Pakbeng, Lao Peoples Dem Rep
May 25, 2014
Whiskey the night before and a very hot room took its toll at 6:30am when the alarm stirred us and it was time to head for Laos. Breakfast where we were staying didn’t even look edible and feedback from those who had been brave enough to try it was pretty grim so we passed on the food option and headed off in the van with a fuzzy head. Border control was simple enough really. It took a little while to leave the Thai side but once over the bridge and into Laos we were off within an hour and headed towards the boat jetty to catch the slow two day boat down to Luang Prabang. We had half an hour to kill so a quick sandwich later to fill the gap and we were off.
There were two choices of boat to get down the river. The speedboat which is notoriously dangerous and noisy, and the slow boat which is more comfortable, safer and cheaper. It let’s you take the scenery in more at a smoother pace. It was an easy choice to make really so a two day trip along the Mekong it was, I was really looking forward to this.
The boat was pretty big. A long barge type affair with seats pulled out of a coach and thrown inside to sit on. Probably around one hundred people in total crammed in with an engine room at the back that doubles as living quarters for the crew and a smoking room for everyone on board. We sat back and watched the scenery unfold in front of us as we chugged our way down stream. The Mekong is not the biggest river in Asia but it’s a very beautiful one and an important trade route as it links the West of China to South East Asia.
We passed hill tribes going about their daily lives. Men sat fishing peacefully at the side of the river in their long boats and children playing in the water. The first impression of Laos was brilliant. Non of the infrastructure and industrialisation of Thailand here but a much more serene way of life. It was a big contrast to any other country we have seen so far and we were enjoying it a lot. We spent six hours on the boat the first day before arriving at the tiny village of Pakbeng. In those six hours we hardly passed another boat on the river aside from the odd local guy fishing and two barges that were heading up-stream. Just stunning scenery and the rural life of Laos was what we had to look out at and immerse ourselves in.
Eventually about an hour before sunset our boat pulled into the village of Pak Beng for our stop over that night. As we stood up to get off a guy from the village had already boarded the boat and was wandering round quietly offering Opium and Weed to everyone…..welcome to Laos! I had read plenty about this kind of thing in Laos but did not expect it be quite so obvious and in your face that you didn’t even have a chance to get off the boat. I pointed the guy in the direction of Mark, a Canadian lad who we had met from the place in Chiang Khong the night before as he was keen to explore the local delicacies. The jetty was busy as we headed off. Mainly with young children desperate for anything you were willing to give them. The village is obviously used to the daily arrival of foreigners. Plenty of guys trying to get you into their guesthouses as well as young children who followed us as we wandered up the one street in the village in search of a room.
Pak Beng is a beautiful small village. It must only have around two hundred locals living there and most things are geared around the fact they have a daily influx of tourists. Finding a room was no problem and we settled for somewhere nice and cheap not far up the road from the jetty. Mark was also staying there and we headed over the road for some food and beers with the backdrop of the river and sunset laid out before us. It was your typical impression of what you would like from rural Asian life. A tiny quiet village. Smoke rising from a fire further upstream. The river so flat and calm with only one small longtail fishing boat meandering down in the distance and beautiful forested hills rising up on either side. I could have sat there all night just looking at that one view but as the sun lowered her head and darkness arrived we headed off in search of food.
The next morning we were up early and headed back down to the jetty. It was quite a shame as Pak Beng was so beautiful. I could easily have stayed another night or two and just wandered around the hills and enjoyed village life. It seemed so idyllic compared to anywhere I had been in Asia so far but we needed to head off and down stream towards Luang Prabang.
After some breakfast and once aboard everyone was much quieter than the day before. Many people looking a bit worse for wear and stories of those who had tried opium the night before eventually crept out. The second day on the boat was even longer. Around nine hours this time and the spectacular scenery we had enjoyed on the first day continued and just kept getting better and better as we motored along. The mountains and hills became higher and more dramatic. Tiny little huts clinging onto the sides for dear life where the local hills men lived. Lush vegetation all around and again hardly another boat in sight. Every so often the boat would pull in somewhere random and a local would hop off and disappear into the forest. Occasionally the boat would pull up at the river bank and locals who lived in the hills would sell their wares to the crew on the boat who in turn would sell them for more further down stream at Luang Prabang. A simple way to do business really.
I sat in the engine room having a smoke with Mark when a lady wandered through with a massive fish over one shoulder and a lizard in the other hand. The lizard was alive and tied up and the fish was kept wet in a bucket so as to keep them both fresh and alive. They would be someone’s tea that night so the fresher the better. We chatted a while with the guy about cooking them and how much they were worth and were going to offer him some money for them both until we realised we were docking at Luang Prabang. The lizard and fish went out of our minds and we lugged our bags off the boat and went in search of a Tuk Tuk to take us into town.
The boat drops you off about 10k from Luang Prabang even though the Mekong continues towards the town. Another piece of local enterprise to squeeze another dollar out of the foreigner as you have no choice but to pay the fare if you want to make it to the town. We hopped in one with Mark and a couple from England, Holly and James and we all went in search of somewhere to stay once we hit the town centre. Luang Prabang is the second largest town in Laos and very quickly we realised just how small and rural Laos is if this was the second largest place in the whole country. We stuck together and all stayed at a nice cheap little place just off the main road through the town.
First impressions of Luang Prabang were good and the town had a great little feel about it. Laos was occupied by the French for quite some time and this was evident in the old architecture of the town centre. Little bakeries dotted about and those old colonial style buildings, colourfuly painted with pretty little shutters everywhere you looked. We grabbed some food and headed to the local market to grab some decent local fruit wine before heading back for a drink and some rest.
It’s early days but I like Laos already. It seems unique and unlike any other Asian country I have been to yet. Everything is on a much smaller scale as over 90% of the population still live in the hills in villages and huts. Tomorrow we will head out and explore more and see what we can find around the area.
