“Laos 🇱🇦 ~Our Wonderful Boat Trip On the Mekong!”

• January 22, 2018
• By Pen
• 0 Comment

Thailand 🇹🇭

We have been traveling all around Thailand for at least a month, with more to see, but we are leaving to visit Laos for a bit, then returning back to Thailand, to finish self-touring.

Today, we traveled further north to Chiang Khong, (another couple hours/taxi from Chiang Rai), where we will stay for one night. We then get picked up in the morning by the MeKong Smile Cruise outfitter to make our way to Laos, via the MeKong River.

1/22/18

Our view from our hotel room in the Chiang Khong border town. This is a quaint little town with an interesting history. (That’s another blog post). We are still in Thailand on the Thai side of the MeKong River.    

1/24/18

Finally the day has arrived! It’s good to be morning people, and the MeKong River is beckoning us to join her!

The sunrise was beautiful

Laos 🇱🇦 

We crossed over the Mekong River into Laos on a big bus, then got in line to get our Laos Visa stamps in our passports.

From there, we loaded back up on the bus, and drove a short ways to a dock of sorts, loaded ourselves up on our Long Boat, with our belongings, and off we went for our two-day/one-night Mekong River cruise.

Only underway for less than four hours, and the sights and smells at every turn are better than spectacular! It’s a dreamy state to be floating on this part of the MeKong.  There were no crowds and no noise, except for the hum of the boat motor. AND, the unique opportunity was abound; watching the river people go about their daily lives, on the banks of this mighty MeKong!

It was a completely magical experience to take this trip, and we highly recommend you do so. We chose “Smile Tours.” They did a fabulous job!

The group of travel mates we met on-board were all a delight. The boat can holds up to 25 people, but there were just nine of us that came together from Norway 🇳🇴, Switzerland 🇨🇭, Spain 🇪🇸, Netherlands 🇳🇱, and of course us, from the USA 🇺🇸

Most of us spent time together off the boat, as well as on, even after the ending our boat tour in the town of Luang Prabang. We certainly had one thing in common, right off the bat–the love ❤️ for travel and adventure!

Our itinerary was very simple:  In the two days floating along the MeKong River, we stopped at two villages to observe the (still) old way of life, amongst native tribal families.

Midway through the trip, we would stop in a village named Pakbeng. (It was only three years ago that Pakbeng got internet). We would spend one night in Pakbeng, as the boats do not travel after dark. We would also stop at ancient cave temples, before the end of the boat trip.

As we approached Pakbeng, we could see our stay on the hillside. Jungle huts. How AWESOME!

A funny:
Funny, because sometimes you get what you ask for.

While walking through the village of Pakbeng with our guide, he told us there was a population of 400, and some odd number of families living in there…thinking it was a bit ambiguous to hear of “population by families,” instead of an actual headcount, I asked how many actual people lived there; in total? I got my answer.  The guide said, and I quote; “Very many, because they do not use condom.” 😳

I didn’t ask any more questions after that.

For our one night in Pakbeng, all of us from the boat stayed together for a fabulous evening with dinner, swapping travel stories and lots of good laughs. We are all experienced travelers, so it was fun to hear the stories from one another. It is such a fascinating world we live in.
The communist flags are flying here in Pakbeng. The people are very poor, but seemed happy and friendly. This village survives completely on the fact the Long Boats do not travel at night. EVERYBODY who comes through, must stop for the night. Incidentally, the only way to reach this village, is by boat. There is no formal road. The hotels are limited, in Pakbeng, but they are clean and comfortable. The food was delicious and plentiful.

We leave in the morning for another full day on the MeKong. We will reach our final destination of Luang Prabang, Laos, at end of the day.
What a ride!

Here we were, deep in the jungles of Laos, and look at the view! We were pleased with our cute cabin, and balcony, above the Mekong River. Yes, bamboo weave siding, and not air tight, but we have a working toilet and a private shower with hot water!. Feeling pampered!

1/25/18

The next morning it was very chilly. We got back on our boat and bundled up with the many blankets available to us, for this reason. Daytime was super hot, so as soon as the sun was shining down, the chill was immediately gone.

These domesticated Elephants were standing close to the heated boulders, from a fire which was built for them, since it does get chilly at night by the River.

The lay of the land has not changed much from back in the day, and before, when our American troops patroled these waters, during the Vietnam war. AND, Opium is still grown in these mountains. It is still quite primitive, this being very clear from watching the people bathe, fish, boat, and wash clothes along the river; and in the villages.
There is no cell service out here in the middle of the MeKong, obviously, but did not plan on having it, either.  WIFI can wait, as every moment of this trip was not to be missed by any distractions!

I am not even sure the photos do the scenery along this river, justice; for the beauty, the serene nature, and the people who we could see, hard at work making a living in this remote part of the the less civilized world. There were fishermen, broom makers, gold panners, farmers, Elephant owners, and boaters all up and down the river; all eking out a living the only way they know how.

Regardless, this adventure was impressive and fascinating, all in one! A person could do this trip more than once quite easily, and see new things each time. We chose Mekong Smile Tours and we recommend them. They did such a good job for us.

History of Tam Ting Temple

Where the Nam Ou (Ou River) and Mekong River meet at Ban Pak Ou, two famous cave monastery in the limestone cliff are crammed with a myriad of Buddha images from the 16th century.

The lower cave, called Tham Thing ⬆️, is most easily visited. The small cave is just a short climb from the boat landing and gets enough daylight for good visibility. A series of steps lead to the larger upper cave called Tham Phum, at about 190 feet above the river. This cave is very dark inside.

I went ahead and hiked up the 250 steps to enter the top cave, too. I love this kind of stuff!  It was a treat to see all of it. It is true what they say. It is very dark. So, not much to see, and photos didn’t work very well. I would say the lower cave was great!
Both caves have been filled with thousands of Buddha images, most of them from the 18th and 19th century. These two caves have been a place of worship for centuries, as people believed they are inhabited by the spirits of the river.

According to Lao legend, the caves were discovered in the 16th century by King Setthathirath, one of Laos’ greatest Kings, who built monuments as the Wat Xieng Thong and the Pha That Luang.

These temples were first noted in 1865-1867, when the MeKong was explored by Francis Garnier duting that time.

About the two tribes we visited, along the MeKong River:
According to our guide, there are three tribes in Laos: Kumult, Kmong, and Loa. The first tribal village we visited were the Kmult, and the second was the Kmong.  I could see a distinct difference between the two: The Kumult seemed organized, clean, and functional, though money was not in abundance. They were shy, kept to themselves, and did not seem to notice our presence all that much. This tribe does not believe animals have spirits, so they eat anything that moves , of the four/legged type. Interestingly enough, this tribe is also afraid of the water.  I found this curious, since they live along the MeKong.

The Kumult Tribe

The second tribe we visited, definitely noticed our presence, and in fact, the kids all rushed us at the boat at landing, wanting to sell us their handmade bracelets.  As we visited their village, the kids followed us all all around. It did not have the tribal feeling like the first one, but we felt welcomed. 

The Kmong Tribe

The Kmong Tribe make their money by raising farm animals and eggs to trade with the Chinese. They do not eat the spirit animals of the wild.

We made a “boarder control” stop, not long after we left the final wee corner of the banks of Thailand behind.  The “boarder control” was a shack with a flag.  I loved it! Because the water runs quite swift, the extra long boats are apparently hard to control.  We had to brace for a crash; from another on-coming long boat that clearly came in a little “hot.”  No worries, since nobody sank, and nobody got hurt. For me, it just added to the adventure! Then, stereo cleared the border check. life continued up the river, as scheduled.

More on our first stop at the Kamult Tribal Village

Our guide explaining about the three main tribes of Laos: Kmult, Kmong, and Lao, as seen on their 1000 Kip bill (Lao currency)

Laos  has no coins. The US$ breakdown is:
Top bill (100,000 Kip) equals $12
Bottom bill (1,000 Kip) equals $.12  Yes, as in 12 cents.
You get the idea.

The men do the cooking, and the women clean up.

Each hut had a sign with the number of the hut on it; a form of consensus for the number of occupants inside.  The mushrooms nailed above the door is for good luck.

Our guide showing how it’s done. A Loa version of the bong. He said “my dad will kill me if he sees this.”

After we were told this tribe eats dogs, cats, etc, I was surprised to see a dog at such leisure.

This is how school operates here; by loud speaker, since the kids do not attend in person.

After total sensory overload, visiting the villages, we got back on board and we were served a fabulous lunch of authentic Laos cuisine; (Laos chicken), cooked right on-board in the humble kitchen with a view.

Our boat captain and his wife. They had two children with them, on board. The wife cooked, and the daughter helped babysit the little brother. There was another young man that helped the captain. Might have been an older son, but not sure.

We ported in the small town of Luang Prabang, where we disembarked, went through the customs process.

We then loaded up into various vans, where our tour company dropped us all off at hotels around town. This ended our Mekong River Tour

In addition, I feel confident to share this info for our choice of a MeKong River cruise.  I can save you the time researching. Absolutely 100% Fabulous! The outfitters were safe, the boat was very comfortable, and clean, and the whole experience was very interesting; visiting local villages along the way was unbelievable to see. The food prepared on-board was excellent! Well done MeKong Smile Cruise! (I provided a link, but due to C19, they may be out of business for awhile). 

http://www.mekongsmilecruise.com/

Side Note: There are several different options here. We were on the VIP boat which is the medium line. It cost us a total of $270. This did not include hotel costs. We made those arrangements on our own in Pakbeng, which was easy.
There is another class above ours that costs about $800 for two days. (That’s nuts). There is another class below ours that has older boats with older bus-like chairs, no food served, and more crowded. There is also a “public” boat class that runs once a day.  It holds about 100 people (like sardines, for 7 hrs each day). We were so comfortable, as we could move about, and seating is varied, with chairs, and cushioned lounges. We got served a beautiful meal, and lots of free water.

There was a couple from Switzerland; the gentleman was on his 3rd trip doing this. He retired before his wife, so he had traveled more. Now she was also retired and she wanted to go. She was blown away, like the rest of us. The weather was perfect, too!

*****

*Click on the link below to view all the photos from our Mekong River Boat Trip:

https://picsbypen.smugmug.com/Places/AsiaLife-SouthEast/LaosLife/MeKong-River-Cruise/

The town of Luang Prabang is so small, we would see our new friends from time to time, as we were out and about, self-touring. We would all stay in Luang Prabang for various lengths of time. We ended up coordinating some more time together, as a group, too. We had a lot of fun in Luang Prabang.

*To see my blog post for the rest of our time in Laos 🇱🇦 click this link:  https://2gypsiesinthewind.com/asia/laos/laos-touring-in-and-around-luang-prabang/