Trip Report, Slow Boat To Luang Prabang, Laos.

[theblether]

I was sitting in the travel agents getting ready to book a flight to Hat Yai / bus to Penang when I noticed the advert for the Slow Boat To Luang Prabang. That'll do me, I thought to myself, and the next day off I went. Let me get straight into the details.........

Cost, 1750 baht.......

Collection from hotel by VIP minibus, and the driving was safe and excellent may I add. Driving time to Chiang Rai approx 3 hours.

On the way to Chiang Rai stop for lunch, waste of time, waste of money, take a packed lunch rather than get ripped off like this.

Chiang Rai, stop for photo's at the White Temple, supposed to be 30 mins, in reality 15 mins, fair enough. The White Temple.....

Chiang Rai to Chiang Khong, Thai border town, driving time approx 2 hours, stunning countryside, this is the rice basket of Thailand.

Chiang Khong, Overnight stay included in price, fan room, shared wc and shower facility. The room was clean and good enough.

Dinner, was included in the price, The dinner was acceptable, no complaints. Pad Thai, Yellow Curry, Fried Rice, buffet style.

Breakfast was also included in the price fried eggs on toast, take it or leave it, suited me anyway, so no complaints there.

Packed lunch was also included for the boat, egg fried rice in my case, again no complaints.

We were driven to the Immigration office and checked out of Thailand.

We wandered down to the quayside and were transported in a long boat across the Mekong to Laos. Again this boat was included in the price.

Important Stuff

The staff at the hotel in Chiang Khong will arrange your Laos visa for you, cost, 1200 baht, which you pay in cash to them, they take your passport overnight and return it to you with the visa in the morning.

Trivial stuff

Get yourself into 7/11 in Chiang Khong and stock up with munchies or whatever for the boat, you won't get time to go to a shop in Laos so take your chance now. Between leaving the hotel and arriving in Pak Beng, your overnight stay in Laos, it's about 8 hours all told, waiting and travelling. Be prepared.

Also the boatman between Thailand and Loas is an annoying bastid, be careful of your bag getting wet, as he seems to take great delight in going to fast and watching waves crash over. A couple of backpackers got their stuff drenched.

..................................................................................................................................................................

Laos

You arrive on the Laos side at a small town called Huay Xia, make your way halfway up the hill and report to Laos immigration, easy process. If you arrive on a Saturday or Sunday they charge you 40 baht extra, Laos may be a communist country but they've sussed extra time rates at weekends apparently.

There's an exchange booth at the Immigration office.

Thai baht is acceptable currency, don't be in a rush to change any Thai baht you have, on this trip you will be quoted prices in Laos Kip and Thai baht.

Expect to wait at the Immigration office area for a few minutes while transport to the slow boat is arranged.

You will then be taken by a tuk tuk style van to a restaurant overlooking the slow boat, again expect to wait here a little while. The pricing at this restaurant is fair, a large bottle of Laos beer is 12,000 kip ( about 60 baht ), a can of coke 5,000 kip ( about 25 baht ).

The owner will recommend that you buy additional beer and drinks from him to take on the boat as the boat is overpriced. Believe him, the Laos beer is 25,000 kip on the boat, and the coke is 10,000, and the cheeky mare on the boat took the price sign down and charged people 15,000 kip until someone complained.

View from the restaurant.......

The Boat

Keep your balance eh?

The boat is fitted out with old minibus seats......

I found them to be perfectly comfortable, you can buy cushions at the hotel in Chiang Khong if you want to be doubly sure.......

Part two coming up......

[theblether]

The journey, quite magnificent.......

[theblether]

The boat stops off at villages along the way and picks up, drops off passengers.......

[theblether]

Fishing in the Mekong....

[theblether]

Okay, now we arrive at Pak Beng, you will be met at the pier by hoteliers and touts offering you rooms, expect to pay 200 baht for a fan room, up to 600 baht for an AC room. Transport to and from the hotel is free.

Pak Beng......

Your hotel should offer you a packed lunch service for the boat next day, I suggest it's a good idea, and it's cheap. The boat is scheduled to leave at 9.00am the next day, and there's not a lot of shops in Pak Beng.

Prices are cheap, there are a few decent little restaurants, but they close at 10.00pm, this is not a night life centre.......

Next day, onto a new boat and we're off.

Till final arrival in Luang Prabang.......once again this journey took about 8 hours, so be prepared with snacks and the like. The boat is way too expensive.

[Lancelot]

Good info- thanks for posting

[theblether]

Luang Prabang, I went to the Phasith Guest house, the Tuk Tuk to the GH was 30,000 kip........here's a look at LP.

It's a world heritage site with a French Colonial influence......

Plenty of decent affordable little restaurants, and a good craft market every night. All the prices seem to be negotiable.

I paid 400 baht a night for an AC / ensuite room with a private patio. Excellent value.

What you don't get is the same level of cheap street food and cafe's you have in Thailand, but they can be found. Prices I found to be very affordable.

[theblether]

Kuangsi Waterfalls, about 30 minutes drive from LP. It's a national park and includes a bear sanctuary. The waterfalls are the star though......I hired a private tuk tuk as I wanted to get there earlier than the crowds so I could take some photos.

There are pools for swimming available, and changing rooms on site. The tuk tuk cost me 160,000 kip ( 650 baht ) for the day. You can share a tuk tuk and expect to pay about 30 / 40,000 kip per person return. The driver will wait for you and your group. Most people arrive at 12.00, try to get there earlier and get a real feel for the place.

Entry to the park was 20,000 kip per person. Well worth it.

[theblether]

[theblether]

Next day saw me at the Pak Ou cave and whisky village, it cost me 95,000 kip, including pick up at the hotel and transport to the slow boat to the cave.....

Whisky in a jar, and what the hell is that?......scorpions.....

and a cobra?......the lady said it gives good, ahem, power.......I passed on the offer.....

Right, pak Ou cave, actually two caves......you need to be fit to get to the top one, 250 steps Asian style......

Then you see this......an unlit cave.......

Down by the candles, in the murk, you see this.......if you have a torch or flash photography.......

and many more......back down the steps......yes those one's, no wonder she's looking perturbed.....

You get to see this in the lower cave.....

and this, and loads more......

but you can go see for yourself

[theblether]

If you don't have time to take the boat, Bangkok Air fly to Luang Prabang twice a day, from BKK, and Laos airlines once a day I believe.....

You can also fly direct from Chiang Mai. Laos airlines also connect to Ventiane, so you can include this on a visa run some day.......I hope you enjoyed the view, I loved it.

[cooked]

Next year... I'll do it or at least some of it.

[David48]

Have to say theblether ... an excellent report ...

It does tempt the reader to replicate the journey in part or in whole.

Those waterfalls were picture perfect.

For you, what was the highlights/s of the trip?

Was it mostly Westerns travelling on the Journey parts?

.

[ChinChanGamble]

I done this trip, but from Chiang Mai a couple of years back. The mountain drive up was amazing, however I detested the boat journey, just a personal thing, felt to long, mostly because of some of the tourists on board that were complete idiots. Went to a pub in Luang Probang, and was told 'Laos people only, you go to bowling hall' - spent just over 12 hours there and got a bus to Vientiane, where I finally enjoyed myself! I wouldn't say dont do the slow boat, but be well prepared for the long journey

Sent from my LT26i using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[seasia]

Great photos and report, Thank You.

I`ve been to Vientiane but not Luang Prabang,would like to sometime.

Enjoyed looking at your photos for now anyway.

[lovelaos]

Nice trip report and excellent pics Mr.Blether. You did well on the prices for transportation too.

25,000 kip for a beerlao on the boat?..... .......

[craigt3365]

Great trip report! Thanks for sharing. I've never done this route before, but did the overland route up that way. Ended up in China for 3 months. The slow boat sounds great. Those speed boats are just too painful!

The bus up to LP was an interesting ride.

[theblether]

I done this trip, but from Chiang Mai a couple of years back. The mountain drive up was amazing, however I detested the boat journey, just a personal thing, felt to long, mostly because of some of the tourists on board that were complete idiots. Went to a pub in Luang Probang, and was told 'Laos people only, you go to bowling hall' - spent just over 12 hours there and got a bus to Vientiane, where I finally enjoyed myself! I wouldn't say dont do the slow boat, but be well prepared for the long journey

Sent from my LT26i using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I could see why sitting near idiots would grind you down on this trip, it would be a long day ( or 2 ) if you landed next to anti-social passengers. In my case the other foreign passengers were great, no issues at all. Most sat and took in the scenery, some would play cards for a while and then return to the scenery. From that point of view the trip was perfect.

Unfortunately for me though I found myself sitting opposite a young local family who had a baby ( about a year old ) who cried for about 4 hours. I tuned out for a good while as I've had kids myself but I was amazed that the wee one hadn't fallen asleep, it's very tiring being so noisy. I could see the young Mum get ever more frantic as she was worried about disturbing all the rest of the passengers. The way the boat is set up the locals sit on a pedestal area near to the pilot. The majority of the passengers on the boat wouldn't have heard the baby sue to engine noise etc

I heard her use the word " farang " several times to the baby, so I got my camera, took a video of the little one, and gave her my camera to replay the video to him. That shut him up. Being delighted with myself I then handed over my laptop and showed the assembled company ( all Laos locals ) the videos I had taken recently of my friends Isaan wedding, Muay Thai boxing training, and various scenes in Thailand. They were fascinated, the ladies loved watching the Isaan wedding and that vid got replayed continuously.

The father of the baby then volunteered that he could speak English, told me that he worked in a resort in L.P., and that his wife was Chinese. She certainly wasn't Han Chinese, I won't guess her tribal background though. It got me thinking about how transient the populations must be in this area with the Mekong being the natural key.

Anyway the baby fell asleep, the battery ran out on the laptop and a good time was had by all. Just to watch the locals discussing the video's was good, the guys were equally fascinated watching the M.T, training, and the atmosphere at the front of the boat changed. This is one of the times when I wish my language skills were better as I would have loved to have gotten into conversation with some of the farmer and village types on the boat.

Maybe next time

[theblether]

Nice trip report and excellent pics Mr.Blether. You did well on the prices for transportation too.

25,000 kip for a beerlao on the boat?..... .......

I know.....got to say I like beerLao, it's a lovely beer. I had no intention of drinking on the boat anyway, it was just a wee tip for anyone else, to take up the offer from the guy in the restaurant and buy some from him to take on the boat.

I did have a few large beers in LP, 12,000 kip, which I think is great for a large decent beer.

I should point out that Laos is not Thailand, don't expect late night drinking and don't expect bars full of ladies milling around declaring how hansum you are. I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere in LP, even the excellent night market was sedate and friendly compared to the gauntlet we have to run in some Thai farang oriented markets.

Big plus from me.

[theblether]

@craig,

Great trip report! Thanks for sharing. I've never done this route before, but did the overland route up that way. Ended up in China for 3 months. The slow boat sounds great. Those speed boats are just too painful!

The bus up to LP was an interesting ride.

I heard from a guy that did the speed boat that he got drowned several times by the waves and he reckoned he would need a week to recover from the bumps from being thrown around.

Slow sounds good to me

[theblether]

Have to say theblether ... an excellent report ...

It does tempt the reader to replicate the journey in part or in whole.

Those waterfalls were picture perfect.

For you, what was the highlights/s of the trip?

Was it mostly Westerns travelling on the Journey parts?

.

60% Westerners, 20% Chinese tourists, the rest were locals. The boat is like a bus service for the locals and all the better for that, it was fascinating to watch people getting on and off, going about their daily lives.

This little boy was an absolute joy, his Yai was taking him down to see his parents who work in LP, I love this photo because of the joy on Yai's face.

and this was a typical scene, locals hailing the boat................

The highlight of the trip was the Mekong River, to me it's a legendary river and I was excited to be on it......I know MrHammer is being comical ( I hope ) with his reference to Apocalypse Now, but that movie was in my mind as we went down river. The shimmering heat, the dense jungles, shear cliff faces, craggy rock formations, rustic villages etc......they will all stick in my mind forever.

The Mekong absolutely was the star.

[simple1]

Great report. I visited Luang Prabang about ten years ago & hired an elderly Lao man (lovely friendly guy) to take us on a day trip down the river. Wife speaks Lao & he told us a fasinating story. He had worked for the Americans in Laos and when they withdrew had to hide out in jungle camps for 20 years until an amnesty was announced. During those 20 years four of his children died of disease. Also came across an elderly white foreigner wearing the Pathet Lao uniform, did not have the chance to speak with him, but some locals told me he was Australian.

Don't know if they still have them, but some wonderful shops for buying fabrics such as wall hanging, still have them mounted in our house.

[theblether]

Great report. I visited Luang Prabang about ten years ago & hired an elderly Lao man (lovely friendly guy) to take us on a day trip down the river. Wife speaks Lao & he told us a fasinating story. He had worked for the Americans in Laos and when they withdrew had to hide out in jungle camps for 20 years until an amnesty was announced. During those 20 years four of his children died of disease. Also came across an elderly white foreigner wearing the Pathet Lao uniform, did not have the chance to speak with him, but some locals told me he was Australian.

Don't know if they still have them, but some wonderful shops for buying fabrics such as wall hanging, still have them mounted in our house.

Yup, still there......I happened across this lady in the whisky village.........

I could quite easily ( given the time ) sat there and watched the article through to completion, and then bought it. Maybe next time......in the meantime here's some of the finished fabrics......

[David48]

I must admit, even though your photos are Tourist snapshots ... they are images which speak to me.

You've done well to capture the essence of the journey ... well done ...

.

[theblether]

I must admit, even though your photos are Tourist snapshots ... they are images which speak to me.

You've done well to capture the essence of the journey ... well done ...

.

Essence is the key word, I hope it's given members a taste of what's on their doorstep and encouraged some to try a new experience.

[krisb]

Yep thats awesome mate Im very impressed! Thankyou for putting all this up... Looks very relaxing just putting down the Mekong River!

[phuketrichard]

great trip report, have not done the boat from Chaing Khong as i usually travel by car.

one thing puts me off boats & tours is being around westerner's for that long.

[theblether]

great trip report, have not done the boat from Chaing Khong as i usually travel by car.

one thing puts me off boats & tours is being around westerner's for that long.

I sat at the front and ignored them

[Radar501]

Thanks for the trip report Blether. Very enjoyable reading.

Luang Prabang held a magnetic hold on me for about two months back in 2007.

The following is taken from a journal titled 'In Laos and Siam' by Marthe Bassenne, a French woman who lived there around the turn of the 20th century.

"Oh! What a delightful paradise of idleness this little country protects, by the fierce barrier of the stream, against progress and ambitions for which it has no need! Will Luang Prabang be, in our century of exact sciences, of quick profits, of victory by money, the refuge of the last dreamers, the last loved ones, the last troubadours?"

I think Madame Bassenne would be contented with the way the town has aged so gracefully 100 years on.

[JulesMad]

Great trip report, Blether

I did this trip about 16 years ago, and I can see (and read) that not much has changed (which is great in my book!!!) The picture from your stop in Pak Beng triggered many good memories. It was a most memorable trip, I do recall my hatred for all the speedboats; slow boat is THE way to do it. I had great fellow travelers on my boat, very very good trip!

.....and now I think I have to do it again!!! I can not wait to make my plans