Travelling the Meakong

Sorry for the brief note on Chiang Mai but we were taking it in turns to feel the worst effects of the flu ( self diagnosed) . Consequently it’s been a lot of lying down in darkened rooms and much sleeping. The good news is that we now both seem to be over the worst of it though you may hear of an flu epidemic in this part of the world soon!

Returning to our trip; after the two nights in Chiang Mai, we were driven three and a half hours to Chiang Rai. We just had a quick overnight at a very nice hotel where we enjoyed lazing by the pool for the afternoon. We didn’t sightsee there or leave the hotel for dinner - still recuperating from the self-diagnosed flu!

Up early for a 6:00 am departure for the 2 hour drive to the border with Laos. There was the usual bureaucratic process with the filling in of multiple forms, all with the same information. After that a quick transfer to our boat for a two day cruise down the Mekong river. The boat takes 36 people and is full on this trip. Over half of the passengers are japanese complete with their own two guides.The rest a mixture of Europeans and a couple of Americans. Actually it’s been noticeable in the Northern part of Thailand that most tourists are Chinese or Japanese, it’s actually uncommon to see Caucasians at the tourists sites.

The scenery is quite spectacular as we slowly sail down the river. The river narrows at a number of points as rocky outcrops either divide the river or restrict its flow, fortunately we seem to have a good steersman at the helm! We made one stop at a village and saw how people in rural Loas live. There were loads of children and nearly every woman had a baby in a sling. Our guide told us that couples in the villages usually had a minimum of four children and as many as ten. The government are trying to educate them and provide free contraceptives which are promptly thrown away - well, the condoms seem to have value at least as the children fill them with water and use them as water bombs! The villagers tend not to be very well educated - the children go to a local primary school until they are ten, but then their parents pull them out of school because the high school is too far away for ten year olds to travel to and so they end up working as farm labourers. A few try leaving to work in cities, but they are so poorly educated that they cannot find work - many of the girls end up in the sex trade and are able to send money home with their parents not having any idea of how they earned it - very sad. As we walked through the village, our guide stopped at the blacksmith’s and showed us an inactive landline that was being used as an anvil! Apparently Loas was heavily bombed and mined during the Vietnam War and farmers are still being hurt by the mines.

Our overnight accommodation was described as ‘cabins’ which was a perfect description. They were quite basic, made from wood with woven bamboo for walls. No glazing, but wooden shutters. The bathroom was somewhat basic with a sink that only boasted running cold water and a very basic shower - had hot water for half a turn of the tap and then you got more pressure by using the cold water. The good news was that there was a very elaborate mosquito net surrounding the bed with an ancient ceiling fan above it- the only speeds were fast and faster! Still, we were very grateful for both. Before dinner we were entertained by some local traditional dancers, which was quite delightful. Dinner was a buffet, so we ate lightly again, then off to bed for another early night. All in all a very pleasant stay and we feel we really had an authentic experience!

Our second day on the river started out in mist but eventually the sun came out. We stopped at a village where they weave scarves and pashminas. We toured the village - very poor but everyone has a HD TV dish on the outside of their huts. Anne was proud of herself as she got a ‘special’ price when buying 4 scarves - saved all of $4, but was happy to contribute to the lady’s income for the day.

The second stop was at a cave in a cliff where there are some 1000 Buddha images in a cave, the snag was that the cave was 320 steps up the cliff. Having seen over 1000 Buddha images we declined to make the effort. The decision was made easier by the fact that there were about 6 boats visiting at the time so it was a mob scene, plus reports from those returning from the top, who opined that the effort was not worth it.

After another hour of pleasant sailing, we came at last to Luang Prabang. More about that to follow.Read more