Day 18
We are given pack lunches for the day ahead whilst checking out of the hostel. As soon as we sit down in the same minivan as yesterday it's time to get back out again... We are at boarder control and this van goes no further.... It's reasonably early so the crossing looks far less busy than when we were here yesterday... Along with Alan & Julia who were the other couple from yesterday we collected three others on our short trip to the boarder... Two girls from Holland and a German guy.. Everyone speaks English well....
It's not long before all seven of us have left Thailand and are officially in Laos... having satisfied the boarder agencies that we are only there to pump money into the economy and we're all back on another bus... Heading for our slow boat ride from Xai to Luang Prabang via Pakbeng.
We arrive in good time and meet a Laos guy who meet us at the boarder crossing around a long table in a cafe that's perched on the side of a long drop down to the muddy water of the Mekong
Here he starts out by explaining what the next two days will consist of and as there is a overnight stay involved advising us of places to stay, rating his company's hostel very much higher than the rest... I'm happy to go along with whatever he suggests, and although we feel a little pressured into it we go with his suggestion... I'm thinking it might be 100b more than the others but I really don't care... 100bt is around £2 so its unimportant... Once we make the decision to stay there the other five follow suit... All feeling a little uneasy about the sales technique but we are strangers in a strange country...
We walk down to the water front.... The boats are huge... Maybe 90ft long and 10ft wide... They look all ramshackle and very un-sea worthy... Tarpaulin, rope and corrugated iron everywhere... Lets just hope the rivers shallow...
We board the boat... Its steel bottomed, with a dark wood upper... Coach seats just rest on the floor inside....
The boats are all driven into the mud banks and a plank of wood is used to allow access from the boat to the muddy slopping bank... We board... And quickly learn that the seat numbers mean nothing... This boats busy, so wanting to sit as a group we change to another boat that is next to ours....
The departure time has always been a mystery to us.. Some say 10 some say 11 but we don't really know... All we know is we are sat together and that's all that mattes to us... We are on the boat... We go when we go...
The temperature has been dropping day after day the further north we've travelled, it should of been getting warmer but it hasn't... All our bags are now stowed away under the floor boards and occupied seats now sit on top if them... It feels pretty chilly sat motionless on the boat and we are not surprised when it starts to rain. Our first tropical down pour... Its impressive and lasts quite a while longer than expected... We are sat close to the front of the boat and can see a huge queue of people tentatively making there way from the concrete road, down the now very slippery muddy bank towards the plank and onto the boat.... Everyone's dressed for 30 degreece and it's more like 15... And raining think and hard...thunder overhead claps down.... Needless to say people slip in the mud... Sliding down the bank towards the water.. Flip flips everywhere....Huge heavy back packs strapped to there backs helping the down hill momentum..... Its hilarious... When they eventually make it aboard, covered in mud, every item of clothing completely saturated with rain water it's hard not to laugh... We have a ring side seat to it all and it's very entertaining... 40 people have just entered the boat soaked right through... And there is now a 7 hr boat ride to the next stop....Suddenly waiting on the boat for the past hour for it to leave doesn't feel so bad...
It's now 13.00 and as soon as the boats untied from inch think metal spikes that are also pulled from the mud and placed on the boat we set off.... Which instantly lowers the temperature more.... It's still raining and soon tarpaulin is covering all the open window spaces as we progress down river... All sat cold, in what feels like a big noisy floating tunnel... The rain continues to lash down and the tarpaulin flaps furiously in the wind... The boats steering wheel is never stationary as the boats pulled around by turbulent muddy water and constant wind, and it's not long before the boats rammed into the muddy bank on a bend in the river and a thin Laos guy is out in the rain, hammering the inch think metal spikes into the bank in order to secure our boots too for a while.
Maybe 25 mins pass before we are moving again.... Still raining but not as hard.... The Laos guy sits shivering in front of us.. Clothes soaked... We give him a towel to try warm him up....
The boat journey is long and the crew don't speak any English... Alan has bought a bottle of Rum onboard and we share it out.. It's not long before the bottles dry and our sprites are lifted if only for a while....
A number of other boats like ours pass us as we make out way along the river and the boat that left with us is know here to be seen, long in front.... Every now and then a "speed boat" like the ones the Thais have passes us at speed... These offer the journey in 6 hrs total where are's is 7 hrs today.... Over night accommodation in Pakbeng then 8 hrs tomorrow. We make a few stops along the river to attend to engine room issues..... Its a 6 cylinder turbo diesel lorry engine that's cooled from water sucked from the river... The waste water spewing out the side as we travel..
The river journey would be really nice if it was warm, dry and sunny... The rivers huge... It's never less than 150 meters wide and weaves its way through the dramatic wilderness of Laos... Its banks are steep on both sides and usually covered in dense overgrowth and trees... You reach what feels like very isolated places travelling on this river... Tall mountainous terrain surrounds the river on both side... All steep and covered in trees.. Only every now and then seeing any signs of life... Which are usually randomly places traditionally constructed bamboo and banana leaf shacks that look long deserted among the untouched lush green hillsides that surround them, Or a small riverside settlement every hour or so consisting of five or six similarly constructed homes... And a tree truck style boat.
As day gives way to night we loose sight of our surroundings... There are no lights on this boat, or any other.. You just drive blind... With only the moonlight to assist... Everyone's frozen and willing the journey to end soon....
Because of the late departure, the weather, the stops and the lack of a driver that either knows where he is, or that can see, when we pull into a little village where there are lights... the first that we have seen on the river bank since we left, we are glad to have arrived at our half way destination.... Its cold dark and miserable and as the boat is again rammed into the muddy bank theres light rain in the air as we sit onboard waiting for the boat to be secured. Once off the boat with our bags ( some wet where they have been sat in water where the boat leaks under the seated level ) we slowly learn through broken English that we are not where we thought we were... "Pakbeng" our supposed midway destination is further down river and due to the lack of light we will not be able to get there.... Great we think ! Welcome to Laos !! Cold wet and lost, there are people with bags everywhere. We are lucky enough to be standing close to a Thai guy who speaks Laos... And after a brief chat with the boats captain we are told by the Thai guy to wait around the boat... We, like him have paid for a transfer and he says that they are on there way to collect us.
Local people are quick to offer help to nearly 100 stuck tourists.., a number of pick up trucks arrive offering a ride to Pakbeng for 100b each... People cram onto the back of the pick ups and disappear into the night... We sit tight... Safe in the knowledge out transfers on its way... The Thai guys are still with us, and as there the only ones that can speak Laos and English we are not letting them out of our sight..
2 hrs pass and many heated phone calls are head by the Thais... Eventually it turns out that our transports not coming... The transfer is not from our current location so it's now up to us... Thankfully the pick up trucks are still running people around and when we jump onto the back of one we are the last group of people to leave... One positive thing to come out of the many calls made by the Thais was confirmation that hour rooms are available, so when we finally arrive, soaked, out of pocket and chilled to the bone in Pakbeng we at least have a bed.
After checking in at the hotel we get ready to go out for some food, but the shower don't work in our room.... So far Laos is not working out well...
One of the hotel staff changes a battery inside the shower unit and it's back up and running...
All showered and warm again we head out... Pakbeng is small, and it's far from warn so we walk into the Indian directly opposite our hotel... We stay for a few hours and when everyone except myself and Alan have gone the Indian owner joins us at our table.. He speaks very good English and is interested in how are boat trip when....
After telling him of our very lengthy journey with its unexpected end point he informs us that he's heard it all before... In the 14 yrs he has worked in Pakbeng stories like ours are increasingly common... He tells us its a scam involving everyone from the boat crew, the hotel, and the helpful pick up drivers... It's all arranged that the boat will be delayed... Happens every week.... He is far from impressed about it as it's affecting his business and tries to convince us that not everyone in Laos is a crook.
We retire for the night with a new perspective on today's events....
Tomorrow we've been informed by the Indian guy will be a trouble free trip....
It had better be....

http://www.travelculturemag.com/everything-you-need-to-know-before-you-slowboat-in-laos/