Driftin'

From the Lao-Thai border we drifted at a leisurely rate on the boat to Luang Prabang, the former royal capital. Tellingly the ferry journey is known as the 'slow boat' and takes 2 days, encompassing 15 hours of boating. As the only other option is the oft fatal 'fast boat' Claire & I purchased cushions and prepared to sit for a long time. At the initial boarding we were pleased to grab the 'first class' seats - cushioned seats pulled from a bus - rather than the benches, and were even more so when the boat owner brought on boards plastic seats to fill the aisles. I suspect that the boat was at about double its capacity, and the punters rage higher than that. Thankfully just before we set sail the owner decided to send a second boat and we traveled in a relatively less congested manner.

Surprisingly, the trip was quite pleasurable as there were some nice people on the boat to talk to and the scenery beautiful. The second day, in particular, provided some spectacular scenery - the chocolate river, lush green forest, and in the distance near transparent mountain ranges.

Late on the second day two members of one of the Lao hill tribes joined our boat for the ride to Luang Prabang. Marginalised and impoverished the tribes people have have received little if any schooling, many not even speaking the national language. At one point, one of the western tourists was writing in her journal, the tribesman lent over to watch her write, fascinated as he saw the unintelligible scrawl fill pages. I assume that he knew what writing is, but was entranced to watch it actually take place.