Beautiful Slow Boat Scenery from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang on the Mekong River

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Unforgettable experience on a slow boat that took 2 days to reach Luang Prabang from the border between Thailand and Laos at Huay Xai.

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Summary

11 am. It was finally the time to catch the boat going from Huay Xai, Laos, to Luang Prabang. We just made the border crossing by land from Thailand to Laos the day before and spent a wonderful night at a local guesthouse. The tuk tuk was waiting for us and we packed all our belongings in time to get on the boat.

Beautiful boat on the river Bank of Mekong

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The Experience

Most of the passengers of the slow boat were Western travellers, some from France, others from Canada and still more from the UK. It came to my mind that day that I hardly see any Chinese people travelling. I am actually one of the very few crazy ones who dares to break up the traditional strict family bonds and travel without security on an unlimited journey around the world to learn actual wisdom and bring back to my new home all my knowledge gathered. In fact, I have not seen a single Mainland Chinese on long-term travel ever since I embarked on my journey more than a year ago. I hope that sometimes soon, more young Chinese folks will travel more and longer because this is the way to bring back home fresh ideas that makes a country great.

In general, the most prolific travelers we met on our journey were the French. They even dare to travel with all their kids. Here is a living example.

French-Belgium couple with three kids, 3 kids!!! Don't you ever tell me that travelling is out of your budget or scope. If they can travel with 3 kids for more than a month, you can do it too.

We seated ourselves next to the French-Belgium couple. Mathilde immediately made friends with all the kids. She was exceptionally talented to keep the kids engaged for hours on end. I heard them screaming, shouting, battling each other, spotting for elephants and crocodiles, competing for attention right at my back for the entire trip. I loved them a lot.

The kids, monk, mother and Mathilde, the perfect travel company

I haven't been talking too much with the rest of the passengers mainly because I was either sleeping, writing my blog or reading the actual Journey to the West about the Monkey King. That novel has inspired me for the title of my travel series since our general direction is to go West from Asia. It is also the book that inspired the creation of Dragon Ball and Sun Goku.

On the way, the scenery was utterly astonishing. It was an uninterrupted stream of everlasting green, exotic trees, prolific jungles, stromf buffalo, speedy goats, little villages here and there and stones that you cannot see anywhere else.

Looking out the window of the boat into a small village

Giant Stone Wall as a part of a hill facing the Mekong river. There is a cave inside.

The cave inside the stone wall.

Mountain with mist

Slow boat on the river

Little girls presenting their hand made wrist bands. We bought two of them and have some donation

The boat captain at the steering wheel

We stopped at Pak Beng for one night which was not that exciting because they didn't have much of sightseeing there and prices were overinflated. It was a must-stop for all people taking the slow boat to Luang Prabang that was why it became a monopoly for tourism there.

The day after, at 09:30 am, we started our boat tour again for another six hours or so. When we arrived in Luang Prabang we were very happy to discover super cheap prices for our hotel for just 24 USD for 3 nights including breakfast. The condition of the hotel was also extremely attractive.

Huge double bed with attractive decor

A chillout area next to the bed with mattresses and a teddy bear

Beautiful bar at the reception

We went out for a walk before we went for food and sleep. We discovered a pretty little girl steering the motorbike.

Little girl pretending to drive

What we also discovered was the differences of the architecture of the temples here as compared to Thailand. If you are interested in the beautiful houses of Luang Prabang, please follow this blog to get updated on my next post about it. I publish almost daily on my travel exploits.

How did you like our trip? Did you go to where we went? Share with is your advice and experiences in a comment. I always reply to comments.

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The Entire Travel Series

Read even more from the Journey to the West series. Start from the top.

The Begin
Donated Rear Panniers
Last Shopping
Buying Supplies
The Map
First Day of Ride
If it Rains, it's Not Laziness
Long Ride in Shenzhen
The First Mistake and How We Fixed It
Don't Give Up the Bike Tour
Last Days in China
Biking Thailand Starts in Chiang Mai
Updated Travel Mode in Chiang Rai

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