Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Today we were leaving for our 2 daylong boat trip down the Mekong. We loaded our gear on to the boat and headed off for our first day on the boat. Travelling down the Mekong we saw some amazing scenery. Surrounded by mountains it was defiantly well worth the 4 hours travelling on the boat. Along the way we stopped at one of the local villages where our guide showed us how they live. As soon as we arrived the local children greeted us.
With all the adults at work in the fields, the children were left to look after each other and watch the rice so the animals didn't eat it. It was really refreshing to see these kids as they were such happy kids and were so well behaved. Which is defiantly a change from the kids back home. There were young kids about only about 5 or 6 looking after their younger brothers and sisters. We saw them collecting water from the water pump installed by Red Cross, they were playing games with rocks and sticks and basically anything they could find, and they had fun. They didn't need a Play station or TV or the latest mobile phone to have fun. It was so great to see these kids faces light up when we showed them the pictures we took of them.
Whilst taking pictures of the workers in the rice fields, I noticed a Caucasian girl, with blond hair standing on her own. I thought that there was a western family working here but the guide informed us that she was an albino child.
He also said that many people try to give her sunglasses to wear but she doesn't like wearing them. It was also a little disheartening to see her on her own as many of the other children were all playing together.
Back on the boat we were not far from our overnight stop at a village called Pakbeng. This is a major stop over town for many tourists going to/from Luang Prabang. Arriving at this town there was a really nice feel to the place and after what Matt told us about it being a generator town and they only have the generators on from I think it was 6pm to 10pm, so it was going to be a fun stay. Thankfully it wasn't too hot.
After settling into our rooms at the Sivongsack Guest house, our guide took us for a walk through the town. It was quite a pretty town to walk through especially when the generators kicked in and all the lights came on. Eating at one of the local restaurants, we enjoyed some really great food and even more Beer Lao. One of the Lao customs is to offer a shot of Lao Whiskey as part of a greeting (I think). So the shot glass was passed around and it was actually not as bad as I thought, but still pretty potent.
Still not wanting to call it a night we headed back to the guesthouse and headed for the rooftop to enjoy some more Beer Lao. Mmmmm Beer Lao.
- comments