We really must remember to check how far our accommodation is from any local wats, 4am is obviously the monks wake up call hailed in with an auditory feast of off beat gong and drums, volume rising and falling as the equivalent of our snooze function! This lasts about 30 minutes and guarantees further thoughts of sleep are impossible. If only my mum had learnt this technique when we were all still living at home and her mornings would have been so stress free. Early start enforced we checked out and went on the hunt for slow boat tickets and breakfast.
A long wait in store but the boats were all ready and ours, 104 to the bottom of the photo, already had people boarding.
There is very little to do in Huay Xai so everyone was piling on the boats from 9am onwards even though we weren't planned to leave until 11am. We found our allocated seats and sat back to watch these two bend and ram backpacks, suitcases and sacks into the hold.
Midday and we're finally underway, reversing gives us a lovely view of our neighbouring boats washing.
Our wooden seats were surprisingly comfortable and roomy, there were an assortment of old coach seats and wooden benches with cushions.
Express delivery Mekong style...
Some views along the way
We arrived at our half-way stop, Pakbeng, where we battled to retrieve our packs as quickly as we could to get into the town and secure the best accommodation we can before the hoards hit. We chose Santisiouk hotel mentioned in Lonely Planet but only after we checked in and had wifi did we read all the reviews, a little problem with thieving me thinks! With all our valuables in tow we headed off for a quick bite to eat before turning in for an early night, the 4am wake-up call and long journey having taken its toll plus Pakbeng is purely a transitory place and not the most welcoming or picturesque place to visit.
After an uneventful night we were up early for breakfast and second leg. Whilst enjoying a cup of tar (honestly must have been about 10 spoonfuls of Laos instant coffee) we saw two elephants across the river, hopefully you can just about see them if you zoom in on the bottom left of photo below...amazing!
Back on the boat and heading onwards to Luang Prabang
Can't wait to arrive!
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