Cruising down the Mekong
Despite our tummy troubles in Pai, we held up pretty well with our 8-9hr trip to Chiang Kong.
We got up pretty early the following morning to get a boat over to Loas, get our visas and sort out cruising tickets down the Mekong for 2 days. Since Neil had done the trip before (and it had not been such a positive experience), plus looking at some tales of overcrowding on the web, we were not feeling great about the trip. However, we were pleasantly surprised.
Trip started off amusingly with an arrogant tout playing on people's insecurities, however he caused much amusement for our little party - 1 Irish guys and 2 S.Africans. We didn't get started until Midday, and with a 7-8hr cruise ahead meant we'd be arriving in Pakbeng in the dark.
Both days were pretty long, so most options after taking in the scenery were reading, chatting and drinking some fantastic beerlao. We got to meet quite a few people - was nice to swap stories and tips going forward. We even thought we were celebrity spotting at one point when a Kenny Rogers lookalike stepped on board.
Our night over stop in Pakbeng was nothing special but certainly beat N's last trip when he thought a rat ran over him - lets just say his accommodation wasn't that nice! The second day started early and the scenery began to got more mountainous - we arrived in Luang Prabang in the early evening, more than enough time to find our guesthouse and have a relaxing dinner.
