Huay Xai to Pakbeng: Death by slow boat

Tuesday October 17, 2017

Oh my. We did not love the slow boat. Mostly because of what they did to our bikes. Firstly, they put them on the roof UNDERNEATH some other bikes....they were kind of tied on....but we were terrified of them falling in the Mekong. When we finally arrived in Pakbeng, they were properly manhandled - yanked and shoved around. How all bikes emerged unscathed, I have no idea!!

On the positive side, the owners of the other bikes were a very nice German couple (Ronald and Eake I think....I do apologise if this is completely wrong!). It was great to chat to them and to hear about their plans to ride from Pakbeng to Luang Prabang....something we had also seriously considered.

And...the views were nice....and it wasn't TOO busy.....and it was quite fun watching a Laos family move all their worldly possessions (including multiple electric fans, TVs and MOPEDS) by boat.

But. The backpacker crowd were indeed annoying, to the extent that we had to put in our earplugs. Bah humbug!! And the boat was downright scary. Weaving between large rocks and across rapids - it wasn't what I was expecting. And not a single life jacket on board, of course. Maybe I'm a bit wet behind the ears regarding Asian travel, but I wasn't comfortable at all!

All of these factors combined to result in a change of plan - to follow the Germans' excellent example and cycle from Pakbeng instead! We felt much happier.

Note - it is pretty horrendous with guesthouse touts when you arrive in Pakbeng. We avoided the most part, but gave in to the last one, as she was from a guesthouse we were half considering anyway. The going rate seemed to be 50,000 for the budget places.

Important details.
Boat tickets were 210,000 to Luang Prabang (yes, we did buy through tickets, grr) or 105,000 to Pakbeng. We paid an extra 60,000 for each bike (if we remember correctly).
Breakfast was Bar How? - excellent AGAIN and the lady was positively friendly on our third meeting.
Lunch was sandwiches from Bar How
Dinner was Indian at Chennai - good food, crap wifi.
We stayed at Meksavanh guesthouse which was very basic but fine. Very thin walls but the neighbours were quiet, and the wifi didn't work at all. The lady was a biit pushy re breakfast but she let us put our bikes round the back, which meant they ended up behind a substantial gate. Travelfish suggests the high season rate is 130,000 kip....which definitely would not be worth it!