First Boat Ride to Northern Laos, June 2011

Topic: The boat ride from Luang Prabang to Huay Xai, Laos.  What none of my friends and I realized was that this longboat was going to be packed with Loatians, all of their stuff, and would last over 12 hours.  With minimal seating.  We did not necessarily anticipate that this would be our situation on this Saturday morning.

"Do you guys think we should get there early?  We don't want to miss the boat," warned Becca who was a seasoned traveler, knowing bus rides from Costa Rica to the border of Panama were an experience in itself.  My best friend Becca had flew to visit me in Singapore from Washington, DC, about a week earlier.  We had already traveled together through Siem Reap, Cambodia, with our friend, Gretchen, PE teacher from SAS.

"Yes, we should go...." replied Julie, my SAS colleague from next door, who met up with us in Luang Prabang, Laos and who was heading back to the States after this trip for a year to spend with her family.

So it was decided.  Off to the boat.  We gathered our belongings (really, just backpacking bags since we were headed into the jungle in northern Laos to hike, zip line and sleep in tree houses) and walked down to the boat area.  We bought our tickets for the longboat and looked at the huge mass of people in front of us.

All the "stuff"

"Ok...." I thought in my head.  There were tons, and tons, of people.  They had a lot of stuff with them.  It was a Saturday.  I think the pictures show this situation more justice than me describing it.  The "stuff" people had with them included backpacks, huge sacks full of rice, motorcycles, bikes, packages, luggage, you name it.  The stuff just got piled into the front of the boat all on top of each other and you hoped you didn't have anything fragile with your belongings.  People who ended up not having a seat on the boat, sat on top of the stuff.

We squeezed our way onto the boat, facing the seating area (which held car seats, literally they were seats that looked like they had come out of a van), wondering where we were going to sit.  There were hardly any available seats!  This boat was packed!  Becca found an empty seat next to another backpacker, Julie took a plastic chair, I took a seat next to this young Loatian guy who looked like he was saving the seat for someone, and Gretchen took a seat next to someone who was saving it for someone else who was not yet on the boat.  We definitely felt out of place.

The guy behind Becca was not happy with us taking his saved seats

"You can't save seats!"  Gretchen was exercising her boat rights.  The guy next to Gretchen did not speak any English and he was up in arms.  The guy next to me spoke English.  I had to try something to smooth this situation over.  I began making friends with the guy next to me.  "Hi, where are you headed?"  I asked the guy.  We got to know each other a little bit.  He was a student and learning English in Luang Prabang (the city).  He was returning back home to his family for the weekend.  I asked him, "Were you saving this seat for anyone?"  He answered no, but I think he was supposed to be saving the seat for someone (he ended up having a lot of friends on this boat).  I next asked him, "What's happening with that guy behind us?"  My new friend answered, "He was saving the seat for his girlfriend."  "Oh," I answered.  Gretchen, my Laotian friend, Becca, Julie, and I were caught in the midst of arguments and chaos.  This misunderstanding happened before the boat even started up creeping up the Mekong River.  "What is he saying?"  I asked my friend.  "He is just angry because his seat is supposed to be saved."  "What should we do?" I replied.  "He'll be fine, just have your friend stay," stated the guy.  The guy Gretchen sat next to would not stop shouting angrily; shouting over to my new friend; and causing more chaos.  We were only a few seats away from each other.  The two Loatian guys continued to talk in Lao and Gretchen would chime in that she was not moving.  Go Gretchen!  After some time, the girlfriend stepped on board.  There were some words exchanged between Gretchen's guy, his girlfriend, and Gretchen.  In the end, all three of them ended up sitting in the two van seats.  All of their faces looked like this: :(

Becca had a sad face, too

My new friend for the boat ride

After some tense times, the boat drifted away from the platform.  Finally maybe there would be some peace as we headed upstream to northern Laos.  I continued my conversation with my new friend.  It was interesting getting to know some of the people of Laos!  I shared a couple of photos on my phone of sites in Singapore (even though Singapore is so close to Laos in proximity, I made the assumption that this guy had not yet made the trip to Singapore) and told him that I was a teacher.  I don't really remember much else about our conversation other than the fact that most of the people on the boat were returning to somewhere and that's why the boat was so packed.  The guy also liked learning English and was very, very accommodating.  Too bad I don't remember his name for this story.  So my local friend got up to head toward the back of the boat.  I began talking to Becca and Julie, glanced back, and the guys in the back made eye contact with me and "cheersed" with beers at 8:30 AM.  Becca teased that I had a fan club.

Soon enough, of course I needed the restroom.  I guessed the toilet was located in the back of the boat, after having watched a few people come in and out of a room back there.  I decided I would try it, and pass by my local friend.  On the way to the back, somehow with the translation of my local friend, I talked with the other guys and we had a couple of laughs.  They were cooking and having a good time, while drinking Beer Lao.  After emerging from the little room in the back AKA a squatter toilet, definitely not in the best of conditions, one of the guys offered me a beer.  In the spirit of adventure I thought, "Why not?".  I accepted, made friends, began taking part in the show of what would take place for the next 11 hours, and embraced the journey.  One of the guys sent kids to bring food to me back in my seat, which was pretty lucky since we didn't think to bring food with us and the trip lasted over 12 hours, with no food that was sold on the boat.  I felt taken care of by the Loatians and it was good fun.

The Loatian kids who brought me food (rice and veggies)

What my friends won't let me live down was when Becca said, "Look at Dani in the back with a beer in her hand!"  It was 9 AM on a boat filled with local people and their stuff, three American girls and one Kiwi, arguments that had blown over, and a 12 hour boat ride ahead of us.  No technology, no food, hardly spaces to sit, beautiful scenery along the Mekong River, and new people to meet.  I realized, when situations seem crazy, sit back, drink a beer, and make friends.  The rest of the boat ended up watching me do that, too.

Our scenery from the boat on the Mekong in Laos