SLOW boat
Trip Start
Jun 28, 2011
1
10
81
Trip End
Dec 13, 2012
Chiang Khong, Thailand
Sunday, July 17, 2011
As I type this we are on the second day of our slow boat from Thailand (Chiang Kong) to Laos (Luang Prabang). The only way to describe our experience on the slow boat is well......SLOW!!! We got bus on Sat from CM to Chiang Kong on the Thai/Laos border, CK can only be described as a complete shit hole. We booked our tour from CM and this included one night's acc in CK, dinner in CK, brekkie the next morning and lunch for the slow boat, and obviously the slow boat ticket. We got a really good price so we were kinda questioning this but feic it we said. The guesthouse in CK was absolutely mouldy and the owner was a complete bitch.....she didn’t crack a smile once the old wagon!! The bathroom was so bad that I didn’t have a shower...so it must have been really bad. Dinner was rice and cabbage...I actually don’t have to comment regarding this shite on a plate. Then to make matters worse it was Buddha weekend so we couldn’t buy beer in the 7-11 but yer one in the guesthouse sold us a couple to wash down the amazing dinner with. We were in the guesthouse with 3 French fellas and 2 German fellas, the French lads were really good craic and 2 of them have studied for a year in Dublin in Trinity so we had loads to chat about. We left the guesthouse and found a bar that was serving beer so we had a few sociable ones before the dreaded slow boat the next day....to be fair I wasn’t too sure what to expect as I had done some reading up online with mixed reviews. Anyway, we got short ferry across to Huay Xin (Laos) and got our visas sorted etc.....we had a guide that came with us from CK but sure enough when we reached the Laos border he fucked off and was nowhere to be found. We had no tickets or anything for the slow boat so we were rightly stuck so we kinda asked around and we found another tour guide fella.....I know it’s probably just my personality but I constantly think we are trying to get scammed or ripped off so I’m always questioning this fake "I’ll help you shite" so I was very wary of this “tour operator” and he wasn’t impressed with me questioning him about our tickets as I knew he was trying to scam money out of us. There were the 7 of us and 2 others and persuaded the 3 French lads and the 2 others not to get the slow boat to Luang Prabang that they had already paid for by telling them that it might that longer than the standard 2 days 1 night and to get the 12 hour bus instead....he was making up some bull shit about rain and this slows down the journey and it could take 3-4days to get to LP instead of the usual 2. The French lads had a fairly tight schedule so they were afraid of getting stuck on the slow boat so we lost them on our slow boat adventure but we might see them somewhere along the way in Laos.
We stocked up on beers and food in CK for the slow boat journey so the first day on the boat was pretty manageable as it was only about 6 hours from Huay Xin to Pakbeng (first nights stop over). We had heard horror stories regarding sitting on wooden benches but once we arrived on board our “chairs” were seats from minibuses/vans...weird. Rich asked the question “how many tourists were killed on buses in order for these seats to become available for the slow boat” I think this is a valid question.....lol!!!
Once the boat pulled into Pakbeng I legged it off and left the bags with Rich as you can’t pre book accommodation in Pakbeng so I went off to find a guesthouse. Pakbeng is literally one street with small shops and a few guesthouses and one bar...The Hive Bar!! We went for dinner then headed to the Hive Bar, we thought the place would be rocking but there was just 2 other tourists dere when we arrived, we were gonna head off then a few more arrived so we ended up staying out. I had my first Vodka, Soda and Lime of the trip....a complete bargain at less than €2 so I was happy out. We had a bit of a boogie with the fellows slow boaters so it was all good.
At this exact moment, we think we have another 3 hours or so before we arrive in Luang Prabang so not too bad at all. We’re gonna hang out in LP for few days, then we might head tubing in Vang Vieng but we have heard conflicting reports that the tubing isn’t going ahead due to 7 deaths so far this year and flooding also so we’ll just have to check it out and see what the story is. Then we’re off to capital of Laos Vientiane for night or two then we fly south to Pakse and check out the Mekong River and some islands, then we overland it to Cambodia for 10 days or so.
