Down the Mekong

We grabbed breakfast as soon as the buffet opened and were in the van by 6:30 am for the hour’s drive to the border. It was raining pretty hard the whole way, but mostly stopped around the time we arrived.

We went through Thai immigration, then boarded a bus for the 8-minute drive across the Friendship Bridge to Laos. Their visa-on-arrival process was fairly slow and involved two forms and the presentation of a passport photo and $40 from each of us, but finally we were allowed to enter the country.

Our new guide, Vongmanay, had a van waiting to take us the short distance to the landing where we climbed down the sandy bank and boarded a boat for our journey down the Mekong.

The boat could have seated forty people or more, and we felt a little silly having it all to ourselves, but it was very comfortable.

For the first half hour or so we were passing fairly large Thai towns with temples just above the water line, thirty feet higher than it is in this season. My favorite was Wat Pia Buek with its golden catfish honoring the prize catch of the river.

But before long we were into more rural areas, as we left Thailand behind and were seeing Laos on both sides of the river. The weather also cleared and we enjoyed the lovely view of the hills as we motored along.

We saw a lot of cattle on the beach.

The boat’s crew served us a tasty lunch of garlic fried chicken, noodles, and curry with wonderfully sweet pineapple and watermelon for dessert. In the middle of the afternoon we stopped at a local village of about sixty families.

The climb up from the boat was daunting, but it was interesting to see how they weave bamboo to create the walls of their homes. Vong showed us some of the many plants that the villagers use for food and treatment of common ailments. He also talked about the government's campaign among the villages to stop child marriage and improve healthcare and education.

On the way back down I thought I was doing ok, but two little girls decided that I needed them to hold my hands. They escorted me all the way to the boat and waved goodbye as we continued on our way to Pakbeng.

Our stop for the evening was Le Grande hotel, where we got this beautiful view from our room. We climbed more than a hundred steps up to their dining room for a set dinner, back down to sleep, and then back up again for breakfast in the morning.

Alice had not slept well and spent much of our second day on the river curled up on one of the padded benches.

It was surprisingly chilly on the river in the mornings and didn't get above 70° before noon either day.

We passed the construction site of the Pak Beng Dam, which is expected to be completed in 2029.

Our first stop wasn't until after lunch, when we paused at the Pak Ou Caves. The caves are famous for the thousands of images of the Buddha that people have been leaving in the caves for hundreds of years.

By the time we left the caves, the sun had come out.

Not much further along we stopped to tour another village and sample the rice whiskey that they produce. It was pretty strong, but the red rice wine they also make was sweet and not bad to drink.

We walked on through this village of more than two hundred families, many of which have looms on their doorsteps, where they produce silk and cotton weavings that are gorgeous and astonishingly cheap. The villagers are Khmu, one of the largest minorities in Laos.

We managed to resist the temptation to buy and continued on toward Luang Prabeng, past some of the most beautiful views of the day.

We pulled up at the landing in Luang Prabeng a little after three and Vong escorted us to the My Ban Lao hotel, which was the CIA Headquarters in Laos during the Secret War of the 1960s.

Vong wanted to take us to the Night Market after we checked in, but we decided to have a quiet evening at the hotel before another early morning.