A popular way to get from Huey Xai to the city of Luang Prabang is to take the slow boat down the Mekong River. It takes 2 days, with a stop in the little village of Pak Beng to sleep the first night. I had heard from other travelers that the trip was really beautiful and relaxing and that the boats usually had a lot of empty seats, so there was plenty of space. That wasn't so much my experience....in fact, my experience was such that my boat had over 130 people on it (they're only supposed to have about 70) and ended up leaving the dock 3 hours late. BUT ya know, that's just the way shit flies here. Just gotta go with the flow sometimes. In any case, the trip was really quite beautiful--lots of cool rock formations, little villages with men throwing out their nets and women washing babies in the river, moauntains on both sides. Very nice. Even if it was very slooooow.
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| Hard to tell from this pictures, since a lot of people went to the back of the boat, but it was really freaking crowded. And I seemed to be on the boat with all the smokers....blech. |
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| Down the Mekong |
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| Sunset |
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| Was feeling particulalry antisocial when I saw this little isolated hut in the middle of nowhere along the river. Oh how I longed to be there... |
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| This was the pineapple "pancake" I ordered for breakfast in Pak Beng. Despite the fact that it sure as hell had no business being called a pancake, it was actually quite delicious. Like a pinapple omelette! |
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| The boat driver was very adamant the night we got to Pak Beng that we would be leaving precisely at 9am the next morning. So it was a little confusing when he decided to get off the boat at 9:05, lay on the dock, and have a beer and a few smokes with his buddies. We ended up leaving around 10:30 or so. Yaaaaaay SLOW boat. |
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| I saw this tree on the river bank and fell in love. |
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