The Mekong

It’s my birthday and what an unusual way to spend it! Our introduction to Laos will be a two day cruise on a slow boat along the Mekong. I have seen examples online and it does not look very comfortable. However, we are all pleasantly surprised. We have a private boat with loads of space. It is hosted by a wonderfully warm and welcoming family who live on-board and provide us with lunch and refreshments. Before embarkation we were also able to buy snacks and drinks. We invested in a magnum of red wine, ‘Pringles’ and assorted chocolate bars. So healthy! Steep steps take us down to the boat. There are no handrails so you need to be sure of your footing and confident that you can carry your bags down on your own. For a minimal charge someone would assist you, but we travel light so no problem for us.

The Mekong River is the world’s twelfth longest river at an estimated length of 3050 miles. From its headwaters in the Tibetan Plateau, the river runs through Southwest China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and southern Vietnam. The extreme seasonal variations in flow and the presence of rapids and waterfalls in the Mekong make navigation difficult. Even so, the river is a major trade route between Tibet and Southeast Asia. The construction of hydroelectric dams along the Mekong in the 2000s through the 2020s has caused serious problems for the river’s ecosystem, including the exacerbation of drought

Wikipedia

The sky is blue and cloudless and it is a very comfortable temperature – probably around 23C. A perfect day for a cruise down a river. We sit back and enjoy the passing scenery.

Lunch aboard is simple but very tasty – a chicken curry, soup, rice, mixed vegetables and not a chilli in sight. The Lao people do not like spicy food. This is good news for me as I am allergic to chillis and had to be pretty careful in Thailand.

The landscape slips by at a casual speed. We have time to observe life along the river. Small fires are lit to clear patches of land and encourage new grass growth for the grazing cattle and buffalo.

Children play on the shore and people pan for gold. Big companies come in initially with heavy equipment to mine the gold. When they have gone there will still be a small residue. Local families take two or three weeks off with their families. They use it as a holiday from farming and hopefully can also supplement their income with a little gold. Maybe $20 -$30 worth but that is a huge amount to them.

We arrive at our destination for the night shortly before sunset. We shall be staying in a home stay in a hillside village. We do not really know what to expect but know that there will be 4 of us sharing a room.

We just take bare essentials with us as it is a steep climb up to the village and there will certainly be no bathrooms for us tonight.

We are shown around the village, given dinner of egg fried rice, stir fried vegetables and a local minced chicken dish. Despite the limited resources the people keep everything spotlessly clean and we have no concerns about food hygiene. As we finish dinner I am surprised by our guide and the locals singing “Happy Birthday” and presenting me with a beautiful birthday cake complete with candle.

Puna had carried the cake all the way from Thailand to Laos. In fact she had bought two – one for the children in the village. She transported them in a box balanced on top of her suitcase. Unfortunately it fell off while crossing the Laos border so there was a bit of cake damage! I heard her cry “Oh no!” But had no idea why she was so concerned. So very thoughtful of her.

After dinner we are treated to a welcome dance and invited to join in. It is all very slow and graceful although I don’t think any of us quite mastered it!

Then it was time for bed. We are shown to our home stay, which we will share with the family.

To our relief there is a separate building with a western toilet. Very clean but there is no plumbing so it needs to be flushed with a bowl of water from the adjacent water butt. We then enter our home for the night. We leave our shoes by the door, climb some very steep stairs and are shown our accommodation. A picture tells a thousand stories ….

Initially sleep is difficult. People in the village are still out and about and the dogs and chickens are quite noisy too. We hear our host family settling down to sleep and eventually all is quiet. Our mattresses are quite thin but supply just enough support and the blankets are warm. I think we all sleep better than we thought we would. But make no mistake. Dawn is a relief. As is going to the loo which I had been reluctant to do in the night. Not the easiest journey to get there.

When we wake the air is cool and mist hangs over the hillsides. We are led back to the communal area for breakfast of coffee, fruit, eggs and rice.

By 07.30 we are back aboard our boat. It is chilly and everyone wraps themselves in blankets and drinks lots of hot coffee or tea.

Eventually the mist clears. We sit in the sun at the bow of the boat and drink some more of our big bottle of wine. The scenery is wonderful…

and there are interesting things to see.

There is a final visit to Pak Ou Caves before we disembark. The caves are considered an important spiritual site by many Lao people. Thousands of Buddha statues and images line the walls.

There are two caves. We enter the first which is horrendously crowded and in my opinion pretty underwhelming. There are something like 300 steps up to the second cave but we decide to escape the crowds and return to the boat for some peace and quiet. The view outside the cave is somewhat marred by all the tourist boats.

Close to the caves a new dam is being constructed to supply hydro-electric power. There are already several dams along the course of The Mekong and this, together with them, will have a detrimental impact on the river’s eco-system and further exacerbate drought.

We arrive at Luang Prabang late afternoon, disembark and are taken to our hotel for the next three nights. We shall be able to enjoy some much needed downtime there.