The "Slow Boat" from Thailand to Laos

Travel involves a lot of getting from Point A to Point B (duh). But typically it is a matter of figuring out the quickest and most painless way of doing so within budgetary constraints, while the journey itself is simply a means to an end. But sometimes the journey is a whole adventure in and of itself. When I was ready to leave Thailand for Laos, I originally planned to fly because I heard the bus journey, my seemingly only other option, was brutal and took forever. But while I was in Chiang Mai, I heard whispers of an alternative way - one that sounded really intriguing - the "slow boat".

It was basically a three day trip from Chiang Mai, Thailand to Luang Prabang, Laos. The first day was by bus to the northern tip of the country, and the next two days were by boat. Kind of a long trip, especially when you consider the flight would only take a couple of hours, but it seemed like a really unique experience, and I could use a few days to relax after the craziness of Thailand. So since I wasn't in any sort of rush I figured what the heck.

Journey from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang. Red = overland, Blue = boat

The first day consisted of several hours in a hot cramped van, although I grabbed shotgun so I was quite comfortable and had the AC vents pointed at me. Nothing really crazy to report from the bus ride except that we stopped at the famous White Temple in Chiang Rai along the way, which was neat.

White Temple - Chiang Rai, Thailand

Although a bit creepy.

We arrived into the town of Chiang Khong late in the afternoon. I had some really really good pad thai (maybe the best I had in all my travels through Thailand) in a tiny local cafe and then since there didn't seem to be anything going on in town that evening I went back to my room and pased out. The next morning my American friends, a nice couple that I had met on the bus ride up there informed me that they met some locals and ended up wasted singing karaoke with a bunch of ladyboys until 4am. Dang! Apparently there was something going on that night.

The next morning we crossed the border into Laos where our boat journey began. Check out the video below to come along for the ride! You've gotta see this!

Haha pretty cool right!?

First off, the boats were huge! Way bigger than I expected.

There were probably 100 people on board so the thing was packed. And being one of the last ones on, I was worried that I wasn't going to find a seat!

But I settled in and off we went!

It was mostly a young backpacker crowd and so not long after we set sail there was all sorts of beer chugging and revelry. Before long the entire back of the boat was tanked.

It was rowdy for a few hours, but over the course the long trip things died down and most people either passed out, settled into a book or playlist, or simply enjoyed the wonderful scenary.

After 7 hours on the water we arrived into the town of Pakbeng, our stopover point for the evening. It was a tiny little town with a few guesthouses and restaurants that would probably cease to exist if not for the overnight guests coming in off the boats.

Pakbeng, Laos

As we pulled up there were some kids swimming around in the murky brown water and I could not help but think of the show River Monsters and all the creepy things that could be lurking below the surface.

 

My American friends and I rolled into town and checked into our guesthouse. We met up that night for dinner, and since everyone else from the boat was passed out from drinking all day, it was a very quiet night in town. After walking down the street and getting solicited various types of drugs from some of the sketchy local dudes, we ended up at an indian restaurant of all places.

 

We were enjoying what turned out to be some pretty darn good indian food, when the power for the entire town went out. Unfazed, the staff lit a few candles at our table and carried on as if it were business as usual. I got the feeling that that sort of thing happens pretty often over there. We finished up our food and drinks by candlelight which was quite nice, and since there was no power in town and no one else was really out, we decided to call it a night.

Well, I slept really good that night, so much so that I slept through my alarm and woke up about 15 minutes before our boat was supposed to depart. Crap! I rushed to pack up my stuff and raced down to the dock. I made it with about 30 seconds to spare and was literally the last person to board. And since the boat had more people on it than seats, myself along with the other late comers, which happened to include my American friends, were relegated to the back of the boat next to the engine. It was loud and smelled like engine fuel, but it actually wasn't too bad as we had a little extra space back there to stretch out, as you can see.

Latecomers relegated to back of boat

The second day was way more chill than the first as it seemed like everyone was still nursing hangovers from the previous day. Pretty much just hung out, exchanged travel stories, and took in the awesome scenary.

Tiny village along the Mekong

And when we pulled into Luang Prabang 6 hours later, I was almost sad to have made it to point B.

 

 

 

 

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