Carry on ... up the Mekong

31 January 2013

OK, so I admit it – this is no longer “living lightly” just now. But how was I to know that we would be the only passengers on the upstream cruise? So there we were, the two of us plus crew on a 30-ton slow boat, chugging up the Mekong for two days! That’s a bit like driving a double decker bus to work every day. Can’t be described as low carbon!

Leaving Luang Prabang at dawn in one of these.

On the plus side – what a way to travel! We sat in comfortable ex car seats, gliding through the glorious rugged Laos countryside, feeling confident that the boatman could skillfully negotiate the rapids, avoiding the rocks and sandbanks. I took a million photographs and could bore you all for hours with them when we get back! Here’s some river, mountains, sunsets, forests, more river...

Because it’s dry season and the river is low it’s not safe to navigate in the dark so we set off at dawn from Luang Prabang, aiming to reach our overnight stop-off in Pakbeng by nightfall. The boats are family-owned so the crew consisted of Buanchan, the owner, plus his wife and daughter. Our guide and translator, Peng, provided commentary, chatted amiably, answered questions and negotiated at stop-off points.

Our helpful and attentive guide - Peng

Our first stop at Pak Ou caves.

Apart from the simple experience of travelling upstream, highlights of the trip for me were shooting the rapids – realising that the needle-sharp rocks we could see on either side were representative of the rocks just under the keel – and stopping to talk to Khmu villagers panning for gold on the riverbank.

Difficult to convey in photos. The boatman steers from one side of the river to the other, seeking out channels through the rapids. When he needed a pee we had to stop at the bank while he left the wheel.

Khmu gold panners.

This woman showed us the bottle of quicksilver (mercury) they use to separate the gold dust from the black river sand. She spoke only Khnu, so one of the other villagers translated into Lao so that Peng could translate into English for us.

On the down side, there was the hotel at Pakbeng – a down-at-heel one-street town which survives through being a transit town for the slow boats. We got an airless wooden box of a room but didn’t manage much sleep. Then it was an even earlier start to the day – getting up at 5.45 to set off on the next leg of the journey to Houy Xai!

We pass a slightly slower slow boat.

And get taken by one of the very fast but dangerous speed boats.

There are lots of fishermen in their canoes.

As the river recedes in the dry season, villagers plant up the beaches with peanuts, water melons and sweet potatoes. It looks odd to us, used as we are to seaside beaches, but these river beaches are made up of nutrient-rich silt deposited in the rainy season.

The other really odd thing is the lack of birds! I saw just six in total on the first day – not counting chickens! On a large river anywhere else in the world you would expect to see birds flitting among the trees, waders, herons, eagles .... The Lao say it’s because of their skill with catapult and gun. I wouldn’t recommend Laos for bird watchers!

Fabulous dense forest on either side, but almost no birds!

At Houy Xai we hopped on a little ferry to cross over to Chiang Khong on the Thai side of the river. Into “civilization”.

View from our hotel in Chiang Khong, Thailand.

I have to say I didn’t expect the contrast to be so sharp. Thailand feels like a different world. That area is modern, urban and developed, with a tendency to be tacky. So far, we’ve spent a night in Chiang Khong then took the Green Bus for 4 hours to Phayao (pronounced P-yow). The journey was comfortable and the roads good - some dual-carriageway – but the scenery of that bit of northern Thailand unimpressive. We passed through miles of flat agricultural land, the road lined with ticky-tacky houses and scruffy industrial units. A bit like the outskirts of Scunthorpe really – but warmer.

And then it rained! Absolutely bucketed down.

So here we are in Phayao, beside the lake, wondering what we’re going to do for six days before we can get the boat back to our rural retreat in Laos.

One of the kittens waits patiently for our return.