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I'm writing to you today from our slowboat sailing down the Mekong river.
Crossing the border into Laos was an adventure in itself. We had risen at 6:30 in order to be first in the queue. However, lots of other tour groups had the same idea. It was about half an hour waiting in the sun before we completed the exit checks from Thailand. At one point a group of Chinese nationals made a break for the front of the queue but big Frank and I growled loudly at them and they beat a hasty retreat.
We then made our way down to the river where a dilapidated old long tailed boat was waiting to take us across the water to Laos. The water was up to the gunwales but there was only one lifejacket. Our slowboat was more luxurious than we had expected. It's about 30m long by 4m wide wide with old car seats to sit on. Fruit, water, tea and coffee are provided free of charge.
The Mekong is about 100 m wide reducing to 30m and widening to 200m from time to time. It looks exactly as you would imagine - hill tribe villages line the banks, children splash about naked in the shallow, men fish with rod and net and women wash clothes and pan for gold.
We stopped to visit a village and were mobbed by children on the shore - they were desperate to sell us woven bracelets. The children here were like ragamuffins - unkempt and dirty. This wasn't like the hill tribe villages that we had stayed in Thailand - these people were much poorer. We made a small donation to their village hall fund and went on our way.
Tonight we lay our heads down in the small town of Pak Beng and tomorrow we continue our cruise to Luang Prabang.
- comments
Sharon & Bob Well Robin,I guess you will be alright for a job at one of the Inverness night clubs as a bouncer now!!An interesting trip by the sounds of it - not quite Viking Cruises though, I hear Maureen say. Your hotel on stilts looked nice - I hope you had a room with a view! You are both looking well and we continue to enjoy hearing about your travels.