PAK BENG, LAOS

This morning Chris and I walked down to the river and got "stamped out" of Thailand at the little immigration office, then took a boat to the other side of the river (Laos) and got "stamped in" to Laos at the little immigration office there. Then it was a fifteen-minute walk down to a different boat landing where we caught the slow boat, a long, narrow craft which carries about 50 people on wooden bench seats. Not the most comfortable way to spend two full days, but we figured it was better than the "fast boat"--which does the trip in one day, but costs more, involves getting wet, requires wearing a helmet and earplugs, and has a much higher fatality rate. Er... no thanks.

As this is laid-back Laos, we were an hour late departing, but once we got going the journey was okay. Unfortunately I had just finished reading my last book, so I had nothing to do except watch the scenery along the muddy Mekong--lots of water buffaloes, wooden farmers' huts, tiny villages, and miles of emerald-green hills, farmland and jungle. Chris claims he saw a dead body(!) in the river at one point, but fortunately I missed that.

After about six hours, we arrived at the halfway point, the little village of Pak Beng, which is nothing more than a handful of shops and guesthouses on the river. Surprisingly, there was a really good Indian restaurant there, where I had some killer chicken tikka masala.