Erin and Justin

Choosing how we were going to leave Luang Prabang and get to Thailand was a task. Our options were: a) Fly – 2 hour journey for $100 each; b) Slow Boat – 2&1/2 day journey for about $37 each (plus accommodation along the way); or c) Speed Boat – 15 hour journey for $40 each.

a) The flight would be expensive, and on Laos Airline, who do not perform safety checks on their aircraft in between flights, do not have training of an international standard, and do not produce statistics regarding their flight records and instance of crash (which apparently is more frequent than one should be comfortable with);

b) The slow boat would take 2&1/2 days of travelling, stopping in Pak Bang the first night, which is apparently an awful spot, half way to the border, and stopping at the border on the second night, because the boat arrives right after immigration closes. We would have to buy cushions to sit on, so as to avoid spending 2 full days on a wooden bench seat, have to pay for accommodation at 2 places where we had no interest in being, and would miss 2 days that we could potentially be spending in Chiang Mai;

c) The speedboat is dangerous. The Lonely Planet says that accidents involving a boat hitting a rock or a branch seem to occur on a weekly basis, some of them fatal.

Due to our seemingly bleak options, we had decided to fly to Chiang Mai. But we booked too late and there were no seats available. After speaking to multiple travel agents and locals, we decided that the Lonely Planet was wrong – or that it was old and out of date. We were assured that there used to be many accidents, but that now, with increased tourism, the boats are safe, comfortable, and dry, and that the last accident was a couple of years ago – in the rainy season. And it’s the dry season now! So we bought the speedboat tickets… and some dry bags, just in case!

So let us describe the speedboat. It is a small wooden boat, and the passengers sit on the floor, on a plastic-coated foam cushion. Bags are strapped on the front of the boat, and seats – well, sitting spaces – are separated with wooden dividers about a foot and a half apart, with the spaces being a little over 2 feet wide. Two people sit in each space.

That speedboat ride, in the morning, was great, and we couldn’t believe how lucky we were! It moved at a pace that was slow enough for us to take in the sights of the Mekong, and there were only 4 of us in the boat, so we had room to spread out.

We ate lunch in Pak Bang, happy that we weren’t staying there overnight, like our poor friends, Will and Ali, who cautiously and sensibly, bought slow boat tickets.
After lunch however, we were put on a new boat, with 6 other people, and 6 other people’s luggage, which made for a very heavy, very crowded, very cramped and very uncomfortable journey for the next 4 hours, wearing our lifejackets and helmets, sitting with our knees at our chins, unable to shift more than an inch or two. It was hell. But we made it, and in the nick of time to get through the border too!

SEE PHOTOS AT:http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q164/erinfearn/SE%20Asia/Speedboat/

Sadly, due to our haste to make it through in time, we took no photos at this border crossing, which we expected to be far more formal, given that we were entering Thailand. Immigration to be stamped out of Laos was on one side of the Nam Ou river, and immigration through into Thailand was on the other side, with a small boat to take us between the two. Initially we got on the boat without even stamping out of Laos, because we didn’t NOTICE it! It was a travel agent that we had spoken to about a minibus that noticed we hadn’t walked off the boat ramp and up to the immigration window to stamp out!!

Immigration on the other side was the same. We only formally entered Thailand because we chose to, not because we were forced to. We could have just climbed on to the tuk tuk without even showing our passports!

And then, 5 hours later, after a long and comparably comfortable – luxurious, in fact! – minibus ride, we arrived in Chiang Mai. Phew!