Muang Pakbèng to Chiang Kong

  

We woke up at 5:30am and headed back to the slow boat for another long journey (10 hours) to the Thai boarder. We celebrated Ollie’s birthday first thing in the morning with a carrot cake at 6am and a shirt that everyone had signed. We slept a little, as best as we could, with how cold and uncomfortable it was. But again it was an experience and I’m glad that we were doing it. I slept a bit on the boat and I was feeling pretty terrible, the development of a cold was coming on. But I powered through and since it was Ollies birthday everyone was drinking beer on the boat, so of course I had to join in. We literally listened to music, drank beer, danced in 5 layers of clothing and laughed together. It was actually so much fun and the perfect way to pass the time. We took many photos on Anna’s Poloraid camera and Ollie’s phone. We finally arrived at the Thai border with a slight buzz and made our way through the border crossing. We were all still cold so all any of us were praying for was a nice hot shower. Unfortunately we arrived at our hotel to find out that our hotel didn’t even have proper walls and definitely no hot water. Mind you it was really abnormal that the weather was this cold, so even the hotel wasn’t prepared for such events. We had no extra blankets, so it was beyond freezing all night. I actually think it was more cold in our hotel room then it was on the boat. We had to go to the 7 eleven down the street to get breakfast for the next morning (6:30am wake up and 7 hour drive the next day). Nothing says breakfast like 7 Eleven. Let me tell you 7 Eleven definitely has some strange options for breakfast. Me and one of the other girls bought bread and jam to make sandwiches. We got our breakfast, had a quick dinner and headed to bed. Our very very freezing cold bed. 

Luang Prabang to Muang Pakbèng

  

We woke up early only to discover it was pouring rain outside which was extremely disappointing because we were about to embark on a 10 hour journey on a slow boat on the Mekong River. A bunch of us piled into a Tuk Tuk that was going to transport us to the slow boat. Needless to say we were freezing and wet before we even got to the boat and if we are being perfectly honest a little hungover from last nights events.

Since there was no avoiding the rain at this point we boarded the slow boat soaking wet, only to discover that the slow boat was an ‘open concept’ slow boat, so the ‘windows’ were tarp draped over the sides of the boat. Oh, I am not exaggerating in the slightest. It was freaking cold. We quickly changed out of our wet clothes and added as many layers as possible. Anna and I decided to curl up together with some blankets and watched The Notebook on my tiny Ipad. And so our journey began…

Now I am not going to sugar coat the whole experience because it was really not a  pleasant one. It was a long, cold ten hours. But it was an experience needless to say. The hosts of the boat was a local family that actually lives on the boat and they do this kind of trip all year round.

We finally arrived at our homestay and of course as soon as we were meant to leave the boat it started raining. So we trudged through the rain and headed for our homestay for the night. It was very educating to see how the people in this little village lived. They use solar panels for their electricity and would have to boil water if they wanted any sort of hot water, for bathing and etc. As a North American it’s easy to see how much of our lifestyle we take for granted, we don’t realize how little some people have. And these people need very little to make themselves happy. It is definitely an eye opener. We had brought soccer balls, books, pens and some other things for the kids in the village, but sadly we didn’t get to see them because the weather was so bad.

We got to enjoy a home cooked meal from our hosts which was chicken curry with rice. Simple but delicious. We then had such a lovely chat with our tour guide about his lifestyle and his work. I think he has been my favourite travel guide so far, he is just so nice, such a gentle soul. We headed to bed pretty early because it is lights out at 9pm in the village because most people wake up quite early to work in the morning. My friend and I moved our beds together so we could keep each other warm in the night. We would fall asleep and drift apart and then as soon as one of us would wake up we would shuffle closer together. That’s how cold it was.