2 Day Slow Boat to Luang Prabang: Day 1

We finally took off! The boat was full, yet surprisingly comfortable. It was a long boat with four seats on either side of an aisle. The seats were basically taken from a bus or a van and placed on the boat. The only downside of the boat was that the sides were too high so we couldn't see out to the river from sitting. But that didn't matter,  for most of the trip we sat on the side of the boat, legs hanging off, socializing, drinking Chang and Beer Lao, playing games, and meeting people from all parts of the world.

Luang Prabang or bust!

Behind my seat

In front of my seat

The view was amazing. There was something to see in every area of the river. Water buffaloes, remote villages, green mountains, jagged rocks and cliffs. It was so tranquil. The majority of the passengers on the boat were fellow backpackers, and there were some native Lao people traveling to other parts of their country. My greatest form of entertainment on the boat was a chubby Lao boy who would squeeze his oranges at two guidos sitting behind him.

Cute chubby Lao boy with his orange

Every now and then we would stop at a small village on the riverside to drop people off or pick people up. At these stops, it seemed like the entire village was there to greet the boat, and sometimes young boys or girls would jump on the boat and sell us beer or other various things. The boat would also stop at obscure areas where you could see nothing but the jungle, but someone would always get off and walk straight into the jungle. I wonder how far some of these people had to walk into the forests to get to their homes. At one of these remote stops a family exited the boat and the father was carrying a huge sack, he dropped the sack, and out wiggled a full grown pig. It was super cool to see the the way that the people live and how they go about their lives.

Selling Beer Lao

From my temporary floor seat

One of our many stops

Where are you going?

We arrived in Pak Beng, the halfway point of the two day boat ride. After the commotion of finding our packs among hundreds of other packs that were thrown in the storage area, we exited the boat and were surrounded by different hostel and guesthouse workers insisting that their hostel is the best and we should stay there.

Yunsam's drawing of me sleeping (he had a collection of drawings of people sleeping)

Almost to Pak Beng

Pak Beng is small, basically a stopping point for travelers. It's full of hostels and guesthouses and restaurants. We didn't walk around much, only to find food and a pharmacy, but it the town was basically one main road. The electricity and water shuts off at night too. Which was very unfortunate for my German friend who had a case of the stomach flu that night.