The Mekong is the largest river in South-East Asia at over 4000km.  It forms the border between Laos and Myanmar and most of the border between Laos and Thailand, beginning in the high plateau of Eastern Tibet and flowing down through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam ending up in the South China Sea. So already on this trip we have come into  contact with the Mekong several times and witnessed how it is truly the lifeblood of south-east Asia. The Mekong basin is one of the richest areas of biodiversity in the world, with only the Amazon boasting a higher level.

Taking the renowned ‘slow boat’ down a small stretch of the Mekong (approx 350km) seemed the logical way to enter Laos from northern Thailand, not to mention being a bit more of an interesting mode of transport.   We enjoy slower journeys like train travel and I like all things boats so taking a slow boat seemed like a good combination definitely reinforcing that it is truly about the journey not the destination.

Many people just get an all-inclusive ‘tour’ from agents in Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang with the buses, ferries, boats and accommodation all included but as we wanted to stop along the way we did it all ourselves. For a little bit more organising it usually works out a lot cheaper as we negotiate directly with guesthouses and stay in a standard we are comfortable with.

We also heard conflicting reports about whether the children would get a discount on the slow boat.  The agents at the boat ramp in Houay Xai started at 220 000 kip or 950 baht (about $30 p/adl) for the two day trip, with children being 500baht ($16).  The lady on the street that we organised the baguette take away lunch for the first day onbaord advised that at the departure boat ramp (about 2km down the road) the going rate was 840b with kid’s half price.  So armed with that knowledge we decided to wait until the morning and set off to the boat ramp before the main crowd turned up.

We were expecting that men would be clambering for business on various boats but due to being low season, but only one boat was scheduled to depart that day, and there was only one ‘ticket desk’ where the man was  adamant that it was 900 baht per person with no discount for the kids. (We were still working in Baht rather than Lao Kip which they accept and quote in too).

There was still time to go back to the agents we first spoke to so Dave set off to head back into the town, while the girls and I stayed with the bags, but he came across another agent at the top of the street who confirmed a rate of 920baht per adult and half price for kids under ten.   So he ran back to get the girls passports to prove that they were indeed under 10 years old that so we could get on the boat sooner to get the pick of seats (avoiding the back near toilets and engine). So the final cost ended up around $90 for the two day boat trip (not including the overnight accomm). Not bad!

The seating on the slow boats was once just rows of hard wooden benches but have now been replaced by bus seat style. This particular boat also had about 6 sets of club seating (wooden box seats with cushions) over a table so we grabbed one of these closer to the front on the port side thus avoiding the afternoon sun.

It was a very comfortable set-up and we were able to get stuck into some schoolwork for the next couple of hours before watching the world go by, not to mention using the table for a few card games and UNO.

We finally cast off at 11.20am (they wait for people making the crossing from Thailand in the morning). It really is quite a scenic journey, the brown fast flowing Mekong against often soaring peaks of verdant green. Cruising past villages with kids splashing at the shore, with the breeze keeping us cool – a surreal experience and one that you really just need to sit back and take in. We watched the small fast boats zoom past with drivers wearing motorbike helmets and the swirling eddies where the rocks lie just under the surface or in some cases jut out of the water creating quite a bit of turbulence.

It was 5.30pm when we pulled into Pak Beng, our stop for the night after travelling around 150km. We had phoned a guesthouse on the way and pre-booked a couple of rooms (no triple available here being such a small place) the first time we have had to get two rooms.  Dinner that night was at a little Indian restaurant as we saw and briefly spoke to the Indian chef so we knew it was going to be authentic. Whilst it was one of our more expensive meals it was absolutely delicious, mild in spice and full of flavour and Immi was in heaven with a couple of different types of naan bread!

Next morning we set off at 9am as we had 180km to cover before arriving in Luang Prabang around 4.30pm, however this time we were in a different boat – a smaller one full of bus type seating so no table to spread out the schoolwork and we made more stops at villages along the way and carried more locals and their produce.

Nevertheless we passed the time doing some schoolwork, reading and chatting with a few fellow passengers.  I think the experience is much more enjoyable in low season than high season where there have been reports of serious overloading and uncomfortable conditions.  It was quite a relaxing couple of days.

We have been very lucky so far travelling in the off season – no problem getting our choice of guesthouses with very short notice, negotiating  better prices and less crowding and despite supposedly being the wet season we have only really had one serious day of rain so it has not prevented any activities.  We were looking forward to hiring some bikes and discovering the beauty of Luang Prabang after hearing so much of this UNESCO world heritage town.