From the Muddy Banks of the Mekong

Okay, you asked us to provide you with distractions from work (not you Amex and Four Seasons employees of course) so here you go! Be warned, it's a long post.

We bought tickets for the longboat to Luang Prabang which was due to take two days, including an overnight stop at a guesthouse in a town called Pak Ping. We boarded the boat and were lucky to get an actual seat (wooden plank). Many more people boarded, filling up every possible empty space. It seemed pretty overloaded to us. We departed around 11:30 am sailing down the Mekong. One hour into the journey there was a bad crunching noise accompanied by shuddering, the engine stopped and some of the crew ran to the back of the boat. We had no idea what was going on since the boat was full of tourists and no one spoke Lao. I was busy checking to see if there was any water coming in (there wasn't), and planning the swim to shore! Of course there were no lifejackets on board. After a few minutes one of the crew jumped into the river and swam to shore with a rope, which he tied to some bamboo and reeds. The boat drifted over to the shore.

We still had no idea what was going on but later found out that the motor had struck a rock (probably because the boat was overloaded) and the propeller broke off. After about an hour the first rescue boat arrived and took a handful of passengers and many bags of rice. We stayed since our backpacks were stored underneath and we weren't going anywhere without them. About an hour later the second rescue boat (a cargo boat) showed up and we all climbed aboard followed by our luggage. There were no seats on this boat but it was actually more comfortable to sit on the floor.

We continued on the journey and stopped every few hours at villages where the locals came on board selling drinks and snacks. We started to worry whether we would make it to Pak Ping before dark. Sure enough around 6pm the sun set and the boat pulled right over to a sandy bank near about 5 huts. It definitely wasn't Pak Ping! Tim went to scope out the situation while I stayed on board with a Canadian girl we had met. There was nowhere to stay so we set up our mosquito net and settled down for the night on board. Some local entrepreneurs pulled up along side us in a houseboat selling beer and rice stew!

It was a long night but we survived. (While backpacking in Europe 5 years ago we spent 2 nights on the floor of a ferry from Athens to Venice, so we were prepared for the discomfort.) Around 7am the sun rose and we departed. We stopped shortly afterwards in Pak Ping where we actually hit another boat (no visible damage) and then transferred to a passenger boat. It was already half full with passengers whose boat had crashed (serious damage) while docking the night before! So again we headed off in a very overcrowded boat. All the good seats were taken so we sat on some more wooden planks which soon became extremely painful. There were snacks on board so we didn't have to stop for food, however we stopped at many villages to pick up local passengers (and their cargo including a giant speaker and a chicken). It seems that they will accept all paying passengers until the boat sinks!

Finally that evening we arrived in our final destination, Luang Prabang. What a journey.