My cruise down the river near the town of Pakbeng took me about 7 hours. The journey through this remote, beautiful and exotic land was on board of one of the local boats which was quite overbooked. It was a bit of a hassel until everybody was on the boat. I was very lucky as I could catch one of the comfortable seats. The major number of the travellers had to sit on very small wooden benches or on the floor. En route, the river winds it's turbulant way through jungle, mountains, teak plantations and farmland. As a matter of fact, there are big bush fires in Laos the moment. This is also why the sky on most of the photos is grey instead of blue. The fires are set by local people in order to plant sticky rice afterwards. It is unbelievable but the water level up to 10 metres higher during rainy season. Therefore lots of now visible sandbanks, rocks and plants are unshown during this period. It makes some of the activities such as fishing, swimming etc. more difficult or even impossible. There were some brief stops during the journey, in order to offload people or onload some merchandise. This gave some local people the chance to get aboard and sell snacks and drinks. Upon arrival in Pakbeng I took a tuk tuk to Luangsay Lodge which is one kilometre outside the small town. It is built on four hectares of land in the traditional Lao stale of solid wood. There are 17 pavillions with private bathrooms and hot shower, western style toilet, mosquito net and ceiling fan. There is a terrace and restaurant overlooking the Mekong River. I was very lucky to get a very special rate of USD 35.00. Have a look what I got for the money.
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