
seats, there were captain's chairs at the very back, which looked like
they had been pulled out of old vans. You had to be particularly early
to secure one of those, but I actually preferred our bench seats
because we each had unrestricted access to the gunnel and the view of
the river.
Then we sat on the boat for six hours. At first, I wanted to take a
picture of everything, eventually I read and only occasionally snapped
pictures. Six hours is a long time. We each had a baguette and we
unevenly split a bag of chip-twists with teriyaki topping sauce - not
so tasty we discovered. We read for HOURS. Then we stared out at the
scenery. The Mekong River is lined with beautiful, jungle covered
mountains. Occasionally we pulled over to drop someone off or pick
someone up, but mostly we just followed the deep channel of the river.
This is actually the best way to travel between Houay Xay and Luang
Prabang because the roads are quite terrible, but it takes a while -
two days with an overnight layover in Pak Bang.
Arrival in Pak Bang
We got to Pak Bang at sunset, just before six. As soon as our boat got
close enough to an already docked boat, our boat was swamped with
touts, people offering rooms. So many people boarded our boat that it
was challenging for us to deboat. We told anyone that asked that we
had a room and tried to keep walking, but it was more like swimming
through the crowd. We had been forewarned by the guidebook, but we had
never experienced so many touts, perhaps in Myanmar the vendors were
similarly aggressive. What struck me is that they didn't just meet the
boat, every guesthouse or restaurant had someone stationed outside to
greet you and offer you a room or a meal. We walked past anyone and
everyone until we found the few places we had previously scouted
online. The first was right on the street, the second was off the
street a bit and the woman implied that she would give us a deal. We
talked her down a whopping 10,000 Kip, 1.20$ US. We aren't very good
at this negotiating thing, especially not for lodging.
Next we went for food and got some great Indian food. ( when is it
not?) The wait was interminable and even when we got our dishes, they
forgot our rice and beer. The man was very apologetic, but it was
still frustrating because we were so hungry. Alas, we were fed and
headed home to our bed, the mattress of which was still covered in
plastic from the store, making it a crinkly and slippery night. The
other peculiarity was that the light in the bathroom was somehow wired
to the fan, but inconsistently so. It seemed like an electrical fire
might be in their future. I was unsuccessful at turning on the light,
so I had to take a drafty shower with the bathroom door open. Robert
figured out the light and was rewarded with a well-lit and toasty
shower. I would have been jealous, but I was already asleep. Sitting
on a boat really takes it out of you.
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