February 28, 2007
Pak Beng: By Boat on the Mekong River
The alarm is set for 645am to be sure we wake early. We've been sleeping in the past few days and our internal clocks are slowly changing the routine...we used to be so predictable at waking. So we are up to get to the boat earlier than the 745am recommendation. The boat is scheduled to leave at 830am.
We find the boat behind the museum, it's a long concrete platform down then across the sand to get to the boat. The 4 Dutch cyclists are right behind us...we unload the bikes and shuttle everything to the boat walking on a narrow plank from shore to boat. The bikes are secured to the roof, the gear in the hold. We are early enough to get 2 of the dozen soft cushioned bus-like seats. The trip is to take 9 hours.
Once settled, Rachel goes back to Jo Ma Bakery and gets our final 2 bagel eggers (like an egg McMuffin) and a couple of baguettes to have with cheese later. Rachel decides against more to drink, not that we want to get dehydrated, but we only want to drink enough so not have to go to the bathroom.
We talk with the Dutch a bit, there are 2 German backpackers and 2 English backpackers that have come to travel with their parents for a few weeks. Their parents sit behind us and have been travelling since September overland "trying not to use planes."
The boat doesn't leave until after 9am. There is last minute loading of locals and local supplies like big bags of onions. Then we are off on the Mekong River. We share one of the bagel eggers, then about 10am we share the second one. We see the "fast" speed boats pass us. The passengers are wearing life jackets and helmets and looking straight ahead. We pass limestone "pancake" rocks, get slowed down by some pretty big rapids, only stop a couple of times to let the locals off.
We see life along the river, bamboo woven huts, lots of fishing and one section looked as if they were panning for gold. Once, Patrick saw a dead body float by. Surprisingly, the day passed pleasantly. We arrive at Pak Beng at 630pm and it is still a little light. Rachel hopped off quickly to get checked into a guesthouse. She went to the one recommended that was off the main street and up a hill. Then returned to help with the gear. We figured it would take a while to get the gear, so it worked out going for a room first.
It was almost dark when Rachel returned to the boat dock and had trouble finding the stairs, finally traversed along the sandy slope and found Patrick shuttling gear halfway up. It was dark by the time he got the bikes up. We shuttle the stuff up the rest of the way to the concrete pier/road, then push our bikes to the guesthouse. All this was a lot of work for Patrick, his clothes are soaked!
We got to the restaurant at the guesthouse, but are not served, so we go to one down the street and have great food sweet/sour chicken and chicken curry. The guy is friendly and we decide to have breakfast here tomorrow morning instead of cornflakes.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 1 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |