We crossed the border from Chang Khong in Thailand to Houey Xay in Laos on Saturday, then, after boarding the boat, motored to Pakbeng for an overnight stop. From Pakbeng we went to Luang Prabang, our final destination. The trip in this direction is downstream, and slightly shorter than the upstream journey from Luang Prabang to Houey Xay.
We woke up to low level clouds and cool temperatures on Sunday. Boarding the boat early (7.45am) we were glad to make use of the blankets on board.
If we’d been happy to get up 45 minutes earlier, we would have seen these elephants from the elephant sanctuary opposite coming down to the river for their daily bathe.As the boat had spent the night sandwiched between two vessels of a similar length, the crew had a job inching us out in the morning.The other boats were lived in and carry out all their cooking in the open rear of the boat.
We had a long morning on the boat snoozing, reading and watching the world drift by.
On the horizon is one of the many plantations of banana trees we saw on our journey, with the bananas protected in blue bags. These plantations of ‘green’ bananas are owned by the Chinese and the fruit is solely for the Chinese market. Our guide told us that the owners use chemicals on the crop, a lot of which reaches the Mekong. The people in Laos prefer the small yellow bananas you see growing elsewhere in Laos, and the rest of south-east Asia. This is one way in which the Chinese have made themselves unpopular. They are also observed to come in groups, stay in Chinese-owned hotels and eat in Chinese-run restaurants. All the money they spend goes back to China, our guide said. Water buffalo We saw a number of people along the Mekong panning for gold. I suspect there is not a lot to be found.
After another delicious lunch on board, we made a stop to visit the Pak Ou Buddha Caves. Two caves are filled with small statues of the Buddha that have been removed from temples around Luang Prabang owing to damage, or due to some ‘thinning out’ being required owing to the large number of images.
Inside the Pak Ou Caves
For most of the year the caves are only visited by tourists and sellers of ‘tourist tat’, but at Lao New Year the faithful turn up in great numbers to ritually wash the images, and in so doing, gain merit.
Soon after another stop was made at a local village, this one an opportunity to purchase some beautiful Lao silk, bags and Lao ‘whiskey’, which we avoided.
First glimpse of Luang Prabang
Our cruise was too soon at an end. Watching the world go by from a comfortable and well-fed spot – what a superb way to travel!
My husband, Mark, and I have just sold our house and are taking a year out to have an adventure before we settle down to retirement. We decided on a journey through Italy as it has the perfect combination of good weather, interesting history, great wine and wonderful ice-cream! As we will be starting our journey in January, we are beginning in the very south of the country.
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Tortoise Travel 