TRAVELMAN IN LAOS: First day on the slow boat down the Mekong River!

As soon as I got out of the truck taxi at the dock of the slow boat, I got as far away from the mini-van maniacs as I could. An open air restaurant/mini-mart was next to the dock, the other hundred or so passengers waited at the tables inside of it. I bought a sandwich and two large Lao Beers for the boat. It was going to be a six hour trip.

I found an empty seat next to a group of cute, blonde and brunette British girls (Hi ladies!). One of the blondes kindly informed me that the empty lawn chair-like seat was broken. I said I'd give it a try, and sat in it gingerly. Except for being unsteady it was fine. Then the material that was the seat, split in half underneath me, and my butt sank to the ground. I looked like I was caught in a deadly chair trap. I played it off, and said, "I'm good."

The blonde made space for me on the bench at the table and I joined them. I was already making new friends. I knew it wasn't me that was the jerk in th mini-van!

I made a bit of small talk with the ladies and then it was time to board. I made sure to be one of the first to board the boat because I'd read online that if you're last on you get horribly crappy seats at the back of the boat by the bathroom and the deafening roar of the engine. The early bird had no worm to catch though. Slips of paper with seat numbers had been placed on the seats. We looked at our tickets and realized they had corresponding numbers.

A French woman and her mother were sitting together and one of them was in my seat. I let them know and they weren't keen on moving. I was hoping it wasn't a big deal. One of the Brits, Cornelia happened to be in the seat next to the one I was claiming in the row in front of my number. We warned the ladies they may have to move if someone takes the seat I'm in. No one did. By the time the bus was three -quarters full we realized that not everyone's ticket was numbered, so the numbers were moot. I didn't mind. I had a decent seat two-thirds of the way back. My seat was partially broken and uncomfortable, but manageable, and Cornelia was very pleasant seat mate.

The scenery only got better as we motored down the river. The water was brown and there was quite a bit of trash in it, kind of a bummer...

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The guy in front of me in the video drinking beer called himself Gary. He and his friend (sitting further back in the boat)) were from Uruguay. Gary was ready to party, especially with all the ladies. He was entertaining the British girls next to me for the first few hours, and making trips to the front of the boat to visit some ladies up there as well. He was close to successful at starting a dance party. He drank his four big Lao Beers in the first two hours, so he peaked kind of early and had to take a power nap the fourth hour.

In the bottom left are Katie and Haley, two in the group of five lovely, lively British ladies. They were great and a lot of fun...

The very back of the boat was the baggage area, directly in front of that was a giant, exposed engine that you could stare at as you waited to use the toilet. The toilet made me happy once again on this trip that I am a man. In front of the toilet, a woman sat in front of a shelve of chips, other snacks, and a cooler full of big Lao Beer for sale.

I met a couple that was stuck in seats back there on the first day. They said it was so loud that they were forced to listen to their noise canceling headphones the entire trip. They were sure to get to the boat early the next day for better seats.

We made stops along the way on the shores of tiny villages. This was the stop for these locals. Looks like they made a trip to town for supplies...

After a relatively quick six hours, we arrived at our halfway point for the night. The tiny town of Pakbang...

On the next episode of TRAVELMAN! Travelman has a crazy night in Pakbang making friends with a literal boat load of people. Check your local listings.

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!steemitworldmap 19.8889 lat 102.1276 long Day one trip down the Mekong River d3scr