Our World Surfari: Slow Boat Down The Mekong

The Mekong River...just the mention of its name conjures up images of lush, tropical landscapes inhabited by remote, exotic cultures. The Mekong binds together the best of Asia, as it begins its journey in China and works its way through Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam before eventually emptying into the South China Sea.

Now, imagine a 3-day excursion through this kaleidoscope of cultures.

On day one you depart from the ancient city of Chiang Mai, Thailand. An air-conditioned bus brings you 6 hours north through terraced rice paddies, towering limestone peaks, and endless green jungles. The first night is spent in Chiang Khong, Thailand - a popular market village for local hill tribes on the border of Laos. The second day, after crossing into Laos, you board the slow boat from Huey Xai en route to Luang Prabang. Over the next two days you'll lazily travel down the Mekong past ancient hill-tribe villages, dense jungles, and crumbling ruins of forgotten empires.

On this relaxing journey you'll spot local villagers fishing from their traditional wooden canoes, water buffalo grazing on the riverbanks and maybe even some of the more elusive wildlife - tigers, leopards, elephants, and bears.

Sounds romantic doesn't it?

Well...our journey was certainly an adventure, but not quite that romantic. It all started when we left Chiang Mai crammed into a hot, stuffy minivan full of stinky backpackers, us included. The scenery was nice on the drive, but it was accompanied by our drivers wonderful selection of Thai-pop music with the occasional Celine Dion song mixed in.

Chiang Khong, the stop for our first night, was a sleepy, mosquito infested village on the banks of the Mekong. On day 2 we boarded the "slow boat", an 80+ ft long, 10 ft wide glorified canoe powered by an unmuffled car engine with 100 other backpackers and locals. Our favorite feature was the one and only bathroom on board which was flooded before we even left. Add in the fact the bathroom was right over the engine room, and therefore about 200 degrees, and you can just imagine how enjoyable a trip to the toilet was.

Boarding the slow boat:

Just a little crowded:

Since the back half of the boat was taken up by the engine room and baggage storage, everyone was crammed into the front half of the boat. Every hard bench, rickety plastic lawn chair, and wooden floor space was taken up by travelers dripping with sweat from the unrelenting heat and smothering humidity. After 6 1/2 hours of cruising downstream we stopped in Pakbeng for the night...a rustic town, which according to our guidebook, "isn't nearly as grim as it once was." (We would've hated to see how it was before.) We even had a debate about which was worse, the dirty, stained sheets in our room or the bugs crawling all over the bed.

On day 3 we awoke bright and early in an attempt to snag the prime, first class seats - plastic lawn chairs near the front of the boat. Over the next 8 hours on the hot, crowded boat we managed to settle into a routine of switching spots every few hours...window ledge, plastic chair, floor, window ledge. Finally, at 6pm we pulled up to the dock at Luang Prabang, a lovely village in the middle of Laos...our home for the foreseeable future.

As uncomfortable as the journey was, the scenery was stunning, the villages exotic and we received a glimpse of what makes the Mekong region so special.

The mighty Mekong: