On December 3rd, 2023, we crossed the border into Laos from Thailand from Chiang Khong (Thailand) to Ban Houayxay (Laos), where we also spent the first night. A minivan took us from Border Control to our hotel in about 20 minutes. We moved into our room, took off our backpacks and then withdrawing money was our top priority.
At the “Little Hostel Houay Xai” we got two SIM cards (total €16.10) and bought tickets for the slow boat (total €37.54). Two days - one night. You don't spend the night on the boat, but in the small town of Pakbeng, which is also located directly on the Mekong. Then we looked for something to eat 😊 We still had to get used to the new currency: the Laotian kip. We always withdrew 1 to 2 million from the ATM because we always paid for the accommodation in cash, otherwise additional fees would be charged and we wanted to avoid that. 🤑 €1 is around 22,000 LAK (Laotian Kip).
The queue in front of the slow boat Our first night in Laos wasn't that great. We stayed at the “Thaveesinh Hotel”, the furnishings were extremely outdated and the beds were rock hard. Maybe the hardest beds we've ever had. Don't even get me started on the bathroom. We had pancakes with honey for breakfast in the restaurant opposite and picked up the filled baguettes that we had organized in a small supermarket the evening before. But there are also drinks and packet soups and crackers on board, as it turned out. Then we went to the “Little Hostel” and waited for the tuk tuk with the other travelers. This took us to the boat launch. The boats were already waiting and a queue formed in front of them. We climbed down the steps with our luggage and before we could get on the boat we were given a bag and asked to take our shoes off first. Then we looked for our seats. On day 1 we had reserved seats, on the second day there was free choice of seats. It took forever for the boat to finally leave! More and more people came, so the crew had to bring seats 😒 it was really very cramped on the boat. We had imagined it a little differently. We sat with three people in a row of four, but only because the fourth person in our row found a place on the floor at the back of the boat. Laos has a lot to offer in terms of landscape We started about two hours later than planned. We were relieved when the boat finally started moving. We traveled five hours on the Mekong to Pakbeng, where we were always surrounded by incredible nature. The sun was shining and there was a little wind. The landscape amazed us. Beautiful! We listened to podcasts or music while we were there. There were a lot of young people on board, groups formed who sometimes drank to their thirst, but everything was fine, no one misbehaved. The seats were comfortable, but our butts still hurt at some point. There were two toilets on the boat, the floor was so wet at one point that we always put our shoes back on before going to the toilet. We were happy when we arrived in Pakbeng. We gathered our large backpacks and walked up the steep stairs to the parking lot. The taxi from our accommodation was already waiting for us. When everyone was seated, the car took us to the accommodation. After three minutes we were there. The owners handed out the room keys and we looked forward to a shower. In addition, we finally had soft beds again 🛌😁 From the balcony of our accommodation “Villa Mekong Guesthouse”, we had a wonderful view of the Mekong and the setting sun. When it was dark, we went to an Indian restaurant nearby. Since the slow boat started early again, the lights went out early. The taxi from our accommodation drove us back to the jetty the next morning. We were one of the first and were able to choose a good seat. By the way, we had breakfast at the accommodation, there were pancakes and we had baguettes for the journey. Spoiler: the 🥖 weren't worth the money and were very thin.
The drive on day two took longer, but was no less scenic than the first. I think we were on the road for somewhere between 6-7 hours, although it didn't seem that long this time. At sunset on December 5th, 2023, we finally reached Luang Prabang.
❗️You can of course also spend a little more money and book the luxury version of the Slow Boat, which means there are meals on board and you can sit and eat at real tables. I've even heard that there are boats that stop along the Mekong along the way and you get a tour of the region or village and then you're on smaller boats with fewer people. It's certainly a nice alternative to our boat trip, but it has to be worth it. We were able to choose between three options and chose the cheapest option and unfortunately our boat was really full.
