Pakbeng to Luang Prabang

In order to get more comfort on my second day, I decided to book for a seat in the private boat of Luang Say lodge. This 34 metre river barge was appointed with everything for comfort, satety and enjoyment, with open air seating, a bar, toilet factilities and galley. Meals, snacks and drinks were served so it was the perfect way to relax and enjoy a unique and romantic voyage, not to compare with the overloaded boat from the first day. We were only 7 people of the boat! So it was really worth the money. On our way I saw villages along the river of several ethnic groups, one of which we also stopped by. The village had its own temple with monchs and an entire population of only 180 people. The houses were quite large, since entire extended familiy of three generations live together. Solid and splendid houses on thick teak pillars three metres above the ground. In the shade under the houses, men repair the long-tailed speedboats which ply the river, and with large hand operated looms women weave the famous lao-loung cloth with its wonderful colours and designs. Further on our trip we stopped at the magnificant cave temple of Tham Ting. There are two caved burrowing into the cliff, reached by a steep path which winds up the solid rock. The caves contain thousands of buddha images, and are of great religious importance. At Laos New Year, pilgrimages of Lao people go by boat to the caves and perform the washing ceremony of all the old buddha images. Previously it was performed by the King and members of the Royal Family but now is performed by the Governor of Luang Prabang and local families. We reached Luang Prabang after another 7 hours on Mekong river.

Huai Say to Pakbeng

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.

Mekong River

I am back with some more up-dates. As a matter of fact, I will have to divide the last couple of days into different posts.
Welcome to Laos and to the Mekong river! Called the 'mother of all Waters' in Laos, the Mekong River, at 4800 kilometres, is the longest river in South East Asia (the 4th longest in Asia), and the 10th longest in the world. The Mekong has its origin in the Tibetan Plateau and passes through China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia before finally emptying into the South China Seas in the Mekong Delta area of Vietnam. The Mekong annually carries around 475'000 million cubic metres of water in the sea and in Laos. The current is very strong and unpreditable with whirlpools and basalt rock formations, making it difficult to bridge. There are only two bridges on the Mekong river, both being in Laos, one at the Friendship Bridge linking Vietiane with Nong Khai and the other in Pakse. The river has been worshipped for thousands of years and is still the artery of life in Laos: a trading route, a source of food and water, and a social centre for the settlements along it's route. Over 70% of the protein in their diets is from Mekong river fish and in the try season with low water level the silt deposits are used to grow peanuts and rice. The scenery is just amazing!

Orchid nursery & Elephant camp

Early morning the tour took us to the orchid nursery. It is very interesting how they actually breed the orchid and the different species in shape of the flowers and colors, very unique!! They put lots of seeds in small bottles for approx. 6 months before they separate them from each other. As you can see on the picture, they are not planted in soil, just put on a kind of wire construction. The orchids take their nutrition from the environment. After that we went to an elephant camp. At one time in Thai society, elephants were war machines and logging trucks. The automobile has rendered the elephant jobless and orphaned in the modern world. Now in these camps they are trained to well entertain tourists with drawing paintings (see picture above), playing football, throwing darts etc. As a matter of fact, they are very skillful. They also offer elephant rides and you can feed them with bananas and sugar cane. The young ones stay with their mother for at least two to three years before they start to train them all different things. After all, it was a nice experience to get so close to those giants.